we have a variety of 11 hens in our yard that we got in October.
this morning I noticed our black banty - who is much less social than the other chickens - was limping around and hiding in the back of the coop. She has been very reclusive lately but we attributed it to the weather and her usual lack of social interest in us humans.
I pulled her out and her legs are swollen and scabby.
Some internet research makes me think its "scaly leg mites"
none of the other chickens have any leg growths or anything scabby or swollen looking.
and hers are sooo bad.
I Vaselined them up and picked off some of the looser scabs.
I have her separated from the rest of the flock.
is this scaly leg mites?
is it possible 1 hen came infected back in Oct and it just got bad enough for me to notice or I didnt know what to look for until it was bad? we have not added any birds or used any pre used items with them. everything has been new.
(I am not really sure how to attach a picture - apologies if this does not work)
assuming she does have scaly leg mites I assume I need to treat all the chickens and fully disinfect their coop.
is putting Vaseline on their legs enough or should I be putting something like kerosene or tea tree on their legs first and then the vaseline?
How do I go about disinfecting their coop in the snowy winter? I assume I strip out all the bedding (pine shavings) and then spray it down, let it sit for two days then rebed it fresh and let them back in. but they need shelter this time of year. and a few are just starting to lay too.
Can these bugs infect us and our house?
on a regular basis:
should I be deworming? (sounds like cattle ivamectin will work?)
my chicken book doesnt really say much about that.
anything else I should be doing on a normal basis?
they get all the layena they can eat and they get scratch feed/corn as well as veggie and bread scraps.
this morning I noticed our black banty - who is much less social than the other chickens - was limping around and hiding in the back of the coop. She has been very reclusive lately but we attributed it to the weather and her usual lack of social interest in us humans.
I pulled her out and her legs are swollen and scabby.
Some internet research makes me think its "scaly leg mites"
none of the other chickens have any leg growths or anything scabby or swollen looking.
and hers are sooo bad.
I Vaselined them up and picked off some of the looser scabs.
I have her separated from the rest of the flock.
is this scaly leg mites?
is it possible 1 hen came infected back in Oct and it just got bad enough for me to notice or I didnt know what to look for until it was bad? we have not added any birds or used any pre used items with them. everything has been new.
(I am not really sure how to attach a picture - apologies if this does not work)
assuming she does have scaly leg mites I assume I need to treat all the chickens and fully disinfect their coop.
is putting Vaseline on their legs enough or should I be putting something like kerosene or tea tree on their legs first and then the vaseline?
How do I go about disinfecting their coop in the snowy winter? I assume I strip out all the bedding (pine shavings) and then spray it down, let it sit for two days then rebed it fresh and let them back in. but they need shelter this time of year. and a few are just starting to lay too.
Can these bugs infect us and our house?
on a regular basis:
should I be deworming? (sounds like cattle ivamectin will work?)
my chicken book doesnt really say much about that.
anything else I should be doing on a normal basis?
they get all the layena they can eat and they get scratch feed/corn as well as veggie and bread scraps.
Last edited:
