treating leg mites in volume update..problem toe

[kyrose]

Quote:
I might be wrong but I think the vapo-rub is mainly petroleum jelly and eucalyptus oil. That shouldn't be harmful to them. I know there are other animal medications that are made from petroleum jelly and is meant for those animals to ingest it. One that comes to mind is hairball remedy for cats. It's petroleum jelly and molasses.

hmmmm good to know.i may try that.thanks for the info.

 

[welasharon]

Cut the toenails tonight. Took almost two hours. Lord that was a lot of toenails. I only had one bleeder, other than me! Now another issue. One of the silkies, an older girl, has a toe that is almost in half. It looks irritated and needs to be removed. I am thinking maybe I should just take her to a vet and get it removed. I am worried about infection? It is constricted by the crusty stuff those leg mites make and I tried picking it off but blood started oozing and she started whimpering. I suppose I could snip it off...but I'm not sure I can and then the possiblity of infections bothers me. I don't have any antibiotics to give her. ACK! On a good note...all of their feet are looking so much better. It is amazing really. There were only a few that are going to need further work on them. I am still going to put ivomec on them just for good measure since they were so bad. I really want to thank everyone who helped me on here. It was very encouraging. I know a whole heck of a lot more about scaly leg mites than I wanted to know!
sharon

 

[Carrie Lynn]

welasharon,
You are wonderful!

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
Do you have a vet that will see chickens? Those are pretty hard to find. I would snip the toe off myself if I thought it needed to come off. Then drench it in a disinfectant, it should be okay. There would be more chance of infection if it stays on her foot, and keeps getting dragged through the dirt and all. If you snip it off, disinfect and then wrap in something like vet wrap and keep her off the ground for a few days, it should heal nicely. Chickens heal really well from some pretty awful injuries so don't worry that you might make it worse, you can only be helping.

 

[welasharon]

I think what worries me most about cutting it off is the bleeding? There is enough blood supply that the end of the toe is still viable. How would I stop it? What antibiotic could I give her?
sharon

 

[tammyd57]

I don't know about antibiotics, because I don't use them. But I do know that to stop bleeding there are several things you can use, if you don't have blood stop or styptic powder, you can use corn starch or even flour to clot the blood. For a day or two before cutting the toe, give her a lot of greens, those contain vitamin K, which will decrease clotting time in blood so it will stop faster.

 

[welasharon]

Okay I think I am going to try it myself. I am going to go get her tomorrow and soak her feet in epsom salts to soak the rest of the crusty stuff off so I can get a better look. I bought some antibiotics, some stop bleeding powder and some blu coat (sp?). Ugh.
sharon

 

[Chick-a-roos]

Just seen this thread and scaly leg mites are TERRIBLE!

I purchased 3 hens last year and didn't know what to look for and of course didn't notice the mess until after I was home. (stupid on my part but I learned the hard way). They were covered in mites.....I tried everything but finally trimmed the feathers on their feet and started spraying with Pam cooking spray. Patience is the key, it took me months to get them healed and unfortunately 1 of the girls lost a toe on each foot.
The soaking helps rid the dry scales alittle quicker and makes trimming the nails alittle easier (not as brittle). I think remedies work different on some chickens.

 

[welasharon]

That is exactly what the others look like. Well, not now. They look a lot better but it was so bad. I can't imagine the pain they were in. Poor things. There are just a few that still need help. Mostly feather-footed ones. Probably a third of the chickens have lost at least part of toes.
sharon

 

[welasharon]

Picked up the chicken with the bad toe and I may not have to amputate....hopefully. It was the first time I have seen it in the daylight and the bottom half of the toe looks pretty good actually. It is warm to the touch and doesn't look off color. I am going to see if I can get the crusty stuff off that has been constricting it and see what it looks like. I will have to do it tomorrow. I will try to get a pic also to see what anyone thinks. She is a white silkie. That's the first silkie I have ever touched. They are very different feeling.
sharon