- Mar 25, 2007
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Background: I keep my chickens in a 150-year-old barn, made of very old wood. It is in my deed that I must try to maintain it as close to historically accurate as possible, at least on the outside. Got 15 chickens total.
Today, while doing chores, I saw that the cochins were walking funny. Turned out they had scaly leg mites, not nearly as horrible as some of the pics that have been posted here, but still not looking great. The roo had been picking at his, so his feet were a little oogier and redder-looking than the girls, but the girls were scaly-er and had a couple of warty-looking things.
Put the cochins in the bathtub with some Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap while I cleaned the barn. DH loves me, so he did not get too angry to wake up to a bathtub full of squawking chickens.
The question was, what could I clean the barn with? I mean, it's antique wood, disinfectants are made to clean hard surfaces. I raked and swept twice over, then hauled the litter far far away. I mixed a cup or so of Murphy's Oil Soap with a bucket of hot water and sloshed it over everything, then scraped with a shovel, then re-sloshed. Allowed to dry, then dusted the heck out of everything with DE. Doused the plastic nest boxes and the perches with disinfectant spray that is supposed to be safe for birdies, until everything was dripping.
Washed all 30 chicken feet thoroughly, then rubbed Vaseline on the feet of the cochins and extra-virgin olive oil on the feet of the bare-legged chickens, because the bare-legged chickens looked perfectly healthy. Trimmed cochin toenails. Put down new wood shavings (encased in plastic from the feed store) and cleaned the feeder, waterers.
Did all this at about, oh, 7-10am. Checked the birdies just now, and they look grumpy but OK, still have some goo on their feet so I don't think it needs renewed just yet. Was actually quite humorous to see them sliding around on their oily feet in the bathroom. Will re-grease chickens tomorrow morning and every day thereafter for a week or so before I hope for any improvement.
I read some the archives, and honestly, I don't think this infestation is so horrible. We're talking, one chicken who has four toes total that look like my Grandmom's (complete with plantar warts), two others who look like they've got athlete's foot, one of which has lost one toe's worth of foot feathers. All other chickens, breeds that do not have feathers on feet, look great.
Disinfecting the whole coop with bleach for a day is not an option--I'm in Mass., the weather is horrible outside, there's nowhere else to put them for a day. Also, the barn might well disintegrate or something if I bleached it. If the mites can be treated without Ivomec, I'd rather avoid it, because I rather like eating eggs; I want to save that as a last resort.
How long do mites incubate, before you see some funky feet? I strongly suspect the mites occurred when I was laid up with a broken foot, and we temporarily switched to the Deep Litter method--never had mites when I changed the litter weekly.
Today, while doing chores, I saw that the cochins were walking funny. Turned out they had scaly leg mites, not nearly as horrible as some of the pics that have been posted here, but still not looking great. The roo had been picking at his, so his feet were a little oogier and redder-looking than the girls, but the girls were scaly-er and had a couple of warty-looking things.
Put the cochins in the bathtub with some Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap while I cleaned the barn. DH loves me, so he did not get too angry to wake up to a bathtub full of squawking chickens.
The question was, what could I clean the barn with? I mean, it's antique wood, disinfectants are made to clean hard surfaces. I raked and swept twice over, then hauled the litter far far away. I mixed a cup or so of Murphy's Oil Soap with a bucket of hot water and sloshed it over everything, then scraped with a shovel, then re-sloshed. Allowed to dry, then dusted the heck out of everything with DE. Doused the plastic nest boxes and the perches with disinfectant spray that is supposed to be safe for birdies, until everything was dripping.
Washed all 30 chicken feet thoroughly, then rubbed Vaseline on the feet of the cochins and extra-virgin olive oil on the feet of the bare-legged chickens, because the bare-legged chickens looked perfectly healthy. Trimmed cochin toenails. Put down new wood shavings (encased in plastic from the feed store) and cleaned the feeder, waterers.
Did all this at about, oh, 7-10am. Checked the birdies just now, and they look grumpy but OK, still have some goo on their feet so I don't think it needs renewed just yet. Was actually quite humorous to see them sliding around on their oily feet in the bathroom. Will re-grease chickens tomorrow morning and every day thereafter for a week or so before I hope for any improvement.
I read some the archives, and honestly, I don't think this infestation is so horrible. We're talking, one chicken who has four toes total that look like my Grandmom's (complete with plantar warts), two others who look like they've got athlete's foot, one of which has lost one toe's worth of foot feathers. All other chickens, breeds that do not have feathers on feet, look great.
Disinfecting the whole coop with bleach for a day is not an option--I'm in Mass., the weather is horrible outside, there's nowhere else to put them for a day. Also, the barn might well disintegrate or something if I bleached it. If the mites can be treated without Ivomec, I'd rather avoid it, because I rather like eating eggs; I want to save that as a last resort.
How long do mites incubate, before you see some funky feet? I strongly suspect the mites occurred when I was laid up with a broken foot, and we temporarily switched to the Deep Litter method--never had mites when I changed the litter weekly.
