IS this scaly leg mites or something else?

[Connie123]

I have a VERY large Brahma rooster - maybe a solid 8-10 pounds, he’s 9 months old. I’ve been treating him for scaly leg mites for months. We did the Vaseline on legs nightly (any bit of leg scales we could find was slathered in it - even between the feather) for three weeks or better, we cleaned the coop and scrubbed the roosts, we did ivermectin on the back of the neck - .5cc . It still didn’t go away. We treated once with castor oil as well, abs many epsom salt soaks. Recently we treated orally with ivermectin injectable .3cc and are due to treat again in a few more days. Then we will treat again two weeks from there. We have 13 chickens in a huge run - the original run was 8x10, and you can fit four of those in the addition. They’re on sand in the run, and straw in the coop. The coop is 8x4. They eat 20% all flock. What am I missing and why can’t I get rid of these? None of the hens have this issue. As an adult I’ve only kept clean legged birds. He also seems to have an ingrown feather on his foot. This poor guy is just the absolute best boy, and I don’t want to see him keep struggling with this. Someone else I talked to thought this might be more hormonal or maturity based, or due to the fact he’s feathered on his feet. It’s also worth mentioning that it has been super cold here for Alabama over the last couple of days - could that make the areas between his toes red like that?

 

[SulkyBantam]

Scaly leg- hitting him badly because of his feathers. Sorry this is happening to your boy.

 

[Connie123]

So what else can I do for him?

 

[SulkyBantam]

Have you tried oiling his legs or a long soapy bath daily?

 

[Connie123]

Everything I’ve done is outlined in the post.

 

[SulkyBantam]

Try REGULAR soapy bathing in hot water gently rubbing at the scales. If you have flower of sulphur, it can be rubbed on the legs.

 

[Connie123]

Like baby bath? Or dawn dish soap?

 

[SulkyBantam]

You can use hand soap, washing up liquid or even shampoo.

 

[sourland]

To me it looks as if another bird or him is pecking at the developing pin feathers in his feet. It's a problem that I have had with and why I am not a fan of 'feather footed' breeds. I'd separate him from the flock until his foot feathers mature if he were mine.

 

[BDutch]

I have no experience with scaly leg mites. But on a Dutch forum people claim petroleum jelly works best.

But it might be as Sourland says. He has uncountable years of experience!