How often can you use ivermectin without causing resistance?

[It_is_I_Rae]

I treated my chickens with topical ivermetcin almost a year ago for lice and leg mites. I think it took care of the lice because I haven't really seen any on my chickens since then but they appear to still have leg mites. The legs mites have been an ongoing problem for a few years now. There don't seem to be a lot of options for treating it. I've tried different treatments over the years like dipping their legs in vegetable oil, which didn't work because it was too messy and the chickens kept spilling and trying to drink the oil, Vaseline, which is less of a hassle than oil but also very messy and causes bedding to stick to their feet, and topical ivermetcin. Most of them don't have it very bad but a couple of their feet look rough. Should I try Ivermetcin again or will using it again cause parasites to become resistant? Are there any treatments for leg mites that are more effective?

 

[dawg53]

I dont recommend Ivermectin since it has a long egg withdrawal period, 30 days.
Use Nu-Stock to treat scaly leg mites. You can find it in the Equine section at a feed store. Shake the tube well and wear disposable gloves before applying it on their legs. Put a light coat on roosts, the mites can can crawl from one bird to another on the roosts.
Keep in mind that scaly leg mites eat tissue and can literally eat through a chickens leg or toe.

 

[Shadrach]

Most of them don't have it very bad but a couple of their feet look rough.

While various treatments for Scaly Leg mite are reasonably well known, what doesn't seem to be so well known is that the legs will not look normal again until the chickenn has shed the old lifted scales and regrown new ones.
It's a bit like feather damage from feather mite. The feathers don't return to their former healthy state. What happens is the chicken sheds the old damaged feathers and replaces them with new.
So while the chickens legs still look bad, that doesn't necessarily mean the mites are still alive and active.
The next thing is mites lay eggs and most treatments do not kill the eggs, they only kill the live mites.
So, it isn't usually a question of treating once and the problem is solved. You need a series of treaments to make sure that the newly hatched mites from the eggs of the ones you've killed get killed as well.
It's an ongoing problem.
The solution adopted by some chicken keepers is when inspecting the chickens, say once a week or whatever shedule fits your flock size and circunstances they apply a coat of Vasaline to their chickens legs.

 

[It_is_I_Rae]

I dont recommend Ivermectin since it has a long egg withdrawal period, 30 days.
Use Nu-Stock to treat scaly leg mites. You can find it in the Equine section at a feed store. Shake the tube well and wear disposable gloves before applying it on their legs. Put a light coat on roosts, the mites can can crawl from one bird to another on the roosts.
Keep in mind that scaly leg mites eat tissue and can literally eat through a chickens leg or toe.
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I've never heard of using nustock before, I'll have to try that. I also had no idea leg mites eat through leg tissue. I thought they just irritated the skin. That's good to know, Thank you for telling me. Before I go use it on my chickens, are there any risks to using nustock?

 

[It_is_I_Rae]

I dont recommend Ivermectin since it has a long egg withdrawal period, 30 days.
Use Nu-Stock to treat scaly leg mites. You can find it in the Equine section at a feed store. Shake the tube well and wear disposable gloves before applying it on their legs. Put a light coat on roosts, the mites can can crawl from one bird to another on the roosts.
Keep in mind that scaly leg mites eat tissue and can literally eat through a chickens leg or toe.
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Oh also how often does it need to be applied

 

[Eggcessive]

You can apply Nutstock as often as needed to coat the legs. It is sulfur powder combined with pine oil and a base of mineral oil. You can even make it yourself. The tube may become difficult to use, but you can empty the tune into a small container to use it. It is also used on red areas to discourage pecking, and on irritated vents from vent gleet.

 

[Alicia Manolas]

Anti Alergenic fly spray. In Australia its sold in the tall blue can, with the little list of circles down the side with all the tiny creepy crawlies it kills, kills it fastest. Blast up against the grain of the scales so it goes underneath those raised edges.

There is no circle on the can for mites, but it works brilliantly, the anti alergenic is ok on their scales, (and your skin if you aim badly).

Later to speed the slough-off and regrowth process, regular moisturize with Lanolin does wonders, or Sorbalene at a pinch, if your desperately trying to get a rough spot cleaned up regrown in time for show season. You can pick off the rough dead stuff physically to help them shed the damadged area quicker. Give into that scab picking inner child? Certainly anything lumped up unnaturally in a horrendous infestation you can cut off before you even start to treat them. Otherwise, a week after treatment start exfoliating the rough spots off.

To be certain redone the treatment every second day 3 times, the breeding cycle is 3 daily, so this should get everything, but honestly one properly applied can treatment does the job.

Old breeder taught me years ago, the look of the can has changed a few times but it's still available. Highly gentle, highly antialergenic. A two second blast and you are done, not mucking around pasting on oil or vaseline or yellow legs or similar.

If you want the trad poultry keepers "secret" Yellow Legs Ointment mixture:

Sulfer and Kerosene - mix to a crumbly toothpaste consistency.
Lard, melt slightly and pour in slow, mixing until the whole lot is a proper toothpaste consistency.

Lard is your carrier agent, you want as little as possible, just enough to make it sticky enough to put on gloves and slather it on chicken legs, and the bedding sticks to it instantly.

Sulfur and Kero is the actual treatment.

Various other additions by breeders, but basic secret Yellow Leg Ointment for hundreds of years is simply that. I never saw the point of the secrecy, withholding things that would help birds fight disease and problems!

Cooking oil or Vaseline work too, just take longer, and need more applications, as they don't kill the eggs, they rely on cutting off oxygen on the adults, and it doesn't stay on unscuffed very long, whereas Yellow Leg Ointment is virulent stuff, reeks, sticks, if mixed well, and kills all developmental forms of scaly leg.

A few bites of it wont kill the chook either, and I've tried switching out Lard (the bit they want to taste sample) for part Sorbelene, to varying degrees of effect, or little added vaseline for extra 'stick' with the sorbaline.

Good luck!

I'd also say add spray your hen houses and perches when the birds are not in them, then get some Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled into your yards, laying boxes, perches, etc, as its microscopically fine razors within make it delightful for chooks (aussie word for chickens) to dust bath in and express new feathers, they adore it, and those microscopic bits in its white powder get in and chop up scaly leg mites and feather lice and their eggs, which really lowers your birds chances of getting infected, even if freeloading bin chickens(ibis) visit your yard, or bloody pigeons and wild cockies (parrots) regularly cascade lice down onto your chooks from above!

Ongoing management commitments mean retopping up their Diatomaceous Earth monthly ideally, but a big bag from a feed store will last you a while being sprinkled.

Hope this helps and give you a better understanding of the 'why' of some of these things.

All the best
Dr Alicia Manolas
Perth, Western Australia

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

I dont recommend Ivermectin since it has a long egg withdrawal period, 30 days.
Use Nu-Stock to treat scaly leg mites. You can find it in the Equine section at a feed store. Shake the tube well and wear disposable gloves before applying it on their legs. Put a light coat on roosts, the mites can can crawl from one bird to another on the roosts.
Keep in mind that scaly leg mites eat tissue and can literally eat through a chickens leg or toe.
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I can't recommend this stuff enough for horses, WHY haven't I tried it on chickens yet?!? Brilliant! Thank you!!!