Scaly leg mites and ivermectin

[Hmenzi]

Hello!

I have an issue with scaly leg mites effecting a few of the birds in my flock, I believe they were brought in by an outside rooster. I have 1% Injectable cattle ivermectin and know some folks have had success in using a drop per chicken orally or applied to their backs or under the wings.

Will this type of ivermectin work? Do people have better luck doing it orally or topically? I think I remember reading to repeat treatment every two weeks until I've done it three times, and toss all eggs for a month afterwards.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

We have to treat for SLM about every two years. The last couple of times we used the Ivermectin Pour On for cattle, 5mg. We used to use vaseline, and that works fine if you just have a few chickens. That you slather on their feet and legs every three days, then repeat that a week later. When we grew to several dozen chickens, we switched to using Ivermectin.

It's put on the chicken's neck. The easiest way is if you have two of you, go in the coop at night. Hold a chicken and part the feathers on their neck while the other person puts the appropriate number of drops on their neck. There are calculations for how much per weight of the bird, but I wanted to know how many drops. The drop calculation I got from the bitchinchickens site.

Basically, if it's a small silkie, they get one drop. The medium sized ones around 2-3 lb get two drops. The roosters around 3-4 lb get three drops.

Repeat this in 7-10 days.

There is a two-week egg withdrawl suggested.