Leg Mites

[brahmabreeder]

The other day I noticed some of my hens have leg mites. Some of them are feather legged chickens. I was wondering if anyone had an idea as to how to treat leg mites.

 

[GoldenSparrow]

Could you post a picture?

lather their legs in Vaseline.
repeat every few days for I think its 1 to 2 weeks. depending how bad the mites are.

(someone correct me if I am wrong)


It will suffocate the mites.

 

[brahmabreeder]

I wont be able to post a picture until tuesday.

 

[brahmabreeder]

This is my rooster I just bought and my other birds legs look like this just not as bad.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

"The Scaly-Leg Mite (Knemidocoptes mutans) lives under the scales on feet and legs of poultry. It also may attach to the comb and wattles. It causes a thickening of scales on the feet and legs that gives the impression that the scales are protruding directly outward, rather that laying flat on the limb. It spends its entire life cycle on the birds and spreads mainly by direct contact."

from
http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disparas.htm

I dip both legs in mineral oil (veg oil works too) every day for 2 weeks (toward the end I am dipping every other day) to smother the mites. Also a good idea to do the comb and wattles - smear some on.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Will the mineral oil ruin the leg feathers?

 

[thaokou21]

Could you post a picture?

lather their legs in Vaseline.
repeat every few days for I think its 1 to 2 weeks. depending how bad the mites are.

(someone correct me if I am wrong)


It will suffocate the mites.

vaseline will work fine. it wont damage the feather. it made not b legs mite, it made b that your chicken his mite all over their body. bath it to make sure.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Thank you I will do that later today.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Will the mineral oil ruin the leg feathers?

I did it once to a rooster with leg feathering but I didn't notice any damage. If this is important to you you might want to go with the vaseline so you can control the spread of it better.

Yes thaokou21 has a good point- you should definitely dust the birds and clean the coop/spray for bugs out there too just in case they have other mites. Be sure to repeat treatment in one week to get hatching eggs. Here is a nice pesticide list:

Pesticides Used for Control of Poultry Insect Pests

 

[brahmabreeder]

I'll try all of this and hopefully it works