These legs belong to our 2 year old d'Uccle rooster. We have 2 that look just like this. Is it scaly leg mite? Will that make the skin look raw and red around the feathers? It's like he doesn't have scales anymore.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Should we treat this with bag balm since it seems that the scales are gone?
I dip both legs in mineral oil (veg oil will work) daily x 2 weeks (towards the end I am doing it every other day) to smother the mites. You need to do it at least 2 weeks because of the life cycle of the mites. I just keep a plastic drinking cup that I am going to throw away and fill it with oil. When the oil gets nasty I fill it with fresh over the 2 week period. If you have TONS of chickens to treat you can make a pan of oil that they must step into in order to go into their coop...haven't done that one but did read about it.
This will be messy with feathered feet but they need to be treated. I have treated feathered feet before.
The coop should be treated too and the roost bars with Poultry dust (permethrin) or liquid permethrin.
This is a very serious thing and can even lead to toe/leg amputations if not treated. The scaly leg mite can also attack the face, so you can (if desired) put some oil on the comb and wattles too. I never did that part though.
The scales will start going back down. If they get really bad they will slough off and new scales will be underneath (they do molt). I have read some people saying that they use a toothbrush to gently scrub the scales off after soaking the feet. I haven't done this.
Some use vaseline (I tried bag balm but I didn't have as good of results and ended up switching to oil again). Ivermectin also kills them but legally in order to use it as an insecticide it would require a vet's prescription I believe.
I am not sure why his legs are red. It may be just hormones (roos get red legs and feet sometimes just normally). With scaly leg mites I never saw redness on the legs like that.
