you might need to start thinking about alternatives to Permethrin:I've dealt with a lot of Scaly Leg Mite. I've been writing about it on this thread recently. Henry has it. He's had it most of his life. His daughter Matilda had it. His daughter Mow has it. None mentioned have dropped dead, or gone off their food.
I had quite a few birds in Catalonia that were susceptible to SLM; none died, ate less or even looked depressed about the problem.
I had birds in Hertfordshire that also seemed to be susceptible to SLM. None went off their food and none died.
All the birds that had SLM lived with roosted with, mated with and bathed with other birds who didn't have SLM. Not once did any of the non SLM birds catch SLM.
It seems from my experiences at least that it is a genetic problem, some birds are susceptible to it while others are not, irrespective of the contact with infected birds.
The advice to isolate and even kill infected birds is just plain ludicrous but many of the medical texts advise isolation for just about any health problem. Isolation from the group is often the worst thing one can do. The bird gets stressed and the stress slows and in some case prevents full recovery.
The same unhelpfull expert advice regarding Ivermectin is trotted out over and over again despite the obvious problem. For Ivermectin to work the mite has to feed on the bird. The bird isn't overly concerned with mites wandering around on their body; it's the mite biting and feeding that's the problem.
Ideally what one wants and what the bird wants is to kill the mite before it feeds. It's why Permethrin is a better solution to mites than Ivermectin; it kills the live mites without the necessity of the mite feeding. Unfortunately niether chemical deals with the eggs so treatment will be ongoing. With Ivermectin and a laying hen, if one takes the withdrawral advice one might not be able to eat the eggs from the treated bird for months.
The fastest way to deal with SLM is to drown them in surgical spirit, rubbing alcohol for the Americans. One needs to keep the legs submerged for a couple of minutes. Anything that can be applied to the legs and feet of the bird that will stay in place and suffocate the mites will work. Most experienced chicken keepers know this. I have used various things but a mixture of iodine which is anti fungal and antiseptic and Vaseline works well provided one gets adequated coverage. The problem is it's all a bit messy and requires lenghty handling of the bird which many keepers are uncomfortable with or unable to do.
The next problem is many keepers do not understand that the scales will not return to normal and because the lifted scales don't return to their normal position they assume the mites haven't been killed. The scales don't return to normal until the bird sheds the old scales and grows in new. Mow is currently growing in new scales on the patches the old scales have either fallen off or been picked off.
Isolation, Ivermectin and killing the bird is just bonkers. Using Ivermectin on a particulary bad case makes sense if a smothering/drowning treatment is used in conjuction.
https://www.pan-uk.org/pet-meds-environment/
. Although the decree is slightly ambiguous if this concerns the whole country or only region under Avian Flu alert. I can just imagine the look of the people at the town hall if I would show up with the required form - I'm sure no one here has the slightest clue about it !
