Scaly leg mite question?(pic added)

[rubysmom]

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Sorry not a very good picture. How sad is that one little feather

Also the purple coloring is from the blu-kote we used for the feather picking. It obviously didn't work very well.

Do these look like mites? Where do they come from? I think my LBrahma and other two birds may have them. Could that be why they are picking out her leg feathers? The scales do look raised on the LB but its hard to tell if that's just from where the feathers stick out? How do you know for sure if you have them?

My coop is very clean I think? Do they come from a dirty coop? My coop is only about 3 monthes old and I do use the orange oil sparingly and I change out all the shavings about 1 per month and scoop the poo daily?

Is it true that you only have to treat the bird and not the coop if you do have the scaly leg mites? Someone on a previous post said that they can only live on the bird? Is the tea tree oil considered safe for chickens?

thanks
claudia

 

[JennsPeeps]

Dunno if they're mites. *bump* I hoep someone else will have a response for you.

Until you figure out what's causing this, give those chickens some food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) for their dust baths. Only get "food grade", which you can purchase online if it's not available in stores where you are. DE kills insects and prevents parasites on chickens.

Keep us posted!

ETA link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth & approx cost is $20-25 shipped.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

not sure either but load those legs up with Vaseline until you know for sure. Can't hurt. Do it every two days until the legs look smooth again.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

If it is scaly leg mites it's early on. My neighbor's chickens had them really bad and she used WD-40 (Miss Prissy recommends it) once and retreated again 2 weeks later and they all cleared up. I would clean the coop and treat it with sevin.

 

[Psittizen Shikkin]

They don't look like mites because if it were, I would think the scales would stand up a lot more. Those leg scales look normal to me. You can treat it daily with the vaseline. I would use motor oil or WD40 on their roosts also. Not so much as to make it slick and drippy but a good coating that lets you get down in the crevices and joints of the roost. You can also use campho-phenique and it works fairly fast but doesn't stay on them long. If it isn't scaly leg mites, I'm sure someone here will have some ideas about what's going on.

 

[waterfowlrescue]

I have some roosters with scaly leg mites. Some were so bad the scales fell off when i got them. I have been dunking them in Adams water based spray and coating with some A&D ointment. I also use DE around the cages and have dusted them with it. My question is at what point are you sure the mites are gone? The scales look better and lay flat but how are you certain before you allow someone to adopt a chicken that its not going to carry this over to other birds. There is still some inflation on my guys but it was very bad, as i said in some places there arent any scales left for mites to hide under.

 

[rubysmom]

Thanks everybody. I'll try and get some better pics. Maybe it would be a good idea to throw a little vaseline on there just in case. Does anyone know about the safety of the tea tree oil?

 

[Jenski]

What do you use the orange oil for?

How old are the birds?
What are you feeding?
Have you noticed any picking others' feathers, or are they picking their own?

Are you sure they have mites? Looks like it could almost be an allergic reaction of some kind, but you may want to get an expert opinion.

The vaseline should help with scaly legs mites, but it takes time to heal. You may want to consider a soothing antibiotic cream instead of vaseline.

I know tea tree oil is supposed to be a panacea, but I have personally found it very irritating to my skin and I would be afraid to use it on my chickens for the same reason.

Sounds like you are keeping an immaculate coop ~

Jen in TN
~:<>

 

[Windy Ridge]

That looks like scaly leg mite to me. As others have said, petroleum jelly works well. WD-40 is probably easier to administer because you don't have to rub it on all over the leg--just spray!--but I have to admit I don't care for the smell, and I can't imagine the birds would either.

However, one wonders if predators would have the same aversion. Maybe it also works as raccoon repellent? (We could only hope!)

 

[dacjohns]

I have no experience with scaly leg mite and little experience with feather footed chickens. With that in mind take my comments with a grain of salt.

I looked pretty closely today at a bantam chicken with feather feet. The lower legs and feet were even worse looking than the OP. To me it looked like much of the gnarlyness (is that a word?) is from the feather follicle.