Severe scaly leg mites—chicken unable to walk properly, legs shaking?

[Laylashens]

Hi,
I’ve been treating one of my speckled sussexes for scaly leg mites for several months now but they just keep coming back, and she’s eating and perky looking but doesn’t like to move. She just stands around in the coop most of the time, and when she moves, it’s this weird run where she picks up her feet as of trying to do high knees. All the scales around her toes are gone—it’s just dry crusty skin. This time, I’m being harsher and more consistent with the treatment and am treating the whole flock as well as the coop. However, as I went to give my Sussex a mineral oil soak, I felt her legs violently vibrating. Could the mites have caused this, or is it actually neurological? If the mites did cause it, will her leg function improve again after treatment or is the damage permanent?

 

[azygous]

If all you've been using is mineral oil, it may be too thin to sufficiently smother the leg mites. Usually we use castor oil or Vaseline. After this long, the worst of the infestations may also be infected with staph bacteria by now.

I suggest two things - spinosad and an antibiotic. I suggest this antibiotic https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=67EF2A10-FA42-433F-9577-EC9486093279 as it's good for treating staph infection.

This place also sells Elector PSP which is expensive up front, but extremely concentrated so a tiny bit goes a long way. I still have my first bottle I bought many years ago. It works extremely well as a leg soak to kill leg mites. Normally, one soak kills the mites, but I suggest two soaks a week apart.