Scaly leg mites and or ?

[davidschaffer]

This winter was very tough on our flock. I have attached some pictures of the worst two. Some have no signs of illness at all. At first, I thought maybe it was frost bite but the research I've done so far is leading me towards mites. Please help. We just recently picked up 7 chicks that we would like to add to the flock when there ready but I need to cure my sick birds first. Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. The first picture of the neck could be feather loss from lice/mites or feather picking. Look under the vent area for tiny bugs or clumps of white or gray eggs at the base of feathers. The second picture looks like bad scaly leg mites. Gently scrub the legs and feet once a wek in warm soapy water, dry, then apply vegetable oil, vaseline, or castor oil, and rub it in to get under the scales. This may take a couple of months to improve. Clean the nests and coop out, spray for mites with Permectrin II or permethrin, and put fresh bedding in the coop. Straw can harbor mites inside. The last picture does look like frostbite. The swollen areas may do okay, but if there are any black tips of toes they may fall off. Spray some BluKote or iodine on them. Here is a link for you: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

 

[davidschaffer]

Welcome to BYC. The first picture of the neck could be feather loss from lice/mites or feather picking. Look under the vent area for tiny bugs or clumps of white or gray eggs at the base of feathers. The second picture looks like bad scaly leg mites. Gently scrub the legs and feet once a wek in warm soapy water, dry, then apply vegetable oil, vaseline, or castor oil, and rub it in to get under the scales. This may take a couple of months to improve. Clean the nests and coop out, spray for mites with Permectrin II or permethrin, and put fresh bedding in the coop. Straw can harbor mites inside. The last picture does look like frostbite. The swollen areas may do okay, but if there are any black tips of toes they may fall off. Spray some BluKote or iodine on them. Here is a link for you: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

Thank you for the reply. If the neck areas are not feather picking, what should I do?

 

[davidschaffer]

Thanks for the reply. The missing feathers on the neck looks the same on 3-4 of the birds, including the rooster. If its not feather picking, what should I do?

 

[Eggcessive]

Put some Nustock or some other bad tasting cream on her neck with the missing feathers. If it is pecking they should stop. Nustock is in feed stores and is a sulfur and pine oil mixture. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Durvet-001-0530-Nu-Stock-Ointment-12-Ounce/dp/B000HHSIYQ

 

[chickengeorgeto]

In the first picture the hens comb looks damaged around the top edge, likely by frost bite. This looks like it is now healing (notice the white part) The pictures of the shanks looks gross like the hen may loose a toe or two, again likely from frost bite. The missing feathers could be many things but since several birds are affected Google how to force molt

 

[davidschaffer]

Put some Nustock or some other bad tasting cream on her neck with the missing feathers. If it is pecking they should stop. Nustock is in feed stores and is a sulfur and pine oil mixture. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Durvet-001-0530-Nu-Stock-Ointment-12-Ounce/dp/B000HHSIYQ

In the first picture the hens comb looks damaged around the top edge, likely by frost bite. This looks like it is now healing (notice the white part) The pictures of the shanks looks gross like the hen may loose a toe or two, again likely from frost bite. The missing feathers could be many things but since several birds are affected Google how to force molt

Thanks again for the replies. I picked up some VetRx, red clay earth and some garden and poultry dust ( with permethrin ). The VetRx says in case of heavy scale I should rub in thoroughly all over the shanks and toes. Repeat every three days until legs are completely free of scale. Anybody have experiance with this? What else should I be doing? Thanks..

 

[chickengeorgeto]

.... The VetRx says in case of heavy scale I should rub in thoroughly all over the shanks and toes. Repeat every three days until legs are completely free of scale. Anybody have experiance with this? What else should I be doing? Thanks..

No No No, a Chickens feet should have scales on them, just nor rough scales. Gently apply what ever ointment you prefer (Vaseline works well) ever 3 days or so until the chicken's feet is as smooth as a babies bottom and new scales have replaced the old ones.

 

[One Chick Two]

The bantam in my avatar had a big case of scaly leg mite when we purchased him last June. The scales were rough and raised like tree branches. Both the tops and bottoms of feet and deep cracks need to be well saturated evenly everywhere, and that's hard to do with thick product like Vaseline.

What we did was dip him in mineral oil in a cup daily for a month, touch up especially bad areas with deep cracks with Vaseline, then "flour" his legs with DE, so he stalked around with white 'boots.' However, he walked MUCH easier when we did that, and the oils didn't get all over his feathers when layed down or he was on the roost. He also quit slipping off the roost at night too.

It too about 4 months to get the yuck completely sloughed off. His legs look great now. We still touch him up from time to time (as he is part of our free ranging group) and we can watch their legs, to make sure everyone stays leg mite free.

Good luck!

 

[davidschaffer]

The bantam in my avatar had a big case of scaly leg mite when we purchased him last June. The scales were rough and raised like tree branches. Both the tops and bottoms of feet and deep cracks need to be well saturated evenly everywhere, and that's hard to do with thick product like Vaseline.

What we did was dip him in mineral oil in a cup daily for a month, touch up especially bad areas with deep cracks with Vaseline, then "flour" his legs with DE, so he stalked around with white 'boots.' However, he walked MUCH easier when we did that, and the oils didn't get all over his feathers when layed down or he was on the roost. He also quit slipping off the roost at night too.

It too about 4 months to get the yuck completely sloughed off. His legs look great now. We still touch him up from time to time (as he is part of our free ranging group) and we can watch their legs, to make sure everyone stays leg mite free.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. We too let our birds free range but in a northern Michigan winter, they rarley leave the coup. What is DE? Our Bantam rooster is very aggresive, he has no signs of the mites and I hope it stays that way. The only bird with no signs of anything is our Beautiful Black Austrolop. I am worried that the missing feathers on the necks is more then just pecking as it seems to be in the same place on all the birds. I will take more pics. Thanks again.