Scaly Leg Mites - Need Best / Easiest / Quickest Solution - Scaley

[ChickyNamibia]

Thanks, I am just scared I hurt them since the crusts are really thick. Should I due to this soak and wash them once a week until I have all the scales off. I would have to soak their feet say at least 20 minutes before anything will come off

 

[ten chicks]

Thanks, I am just scared I hurt them since the crusts are really thick. Should I due to this soak and wash them once a week until I have all the scales off. I would have to soak their feet say at least 20 minutes before anything will come off

Yes, you could,after a week of leaving on the oil/vaseline(apply oil/vaseline as it wears off)look at them and then determine if they need another soak.

 

[froggiesheins]

Thanks, I am just scared I hurt them since the crusts are really thick. Should I due to this soak and wash them once a week until I have all the scales off. I would have to soak their feet say at least 20 minutes before anything will come off

Could you possibly post a picture of the feet? It would help alot..thank you...

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have tried several things for scaly mite, WD 40 , Vaseline , chest rub, spray cooking oil etc .
The chest rub is affective, but very messy, and like the Vaseline it is smothering the nasties, but I think the added ingredient of camphor really does them in. Spray oil, be it WD 40 or cooking oil is definitely the easiest method. Treating the perches and nesting boxes is of the utmost importance. I go to the rural supplies depot and purchase 1 kg of yellow sulphur powder and sprinkle throughout the coop. I have also mixed the sulphur into Vaseline and applied to the legs with good results. I'm not sure what sevine dust is, but the active constituent is probably sulphur.
Btw that kilo will last months and I use it on my goats when they have lice. Retails here for about $4.50 per kilo. None of the birds that I have bred have mites, only the ones I rescue.

 

[ChickyNamibia]

Good morning, sorry for only replying now but Namibia was once again down on the internet. Ok here are some pics of my 2 involved chicks. It was hard to get the picture since they colour mingle with the sand in the fruit tree orchard

 

[Beekissed]

It takes a good while for scale mites to do that level of damage, so I'm wondering how often you look at the bird's feet? I've noticed others with the same level of damage on this thread and it always begs the question~how in the world did they get that bad before someone noticed?

I know...not constructive, but in a way it is....good husbandry includes checking your flock appearance frequently, even down to the toes. That doesn't mean you have to handle them all the time, a good glance can see something like this from several yards distance.

For feet like that I'd soak, scrub lightly but I'd not be prying off any of that scale until it has been treated and they start to naturally slough off as new and healthy scales grow in underneath. If you can't afford NuStock or do not have a source, castor oil can be found at any drug store and even at Dollar General and is a great and effective scale mite treatment. It's all natural, the correct viscosity to penetrate scale layers, is a great emollient and it has a dual action of smothering the mites and preventing further infestation. It will soften those scales and promote healthy regrowth of the new scales.

I'm very impressed with castor oil for scale mite treatment. For your bird, I'd soak, scrub lightly and gently, treat and wait. In a couple of weeks I'd repeat this and you may get to remove old scales that are lifting and falling off at that time.

 

[ChickyNamibia]

Hi Beekissed,
I agree with you that the legs look bad but it is not of neglectancy. I have tried a thousand things already for approximately half a year and it just does not work that is why I started searching the internet because the advice of other chicken owners would not help.
We live at the coast so this time of the year is is foggy, moist and not very warm, I guess this also helps the scaly leg mites to spread.
I have soaked the feet, scrubbed them gently and hung the feet into cooking oil. They seem to like it since they do not run away when they see me comming with my tools. It is too early though to say whether it works. In Namibia you do not get NuStock but if oil works as well in fact I want to try Vaseline next time, than this will be fine.
Thanks for your concern but things are not alwyas the way they look. Not everybody is fond of the internet and spends his spare time before the computer. I work on the computer all day long and believe me I am glad to switch that bugger off in the eveneing with my eyes square.
Have a lovely evening all of you

 

[Beekissed]

You might try treating your roosts as well after getting this cleared up so it won't come back as easily. I can see why they are so bad if you've been doctoring them for a year and a half without results! If this does not work either, please PM me your address and I will ship you some castor oil or NuStock. You'll not be sorry to have the NS on hand..it works for so many things and for all animals.

 

[LaLa Chickie]

I guess if it is just a matter of smothering them then an oil based product will work, so I'll go with the cheapest / easiest to apply. What about cooking oil in a spray bottle? If not that, then maybe Vaseline is cheapest.

I'm not apposed to anything a bit more toxic... if it were guaranteed to work best I'd even use WD-40.

I guess I should treat their perches too?

Can't wait to see if you get results. I had to get rid of a Rooster I had rescued. I didn't know anything was wrong til my favorite Black Star was so infested she died and turns out he "who I rescued" from a parking lot was infested. I didn't know until I put his picture up on this site and someone told me what he had. So far I haven't had any other issues and used the cleaning out, spraying with poultry spray and DE and other things recommended...I haven't had anymore issues and that was in February 2013 good luck!

 

[froggiesheins]

I am going to throw in my 2 cents worth. I am the QUEEN [well by my house] of getting rid of these buggers. THE best way [althought for some of you peeps it is impractical] is to catch the afflicted one, wrap in a towel on your lap and scrap away all the cootie junk under every scale, this can take anywhere from 1/2 hour to two hours. If you put the towel over the birdies head they calm down alot. After scraping, take a stiff toothbrush and scrub under the scales. Then put vaseline on and place birdie in a clean clean clean cage/coop. Repeat ALL OF THIS in two days. Ususally it only takes one repeat to get the scales cleaned out and healing. Then all you have to do is use the "oil" be it vaseline, cooking, Nu-Stock or other fancy oils balms. ALL YOU ARE DOING is smothering the buggers, so go for the cheep stuff.

These pictures below are of scaley leg mites that have started to invade the bone....HORRORS!
This little OEGB was brought to me to "fix". Little "Lucky" had lost one toe completely and a second one was starting to die. He had on his feet an accumulation of mite cooties / filth & Blu-cote. I cried when I saw him, never have I seen such a bad case. I had to use pliers to break the "seal" of all this crap around his feet. Scraped till I was down to live skin [this took over 2 hours], slathered neosporin on and wrapped loosely in cotton guaze and paper tape. 3 days later took off the wraps and cleaned again, repeated wrapping. Once there was a healthy looking scab on the raw skin, I started leaving the bandage off. It took 2 weeks for the left foot to heal and all toes had BEAUTIFUL pink skin showing and ALL toes left reacted to pain WOOT!!!!! AS A FOOTNOTE: I also very carefully clipped his toe nails, evertime I debrided, till they showed blood, this was to encourage the bllod flow to the end of the toe.
Lucky has gone on to live with the little boy that found him and you would never know that this little roo has had a life threatening foot problem

FIRST TWO PICTURES ARE: BEFORE: [ but AFTER two hours of scraping & debriding]

TWO WEEKS LATER....

HERE IS LUCKY WAS A MODEL PATIENT!

ng,].

QUESTION FROM A BYCer.......
Thanks for that response, froggiesheins. What did you use the do the scraping?

VERY STEADY hands, good close-up eyesight and a cheep paring knife. You want the knife, or similair sharp edge, to be thin, small and a little flexible. You will be choking up on the knife and holding it ON the blade for greater control. Think like you are scraping goobers from under your own finger& toe nail beds.
It is so much easier to work on LF too! I was working on all small banty sized birds..

This is the chain of events that occurs with the mite: First they will raise the scales off the leg till the scale dies and falls off. the mites then work deeper into the scale bed and start chewing there way around a joint [skin easier to penetrate]. They just keep eating away around the joint and leaving their trail of cooties to keep building up. Once they have broken the skin and bleeding/fuilds start to ooze, that combined with the "cooties" to start forming a ring of junk around the joint. as they keep eating the ring gets more fluids and keeps building till you have a constricting ring that just gets tighter and tighter till it gets to the point it starts cutting off circulation and necrosis occurs. On Lucky, if you look at the right foot right outside toe, you can see where the buggers actually cut off the circulation and death of the end of the toe occured. It will eventually fall off on its own. Now on the left foot middle toe, this one got to the point where it was gettin constricted . I was able to save that toe by getting that ring of crap off of it and clipping the nail until it bled a little bit to encourage circulation. Left foot far right toe, was in worse shape where the skin was open and the fluids/blood were actively flowing. I was very diligent about cleaning and keeping a scab from forming untill there was good circualtion down thru the toe nail. I also gently bent/massaged all the toes. cleaned / wrapped in loose gauze / neosporin / and secured all with PAPER tape. CLEAN CLEAN bedding. Leave on 2- 3 days, remove, repeat.

AS A FOOTNOTE: the bird pictured in this lost all his scales from the mites, IF you can save the scales by scraping under them that is great.