please help!

[kingstonchooks]

I am new to poultry keeping,about 6 months. Have 2 cocks and six hens.I am after some advice regarding two of the hens. I will start with the silkie. We picked her up with pretty bad scaly leg, we have bathed her legs in surgical spirit and brushed away old scale and debris as best as possible. I have then coated in sudocrem. Problem is she has thick chalk like substance on her legs (I believe this is the mite poop) and I am wondering can I remove it or will it fall off? Secondly I have a gold laced bearded polish hen who has the odd sneeze, but no other syptoms od disease or illness. I put cider vinegar in their water, should I be concerned? Thanks

 

[Shan30]

I am new to poultry keeping,about 6 months. Have 2 cocks and six hens.I am after some advice regarding two of the hens. I will start with the silkie. We picked her up with pretty bad scaly leg, we have bathed her legs in surgical spirit and brushed away old scale and debris as best as possible. I have then coated in sudocrem. Problem is she has thick chalk like substance on her legs (I believe this is the mite poop) and I am wondering can I remove it or will it fall off? Secondly I have a gold laced bearded polish hen who has the odd sneeze, but no other syptoms od disease or illness. I put cider vinegar in their water, should I be concerned? Thanks

I wouldn't be too worried about the occasional sneeze from just one bird. It's probably an allergy but just keep an eye out for any changes.

As for the one with leg mites, any chance we could see a picture?
We have always treated leg mites with nu-stock or sulphur mixed into an oil and rubbed on the legs but have never had it bad enough to see anything more than dry lifted scales.

 

[kingstonchooks]

Okay, will keep an eye out for changes on our polish girl. As for the scaly leg will try get a pic uploaded now.

 

[kingstonchooks]

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/ScalyLegMites/ScalyLegMites_Silkie_4.html
Looks like this!

 

[Suzie]

I have never used surgical spirit..the smell alone is bad enough...!

I would suggest you try soaking her legs in a betadine or epsom salt solution for 15 - 20 minutes...the hardened areas may soak off ( hopefully )....dry the legs thoroughly and apply nu stock or vaseline...repeat treatment twice a week until the hardened areas begin to slough off..once the hardened areas are gone, treat every week with nu-stock or vaseline until the original scales start to fall off..new scales will appear.

Apply the treatment up to where the feathers start on their legs.

Treat all chickens as they are likely to have the same problem.

 

[kingstonchooks]

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/ScalyLegMites/ScalyLegMites_Silkie_4.html

Looks like this

 

[kingstonchooks]

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/ScalyLegMites/ScalyLegMites_Silkie_4.html

 

[kingstonchooks]

I just really want to rid her legs of all the yellow chalky substance so im then left with old scales. I can then just keep slapping on the sudocrem and let the shedding of the old scales begin. Im determined to get this girls legs looking good again! She's a lovely looking bird otherwise....

 

[Suzie]

You can gently rub the lifted scale areas with the mite deposits by using a soft toothbrush once you have given her legs a good soak... be extremely careful if you decide to do this as it can result in bleeding and the further risk of an infection getting into her legs...sadly there is no quick fix to this problem of scaly leg mites.

 

[Shan30]

You can gently rub the lifted scale areas with the mite deposits by using a soft toothbrush once you have given her legs a good soak... be extremely careful if you decide to do this as it can result in bleeding and the further risk of an infection getting into her legs...sadly there is no quick fix to this problem of scaly leg mites. 

I agree, I would be very careful about scrubbing too hard as her legs are already very irritated. You may want to rub in an antibiotic such as polysporin(make sure it does not contain a painkiller) before coating them with something else.

Might be a good idea to do a quick treatment on the others even if they aren't showing signs. When I did this I simply kept a can of PAM (aerosol cooking oil) in the coop and would spray everyone's legs at lock up while they were roosting. They would slip and slide everywhere for a bit lol.