NY chicken lover!!!!

[Pyxis]

There is a specific product for leg mites. It looks to me as if the infestation is extreme and there may be an infections as well.  Vaseline or Bag Balm is a great preventative for mites. You can even smear it on the roosts and should. 

As for cleaning the coop this time of year. I was afraid we wouldn't get a January thaw. I think it's natures way of giving us a chance to spruce things up a bit. I just cleaned all the worst of the poop out and added more dry shavings.  It gets very damp underneath and you have to keep things dry. 

The gasoline idea is not good. Kind a like what I read about squirting kerosine down their nostrils for colds.  Its one of those ignorant things farmers used to do. 

I guess why I'm thinking it's not scaly leg mites is because this is what extreme scaly leg mite infestation looks like:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/classconne...78345/jpg/lkjaskjdasd-14CC4927E4708D3931A.jpg

As you can see it affects both feet and the scales are raised and crusty looking, and there is no swelling or discoloration like in sweetpea's hen.

I'm also wondering if maybe she broke the foot somehow and now it's infected. There's some weird red coloration going on in one of the toenails like bruising - like how your toenail will bruise underneath and blood will be trapped under there if you drop something heavy on it.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Actually, she has that weird red coloring in two toenails...the curled one isn't visible in the pictures. I wouldn't have thought scaly leg mites, for the reasons you mentioned, Pyxis, but the scales ARE lifting and coming off.

Google hasn't been too much help....searching, "Peeling chicken feet" brings up all kinds of how-tos on peeling chicken feet...lol.

It is curious that she went through that phase last month...not eating, got real thin, lethargic, etc. Her comb is definitely pale. She is otherwise active (as much as she can be) and doesn't seem in any other way afflicted.

As for the gasoline method...my understanding is that it was recommended by some poultry specialist dude from UCONN. I wouldn't know one way or the other, but I generally trust Chicken Chick and in the comments on her Scaly Mites page, she seems to clearly prefer the gasoline method.

I can't imagine it would be good for the bird. But then again...neither is having the mites. And other methods of treatment take weeks to fix the issue, where the gasoline method, supposedly, takes just a few days.

So I don't know!

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Oh and fwiw, she still gets around remarkably well! She can run (limps), gets up on the lower roost bar, gets into the lower nest boxes, etc.

I don't know what to make of it!

 

[Pyxis]

Actually, she has that weird red coloring in two toenails...the curled one isn't visible in the pictures.  I wouldn't have thought scaly leg mites, for the reasons you mentioned, Pyxis, but the scales ARE lifting and coming off.

Google hasn't been too much help....searching, "Peeling chicken feet" brings up all kinds of how-tos on peeling chicken feet...lol.  

It is curious that she went through that phase last month...not eating, got real thin, lethargic, etc.  Her comb is definitely pale.  She is otherwise active (as much as she can be) and doesn't seem in any other way afflicted.  

As for the gasoline method...my understanding is that it was recommended by some poultry specialist dude from UCONN.  I wouldn't know one way or the other, but I generally trust Chicken Chick and in the comments on her Scaly Mites page, she seems to clearly prefer the gasoline method.  

I can't imagine it would be good for the bird.  But then again...neither is having the mites.  And other methods of treatment take weeks to fix the issue, where the gasoline method, supposedly, takes just a few days.  

So I don't know!  

Yes, it's all very strange, lol. Well, treating for mites won't hurt! Instead of gasoline, go for the Vaseline method which literally smothers them to death (so it shouldn't take weeks) and has the added effect of helping moisturize and remove dead scales so new ones can grow, or you could try the Eprinex or the mite specific spray Rancher recommended. I just really wouldn't use gasoline. It might be on that page but it's definitely an old timey treatment that's not recommended anymore like how you really shouldn't go splashing it all over a dog to try to treat mange.

 

[Gramma Chick]

What is the obsession over sillies? They are small and not great layers from what I have read. Other than a therapy animal they seem to serve no purpose. Just curious, I'm not judging silkie owners hack I have a midget dog

I think you either like them or you dont ...
I think of them as chicken eye candy ...
Feathers in their eyes & on their feet seem un-practical to me .
Non Hatchery chickens go broody & lay bigger eggs ..
I personally like Sumatras ...they are small chickens ...intelligent...and feisty ...
Mine have fought with hawks ..
My little hen Yap Yap...did as a 3 month old pullet ..when she was attacked ..
They were rolling end over end when I went outside upon hearing the ruckus .
Thankfully she didnt have a scratch on her

 

[Gramma Chick]

 

[Gramma Chick]

People make me crazy. I posted a breeding trio of ayam cemanis on craigslist. I asked $300 for them, only because the rooster has red in his wattles. These are adult six month old birds that are about to start laying, and I'm charging half of what the going price is for chicks on them.

Craiglist you get all kinds of strange / cheap people ..

Do you think your Cemanis are smarter than the average bird ?

 

[Pyxis]

Do you think your Cemanis are smarter than the average bird ?

Maybe! Raptor, the rooster, figured out that he could slide himself over the gap between the run door and the top of the run before I closed it in. He'd get out, run riot with the hens of the layer flock, then pop himself back in his coop to take care of his hens, eat, and sleep. My other chickens sometimes have a hard time just getting into their open run after free ranging, lol. They are also very, very curious - they always have to know what I'm doing at all time. And it seems they can learn 'commands' to an extent. They will be clamoring in their run for my attention when I go out to feed everyone and I will tell them "I'll be there in a minute" if I have to go do stuff for the other flocks first, and they will immediately settle down and wait patiently as long as I don't take too long. So possibly!

 

[akaruby]

A question for you guys - since I'm going to start breeding my silkies should I have a separate breeding pen or let me roosters be in with everyone?

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Yes, it's all very strange, lol. Well, treating for mites won't hurt! Instead of gasoline, go for the Vaseline method which literally smothers them to death (so it shouldn't take weeks) and has the added effect of helping moisturize and remove dead scales so new ones can grow, or you could try the Eprinex or the mite specific spray Rancher recommended. I just really wouldn't use gasoline. It might be on that page but it's definitely an old timey treatment that's not recommended anymore like how you really shouldn't go splashing it all over a dog to try to treat mange.

You know, the other thing that has me questioning mites is the smell. Can't imagine mites would smell like that.