Scaly leg mites and chicken lice

[Vasicos1]

hi! I’m just wondering if any one has any advice for me.
I have been struggling for months with scaly leg mites and chicken lice. I have 22 chickens currently and most of them are showing symptoms of scaly leg mites. Some worse than others but I’m well aware that if one chicken has them they’ve all got them. This week I noticed a few chickens with runny bums and when I checked them I could see a few lice running around on them.
I have been struggling with this for almost a year and don’t know what to do next. For the scaly leg mites I have tried multiple methods to get rid of them but nothing has seemed very effective so far. I’ve used coopex to spray the coop down and repeated this also but I don’t think it ever worked effectively because I couldn’t manage to kill all the mites living on the chickens so it just started all over again.
For the lice I have tried poultry powder which I have used for red mites before and had great success but it doesn’t really seem to work on the lice.
I have heard of people wetting their chickens with coopex and spraying down the coop every week for a few weeks with great success. If it works it sounds like a great solution but when I looked it up, coopex says not to spray the chickens and to only use it on the perimeter. Is there another pesticide that I can use on the chickens to treat both lice and scaly leg mites. I feel like a drench would be the most effective way to treat them but I haven’t been able to find much information on how to treat multiple chickens effectively and safely. Any help would be appreciated I just want to get my chickens pest free.

 

[Debbie292d]

First, I would toss the chickens out, clean the coop thoroughly with vinegar water and let it dry. I'm a proponent of horse bedding pellets for the floor because they absorb the poop thus no smells, and keeps it dry, which bugs don't like. I'm also a proponent of food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) to keep the bugs out of the coop.

However, you have an outbreak, so the DE isn't going to help much now; it's better to use as a prevention. For outbreaks, I hear people use pour-on ivermectin and also Elector PSP, the latter, they get smaller doses of on eBay.

I would also put them on probiotics and vitamin water while they are fighting this as it's stressing them out. We use Hydro Hen or raw vinegar and Poultry Drench and give one one day, the other the next, then a day of fresh water, and repeat.

I would also put red pepper flakes and garlic in their feed if you can figure a way. We ferment so I mix it in there before serving. Both those things are said to make the chickens blood undesirable for worms and bugs, but who knows. It's safe and some swear by it, so I do it too.

For the scaley leg mites: Get some vaseline and go in the coop at night. Slather their feet and legs with it. Skip the next night, then do it again, skip a night, then do it again, for a total of three times.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Vasicos1]

hi! I’m just wondering if any one has any advice for me.
I have been struggling for months with scaly leg mites and chicken lice. I have 22 chickens currently and most of them are showing symptoms of scaly leg mites. Some worse than others but I’m well aware that if one chicken has them they’ve all got them. This week I noticed a few chickens with runny bums and when I checked them I could see a few lice running around on them.
I have been struggling with this for almost a year and don’t know what to do next. For the scaly leg mites I have tried multiple methods to get rid of them but nothing has seemed very effective so far. I’ve used coopex to spray the coop down and repeated this also but I don’t think it ever worked effectively because I couldn’t manage to kill all the mites living on the chickens so it just started all over again.
For the lice I have tried poultry powder which I have used for red mites before and had great success but it doesn’t really seem to work on the lice.
I have heard of people wetting their chickens with coopex and spraying down the coop every week for a few weeks with great success. If it works it sounds like a great solution but when I looked it up, coopex says not to spray the chickens and to only use it on the perimeter. Is there another pesticide that I can use on the chickens to treat both lice and scaly leg mites. I feel like a drench would be the most effective way to treat them but I haven’t been able to find much information on how to treat multiple chickens effectively and safely. Any help would be appreciated I just want to get my chickens pest free.

First, I would toss the chickens out, clean the coop thoroughly with vinegar water and let it dry. I'm a proponent of horse bedding pellets for the floor because they absorb the poop thus no smells, and keeps it dry, which bugs don't like. I'm also a proponent of food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) to keep the bugs out of the coop.

However, you have an outbreak, so the DE isn't going to help much now; it's better to use as a prevention. For outbreaks, I hear people use pour-on ivermectin and also Elector PSP, the latter, they get smaller doses of on eBay.

I would also put them on probiotics and vitamin water while they are fighting this as it's stressing them out. We use Hydro Hen or raw vinegar and Poultry Drench and give one one day, the other the next, then a day of fresh water, and repeat.

I would also put red pepper flakes and garlic in their feed if you can figure a way. We ferment so I mix it in there before serving. Both those things are said to make the chickens blood undesirable for worms and bugs, but who knows. It's safe and some swear by it, so I do it too.

For the scaley leg mites: Get some vaseline and go in the coop at night. Slather their feet and legs with it. Skip the next night, then do it again, skip a night, then do it again, for a total of three times.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thank you!
I spent all day yesterday cleaning the coop and spraying it down thoroughly with coopex. I treated all the chickens before letting them out for the day and I’ll repeat it a few times throughout the next two weeks.
I haven’t tried horse bedding pellets before so I’ll get some of those this week for my next round of cleaning as replacement bedding. And will definitely grab some probiotics and some DE to maybe sprinkle in their dust bath which I also replaced.
Fingers crossed it works. I hate that they’re having to live with bugs.
Time will tell.
Thanks again!

 

[nuthatched]

Man, thats really frustrating.
DE, vinegar, red pepper and garlic won't do diddly squiddly at all for mites or any parasites, internally or externally applied. There's no data on it, I've looked.
Have you cleaned out your coop completely, applied the product and got entirely new bedding and litter?
Are little birds or mice actively in you run or coop?
You can treat the birds and coop (corners, cracks etc) with permethrine based horse spray, then get brand new litter.
Treat the the slm with Vaseline scrubbed on with a soft tooth brush. It will take a while for the scales to regenerate.

 

[AYoung90]

I'm dealing with chicken lice & I came across someone that said to buy concentrated permethrin, mix it with a lot of water (I think it was 1/16cup permethrin with 5gal of water in a bucket -- but double check to make sure), & quickly dunk the infested chicken(s). I'm using a permethrin spray, but if I get desperate, I'll start dunking. I'm new to using permethrin, but lots of people on here swear by it, it might help your situation too.

 

[arazla]

My vet who works with farm animals said absolutely to use DE in the dust baths. It doesn't kill things immediately but it works to slowly kill them they more they get on them. He recommended a 50/50 blend with pure sulphur, not sulphate. There are mixed views on the potential for respiratory issues though. The herbal market isn't patented or owned in the same way that big pharma so just because there is no information out there doesn't mean there is zero efficacy. People have been using nature's remedies for years. However, once there's a bad outbreak, probably need something stronger.