"Dust so bugs won't eat their feet" ?

[katatonic123]

I'm a teacher and have been sharing pics and stories of my chicks with my kids. Several of them also have chickens. One in particular was telling me to make sure to spread some kind of dust out in their coop so bugs won't eat their feet. Any idea what she is talking about?

 

[Pyxis]

No idea, unless she's referring to scaly leg mites which affect the legs of chickens. The mite live in the scales and cause discomfort, raised scales, and in really, really severe cases, toe loss. As far as I know the mites aren't "eating their feet" and there's no reason to spread dust to try to prevent it, as they catch it from other birds, not the ground, and it's easily treatable if they do get it.

 

[ChaoSS]

Not sure about the bugs but the dust is probably DE.

 

[katatonic123]

I wondered about that ChaoSS.