Leg mites????

[Caleb999]

Does she have leg mites? She has been fully quarantined. If so, how do I treat them? I just got her, and she was kept in a bad environment. Like old eggs everywhere, and a very unclean coop. She is young, and I felt so bad for her I had to save her. I don't know what to think, thanks for the help

 

[MagpieDucks]

You might try posting this I the emergincies / diseases/ cures section.

 

[Caleb999]

I did already, but thanks for the advice.

 

[southernhens15]

I've heard that slathering their legs in Vaseline helps with that, it smothers the mites. Good luck!

 

[Suzie]

IF she has leg mites...you can bathe her legs in an epsom salt solution...then apply some vaseline...treat up to where the leg feathers are...apply in an upward direction...I say IF because if she does have leg mites...this would be at a very early stage...the scales do not look raised on her legs...precautionary measures are good...so no harm in treating her anyway!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Your bird does not look particularly like it has scaly mites...I'm more of a hands on person than photo....but being a young bird, I am more suspicious with any raising of the scales (Older birds will get some of that simply with age and not have mites).

Vaseline can help if you apply thickly and then reapply regularly, every week, for about a month. You have to be very consistent in order for it to work.

My general advice for rescue birds is to apply Ivermectin for all possible pests within and without...it is a fairly broad spectrum medicine for most internal and external parasites. You may also desire to place the bird on a short duration of medicated feed during quarantine to help it transition to the coccidia of your soil...then of course to keep it in quarantine until all doses are administered and the bird looks completely clean and healthy.

If you do go the Ivermectin route, I recommend cattle pour on....couple of drops at the base of the neck and then couple of drops at the base of the vent being very careful to not get it into the vent. It requires 3 doses 7 days apart to cure external parasites and eradicate internal. Efficacy will be greatly influenced by not applying onto skin (get below those feathers to bare skin), not following through at 7 days, not applying 3 doses. You will need to pull eggs during dosage....egg pull is 7 days after each dose, so 21 days total.

LofMc

 

[aart]

It does look like the beginning of scaly mites, young birds scales should not be raised at all.
I'd use some vaseline or bag balm on them.

My vet has Ivermectin with a 8 week withdrawal after last dose.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

It does look like the beginning of scaly mites, young birds scales should not be raised at all.
I'd use some vaseline of bag balm on them.

My vet has Ivermectin with a 8 week withdrawal after last dose.

Good comment...I've also seen a difference in withdrawal times too, and anytime an "off label" med is used, it makes it hard to know exactly what to do with conflicting information since "off label" means there isn't a clearly listed chart on the box. I think it depends on the concentration and method of administration. I've seen it as an oil topical 5%, but you can also get it at 1% topical and 1% injectable which many place in the mouth or water or feed.

I've been using this rule from:
https://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-medication/ivermectin-for-worms-lice-mites/

Although I do see research from feed based ivermectin also citing 7 days post administration for egg residue:
http://www.farad.org/publications/miscellaneous/LayingHensEggResidues.pdf

And while not poultry, this study was done on pigeons (squabs) for meat market that found residue quickly dissipated at 7 days...the squab industry chose a 2 week pull time.
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/11/2808.long

This professional paper was done in 2002 when Hygromycin B was taken off the market (which it has since come back onto FDA approval), and at the time Ivermectin was prescribed off label, and you see the 1% injectable placed in water and a recommendation of applying 2 times 10-14 days apart then pulling eggs for 30 days...that would be about 6 weeks of pulling eggs...(although the study from Farad shows feed based ivermectin dissipates in 7 days)
http://vet.uga.edu/images/uploads/pdrc/0402.pdf

I only use Ivermectin as an emergency effort on birds getting behind a population explosion of external mites and for new adult birds coming into my flock (which I limit to avoid disease issues), or on my broody hens as they are magnets for worms/parasites due to their brooding (but I don't sell their small bantam eggs)...I greatly prefer to use the faithful poultry dust and Hygromycin B to stay "on label" for laying hens...but I also know Ivermectin is a people de-wormer as well, so some residue could still be safe.

Everyone has to weigh this decision carefully with the conflicting opinions indeed.
LofMc

 

[Caleb999]

I forgot to mention, she is about 1 year old, and is a red sex links.
Thanks so much for the advice, it is greatly appreciated, and I will continue to give you updates,
Thanks,
Caleb

 

[MagpieDucks]

How is she doing today?