Scaly leg mite in aviary flock

I wondered how you had fared. It is amazing how little people are aware of when it comes to animals. I brought some of the worst ones home with me to treat. You can see here how bad they were.
This is Peggy. She stayed the longest with me but is now back with the rest and doing well. She had them on her head so bad that when I wiped them with oil she was down to raw skin.
61761_img_9901.jpg

61761_img_9903.jpg


This is Early.
61761_red_feet.jpg

These pics are after they had been treated some. There were huge layered lumps on the legs and mud balls and long toe nails....a mess.
 
Poor Peggy. Does she get around well enough with all those missing toes?

Seeing the state of her makes me even more determined to do something for those aviary birds. Call me pessimistic, but I wouldn't be surprised if nothing was done for the poor chickens. The woman I spoke to, while nice enough, seemed to be much more interested in the exotic birds in the enclosures than in the chooks. Also, people forget. I'll try giving the guy a ring tomorrow and see about volunteering so I can see to it that they receive treatment.

I have a question related to what Miss Lydia said about the way to their hearts being through their stomachs (I have plenty of experience with this due to the other half). To get them to come closer to the wall of the cage so that I could get a better look at their feet I threw them a handful of mixed poultry corn that I bought at a pet warehouse. I've just read the BYC safe treats list and saw that 'scratch' was on there but was recommended only in limited amounts. Are scratch and mixed poultry corn the same thing, and is it alright for me to hand feed them with it to make them easier to handle? The aviary keeper said I was fine feeding them that as 'that's the same stuff they use', and that they only ask that people don't feed them because they keep trying to feed them crisps.

There seems to be a contrary opinion to everything though.
 
I would think as long as they weren't fed a lot it would be fine. I just went at night to treat these as they were not accustomed to people touching them. I went out three or four times to see these chickens and I too did not think they were going to do anything either. To me it needed to be done immediately! I could not sleep worrying about those poor chickens so I just let them know what night I was coming. I hired a boy to help me catch them off the roost and we treated them all. I went back on my own the next couple times and the lady decided to help me then. If not treated, eventually they begin to lose the toes and then the foot and finally the leg...at which point they die. This I found out later had happened to a hen before I came along. It is unimaginable to me but these people were unaware and indecisive about what to do. Within ten minutes of getting home, I, like you, was able to figure out what was wrong and to find out what to do about it. I cannot, and will never, understand not doing something that simple.

Peggy gets around really well. At first, her toe nails were so long she had to step really high and go slow to keep from tripping up on them but once I got them cut and she realized she didn't have to step high anymore...so would zip around. I imagine it was very liberating for her.
Good luck! And stay on them till it's done!
sharon
 
Quote:
Sharon, I remember you posting about this a long time ago. I had no idea those chickens were in such bad shape. I'm glad you posted these pics depicting what you dealt with and what eventually happens to a chickens toes, feet and legs if scaley leg mites are not promptly dealt with. Many thanks for the pics and the time you devoted in helping them out!
 
Before then I had no idea either. The lady calmly admitted to me as we were doctoring them one night that she had picked up one that was really bad (ah, aren't these the ones here? I thought) and it's leg fell off.......seriously?????? She means no harm and, no, she doesn't know anything about chickens but I didn't either and I could see that something was bad wrong....I am very much a grad the bull by the horns type of person and most of my family must be too....she is the first person I have been around that literally stands there wringing her hands as she talked about how she knew something wasn't right but she just didn't know what to do so she did nothing. Poor lady. Poor chickens.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom