Guineas kicking on roosting bars - what is wrong?

[BennieAnTheJets]

Sorry, meant to post earlier - now it is much worse

I tried treating with ivermectin but it does not seem to help, at least not in the first 24 hours and I only treated 12 out of 26 so far

they are going nuts kicking their legs against the roosting bars - like something is irritating them - but I cannot see mites or anything like that

it sounds like an African drumming choir - I can even hear them kicking the bars from outside the window - they stomp their feet and shake their legs as if something is crawling on them

me may have a feather mites issue again, too, and that why I am using the ivermectin again, but I think the stomping may be something else

also have put DE on the bars a few days ago - no help

they had this before - years ago, but not so badly and it went away

vet had no idea - I thought maybe ants or poison ivy from free ranging, but it is unlikely that they all have poison ivy issues at the same time

if it is mites, and I just can't see them, shouldn't the DE and ivermectin work?

any ideas much appreciated!

it drives the birds and me nuts and I cannot figure out what it is or what to do about it - Help!

 

[Pyxis]

DE is not going to help in the case of any type of active infestation. Plus it's a lung irritant so I personally won't use it.

It could be scaly leg mites. In that case you won't see the mites because they actually live in the legs. You might see raised scales indicating their presence. You will need to treat all of them for it. Ivermectin should kill them, but you need to treat all of them and also will need to repeat that again in ten days. You could also slather up all their legs with Vaseline to try to smother the mites out.

For feather lice I'd also do something else such as treating the birds with Sevin or Permethrin because Ivermectin might not get those.

Scaly leg mites are really the only thing I can think of that would cause this.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

Thank you so much, Pyxis!

I did get all of them now with the ivermectin, even the sitting hens, who are mad at me now in a big way.

Thanks for saying it has to be repeated in 10 days - will do.

It does seem to have gotten better but not gone yet.

Maybe it takes a few days for the ivermectin to kill them all, if it is scaly leg mites?

I did not see any raised scales - do know about that - but maybe they don't raise until the mites have been there a while and had a chance to poo and make debris under the scales?

I would like to help them out more by suffocating the mites (if that is what it is) and have olive oil and coconut oil at hand - could I use either of those on their legs?