Mites on Brahma legs?

[prestoconfuoco]

Hi all,

We've recently had a bit of an issue with mites; our buff orpington and one of our brahmas seem to have had them. They were acting down/sleepy/puffed up and uncomfortable, very lethargic, etc. We treated them and they seem to have been improving. We also treated the entire coop/run with mite powder and removed the top layer of dirt/straw etc.

However, our other buff brahma has started to seem a bit uncomfortable as well. When I went to go check on her this afternoon I noticed her legs looked like this. Our light brahma has legs that look like this as well, but less severe; just red/swollen and not quite as bad as the buff brahma's legs are (depicted here).


Here's what's confusing me - we have two buff brahmas. When the first brahma appeared to have mites, her legs did not appear anything like this at all. When the buff orpington had mites her legs appeared completely unaffected as well. However, now the second buff brahma's legs are looking like this, as well as our light brahma's. Are these the same mites that are just infesting a different spot (their legs) - or could this be an entirely different problem altogether?

It would seem crazy to me if we had problems with two separate kinds of mites, but I wanted to make sure that isn't what's happening. What does this appear to be to you guys, and how is it treated?

Thanks very much.

 

[azygous]

You may have two different kinds of mites. There are fowl mites and scaly leg mites. They are treated differently. Dusting powder with permethrin can treat the fowl or coop mites, but a thick oil or liquid permethrin or spinosad is needed for the leg mites to smother them.

Leg mites get deep under the scales and the resulting mite poop expands and inflames the scales, causing immense discomfort, redness, swelling, and even infection.

I use Elector PSP (Amazon), and mix up a two quart soak. I immerse the legs and feet of the affected chicken and soak for ten minutes. That's all that's needed. If you use a thick oil such as castor oil or Vaseline, you need to repeat it in a week to ten days. Same with permethrin.

 

[prestoconfuoco]

Thanks. We're using Vaseline to start with, so we'll probably apply it every other day or so just to be safe, and then we can move on to something like Elector if necessary. Thanks for the help!