Scaly Leg Mites?

[ChickenFeeds]

The first three pics are of Penny, a young hen that I recently got. (Can’t tell if she’s laying yet, but she crouches down when I put my hand on her back, so she might start soon (or she’s already laying.)) The next two are of Emma, a 4 year old hen. (It’s just the two of them, there are no other flock members.) The last one is a bonus pic of Emma

The chickens are in Thailand, (I live in California but go to Thailand for the summers) but when I try to access BYC from there, I get blocked. (I have no idea why.) I am currently on a short vacation (vacation from a vacation!), where I can access BYC. I am returning to Thailand on the 3rd. Right before I left, (which was around a week ago) I put Vaseline on Emma and Penny’s legs. The coop doesn’t have a dust bath, but I’ll add one as soon as I get back. When I noticed the scales, Penny was also keeping her tail down, but it stopped on the day before I left. (Maybe it’s just because she’s a young hen and is just starting to lay/is getting used to laying?) Emma was acting completely normal.

Do the chickens have scaly leg mites? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[DobieLover]

The pullets legs are clean. The different coloration is in the scales and that's her normal.

It won't hurt to rub some Vaseline under the scales on the ankle areas of your hen. Do that every other day for a week or two. It takes longer than that for the scales to replace themselves so don't worry if they remain slightly raised.

That last picture is classic!

 

[ChickenFeeds]

Do you think that Penny’s tail being down is something to be worried about, or is it just getting used to / preparing for laying eggs?

 

[Eggcessive]

I see scaly leg mites in picture 4 left leg. The vaseline should be applied for several weeks to be effective. If you can get sulfur power (available in summers during gardening season,) it can be mixed into the vaseline, and it will kill the mites. In the US we can get a horse cream called Nustock which contains that.

 

[ChickenFeeds]

Alright, so I’m leaving today in about 2 hours. I’ll check BYC right before I leave, even though it’s probably the middle of the night for some of you guys. When I get there, I’ll be sure to put on Vaseline for both of them for a couple of weeks and sulfur powder if I can find it. I’ll be back in the US in about a month so I’ll post how it turned out.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ChickenFeeds]

Hi! Got back in the US about a week ago. I washed their legs (water only) and put some Vaseline on their legs for every other day after getting back. About two weeks in, I had to skip four days because of another little trip. Afterwards I put Vaseline every day because some websites said to, and I knew it wouldn’t hurt. Near the end, a scale or two would sometimes come off Emma’s legs while they were being washed. I wasn’t able to get any sulfur powder. Do you think that the scaly leg mites went away?