Bad Scaly Leg Mite and Issue With My Rooster’s Comb

[Jillio]

My chickens have had scaly leg mite for years now. I have tried everything. I have tried ivermectin (it did not help them but made me very sick after it touched my skin), another med a vet gave me, I have tried the natural remedies which are my go-to’s like dipping feet in olive oil with orange essential oil in it to smother them. They are currently having silver in their water which I’m not sure the results of yet. We also do ACV and garlic regularly in water, etc. I feel so badly that my babies still have this issue after all this time! It looks painful especially on my silky rooster Little Blue. (While I’m at it, there is also an issue on his comb that I would like inside about if anyone has it. It looks like white scabs. He has had fowl pox dry form before so maybe it’s a minor flair up of that?) I will post pictures of both his feet and his comb, and if you guys have any advice for me I will be glad to take it! Thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like an accumulation of dirt/debris/oil or something in the comb. You can push out the whitish material and apply a bit of anti-fungal cream if you wish.

For SLM, you have treated the coop with a Permethrin based poultry dust or spray too? While SLM do mainly live under the scales of the feet/legs, they can migrate, so treating your roosting bars and housing may be helpful.

Vaseline or NuStock cream applied religiously once a week for a few months may help rid you of the issue. Work the cream/vaseline up and underneath the scales of the legs and feet, giving them a good coating to smother the mites. With feather footed birds, I'm sure it's much more difficult to irradicate them.

 

[Jillio]

Really appreciate your response. It is very hard with feather-footed birds which is all I’ve had up until recently when we added normal chickens A few years back we did treat the whole coop and I just can’t remember now what we used. We did also purchase new stock that we not only slathered on the feet but also on on the roosts. At this point we do have a bit of wood in our coop but we clearcoat spray all of our roost before we add them into the coop so there is less hiding places for the mites. We also white wash most of the coop for the same reason. Perhaps I need to treat the entire coop again and be more vigilant with the applications on the feet.