Could scaley leg mites cause soft shelled eggs?

[rachel]

I have a 2.5 year old hen that I am pretty sure has scaley leg mites. I covered her legs with vaseline two days ago, found some tea tree ointment and covered her legs with that today, I'm thinking I might want to use a thinner oil to really get in there good. I'm not comfortable with using WD-40 on an animal.

This particular hen has very few feathers on her head (we have no rooster and she is near the top of the pecking order, so it's not from other birds). About two weeks ago I noticed her eggs were very thin and would break if you squeezed a little, they are now completely soft or maybe have a little bit of thin shell that comes out when the egg comes out, but she has been "laying" them from the roost the past two days first thing in the morning. They are fed layer feed, get plenty of oyster shell (though the ducks seem to gobble that stuff up like potato chips so I'm not sure how much the chickens actually get). I started feeding her the inside of 1000 mg liquid calcium/vit D capsules stuffed inside a cherry tomato today in case it's somehow just a calcium issue, but my gut tells me it's something else, I just can't figure out what it would be unless it's the leg mites. She acts completely normal and spritely. I've checked her over for any other visible parasites, the whole flock seems fine and nothing on the roosts etc.

 

[sammi]

any oil will work to smother the mites..some people like Bag Balm..
available at feed/farm stores..and even Walmart in the hair treatment section in pharmacy..

but she needs to be treated for mites..
either by dusting with Sevin, poultry dust with permathrin (such as Ectiban-D)..or by using ivermec..

http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/store/

has she been wormed?
if you use the oral form of ivermec or (ivermectin) it will get rid of mites and worms..
even the oil drop on form seems to work well for Scaley Leg Mites.

or treat with dust..and worm with Wazine 17..
best to treat all of them and the coop, too.
what bedding do you use?
when using dust..avoid the face or letting them breath it in.

what makes you think she has Scaley leg?
are the scales raised?
is there a crust?
or are her legs weak?
describe her droppings..color and consistency..

she might need a calcium boost..you've given her the capsule..
but you could try making up this mix instead:

this is for 1 day..divide into 3 feeds for the day..give for 5 days along with layer feed as usual..
1 cooked egg yolk
drizzle of honey
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3-4 tablespoons of wet baby oatmeal, or water cooked regular oatmeal.
add in enough layer feed to make mix puffy, not soupy..

poultry vitamins can help too.

 

[rachel]

Thank you Sammi.
There is no visible crust on her legs but her scales are a little raised, especially the ones on her toes. Her legs are not weak at all, she is acting *completely* normal aside from the egg thing. These birds are fed organic feed and their eggs are sold as such, so I'm very hesitant to start worming/medicating all of them, especially if they have no symptoms. I will probably oil all of their legs as a precaution even though the others all seem fine. I did one dusting with DE on that bird three days ago. I will repeat today.

Their bedding in the coop is straw. It has all been removed so now it's just dirt and D.E. until I figure out what's going on. They range in a 500 ft fenced off yard.

Her droppings are what I would consider within normal range. A little squishier, but the color is regular brown, not yellowish or red. I looked at the poop closely for worms or anything suspicious, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I also pulled out one of the fluffy feathers from around her vent just to check for any eggs or anything I might not have been able to see by just looking at her regularly. It was normal. No bugs, no droppings, no eggs.

 

[rachel]

No one I've talked to seems to have ideas about this aside from just giving her some kind of wormer and hope that it works. I'm just baffled as to what's causing the problem. I'd love to hear more from you all.