What's wrong with Myrtle's feet?

[sophiejw]

Hello,
One of my hens, Myrtle has really horrible feet and legs. She's about 2 years old, I've had her since September last year. I think she is a Light Sussex x RIR. She's always had slightly scaly legs, but I just noticed today they've got really bad. Does anyone know what's wrong with her, and can I treat it? She seems happy enough and I think she is still laying. She's the only one with legs like this, everyone else is fine.

Any advice would be great

 

[mljohnson05]

Poor baby...your chicken has Scaley Leg Mites !
OK, this is what I do...l had this happen with my first set of chickens. I use Sevin dust). I take that and first dust the chicken all over in the dust. Then I take a large glob of vaseline, mix it with the sevin dust and then cake(I mean cake) the chicken's legs in this stuff. Make sure to get in all the nooks all over the legs and feet. scaley leg mites is mites that burrow under the chickens scales. This is painful for the chicken and can cause toe loss if not treated. Anyhow, the vaseline suffocates the mites. Do this every 5-7 days and usually do about 3-4 treatments total. The scales will literally start falling off in chunks revealing fresh, pretty new scales. I would dust all your chickens with the sevin dust...mites are relentless on them!!

There are many ways out there to treat this...this is just the way that I have found that works....BUt that poor guy needs treated FAST !!!

Good Luck and keep me posted

--laura--

 

[chicmom]

That is a case of scaly leg mites. It can spread to your other chickens, so you may need to check everybody. What you do is buy some Seven Dust, and some vasceline. Mix some of the dust into the vasceline, and slather it all over those legs twice daily. It smothers the mites and the Seven Dust helps kill them.

Very effective. Others will come along with different remedies you can try if you want....

Take care,

Sharon

 

[dawg53]

Like you stated, she has scaly leg mites, they are eating away at her feet and legs. Smother them with vaseline til her scales smooth and flatten to look normal again. It will take persistance on your part to ensure you keep after them and it might take a good while to get her legs cleared up.

 

[sophiejw]

Oh dear poor Myrtle

I've tried to look up the Sevin dust, I don't think it is available in the UK where I am though. I have got a tub of powder that says it kills all pests like lice, mites etc. Should I use that with the vaseline do you think?

 

[mljohnson05]

The trick is to get something that you can get under the scales. Make sure the dust says it will not hurt animal, and then I don't see why you cannot use it...there are also sprays that kill scaly leg mites you can get. Some people also dip the legs in rubbing alcohol and use a tooth brush to scrub the legs, then rinse and coat with valsaline...so this every 5-7 days.....until mites are gone

 

[sophiejw]

It's special anti pest powder for use on chickens so I'll go with that and the vaseline then.

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how I get on.