These are our first chickens & this is their third year this year. We first noticed lifted scales last fall and found out that it was leg mites.
I did some googling and reading, opted to try the veggie oil dip/Vaseline dip method to. I mixed Neem oil with Vaseline, applied every other day for a week and then every few days for a week after that. We cleaned their coop, vacuumed, dusted and all multiple times and continued to keep things clean over the winter. In December I thought that some of their legs (we have 14 layers) looked worse so, since they weren't producing many eggs to have to toss out I tried 1/2cc Ivermec pour on, dropped on each bird.
This spring the mites were noticeably worse. I had lost two chickens after the Ivermec and had a few hens with digestive upsets. Nothing probiotics and yogurt didn't help. We cleaned and dusted their coop again. Someone suggested using Livestock dust or Sevins dust mixed into Vaseline and applying that. So we did, every 2-3 days for three weeks! STILL, most of the hens legs look just as bad and/or some are getting worse. We have given up over the last month, just sick of slathering hen legs.
Is there anything else that we can do?
Is there a certain brand of Ivermec to try, if I decide to try it again?
The vet told me 1/2cc, and considering two hens died after (not sure if it was coincidence or the de-wormer) but maybe it wasn't enough (they're Barred Rocks & Wyandots) and nothing else on my farm or in my area is resistant to Ivermectrin.
And third. If we opt to put my poor girls in a soup pot instead, how long would a chicken coop and run need to be chicken free for these lovely pests to die off? I don't want to kill my hens just to put more in and end up with the same issue right off the bat.
These girls are 3 but still lay beautifully. (14 hens, 9-14 eggs a day) I had hoped to just let them get old and retire, not have to cull them due to painful scaley legs.
Ideas?!
I did some googling and reading, opted to try the veggie oil dip/Vaseline dip method to. I mixed Neem oil with Vaseline, applied every other day for a week and then every few days for a week after that. We cleaned their coop, vacuumed, dusted and all multiple times and continued to keep things clean over the winter. In December I thought that some of their legs (we have 14 layers) looked worse so, since they weren't producing many eggs to have to toss out I tried 1/2cc Ivermec pour on, dropped on each bird.
This spring the mites were noticeably worse. I had lost two chickens after the Ivermec and had a few hens with digestive upsets. Nothing probiotics and yogurt didn't help. We cleaned and dusted their coop again. Someone suggested using Livestock dust or Sevins dust mixed into Vaseline and applying that. So we did, every 2-3 days for three weeks! STILL, most of the hens legs look just as bad and/or some are getting worse. We have given up over the last month, just sick of slathering hen legs.
Is there anything else that we can do?
Is there a certain brand of Ivermec to try, if I decide to try it again?
The vet told me 1/2cc, and considering two hens died after (not sure if it was coincidence or the de-wormer) but maybe it wasn't enough (they're Barred Rocks & Wyandots) and nothing else on my farm or in my area is resistant to Ivermectrin.
And third. If we opt to put my poor girls in a soup pot instead, how long would a chicken coop and run need to be chicken free for these lovely pests to die off? I don't want to kill my hens just to put more in and end up with the same issue right off the bat.
These girls are 3 but still lay beautifully. (14 hens, 9-14 eggs a day) I had hoped to just let them get old and retire, not have to cull them due to painful scaley legs.
Ideas?!
