When do I Stop Treating Scaley Leg Mites?

[Frugirl]

I have a small flock, only 5 ladies and 3 chicks. I have treated my adult ladies every other day for two weeks by cleaning off their legs after soaking them in water and a gentle brushing, dunking them in oil, and putting petroleum jelly over the top. I read several different articles about how it was recommended to treat like this for two weeks. I deep cleaned their coop in the very beginning and then about 10 days in and have added diatemacious earth and wood ash to their dirt baths.

My specific question is more about how do I know for sure when to be done with treating their legs? Do I just quit and hope I killed them? The scales raised after a few treatments which makes me think I got to the mites. Do I just stop and see if they start to get crusty/dry again? I read somewhere the scales might take months to a year to fall off. One of my girls had it real bad... her legs were pretty rough (and look sort of raw now) but the rest of them were not terrible.... varying degrees. I can try and add pictures this weekend but just thought I would see what others have done for treatment that was most successful as I'm just not certain of the best steps.

Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

I have a small flock, only 5 ladies and 3 chicks. I have treated my adult ladies every other day for two weeks by cleaning off their legs after soaking them in water and a gentle brushing, dunking them in oil, and putting petroleum jelly over the top. I read several different articles about how it was recommended to treat like this for two weeks. I deep cleaned their coop in the very beginning and then about 10 days in and have added diatemacious earth and wood ash to their dirt baths.

My specific question is more about how do I know for sure when to be done with treating their legs? Do I just quit and hope I killed them? The scales raised after a few treatments which makes me think I got to the mites. Do I just stop and see if they start to get crusty/dry again? I read somewhere the scales might take months to a year to fall off. One of my girls had it real bad... her legs were pretty rough (and look sort of raw now) but the rest of them were not terrible.... varying degrees. I can try and add pictures this weekend but just thought I would see what others have done for treatment that was most successful as I'm just not certain of the best steps.

Thanks!

Hello and welcome.
It sounds like you have a decent start to getting a hand on this.
When you write that you did a deep clean, what exactly did that entail? Did you spray all surfaces of the wood with permethrin?
Having the dust bath is important to help control external parasites but I would not use DE. It is a respiratory irritant.
If these were my birds, I would continue treatment only on the worst girl you mentioned. I'd also blend a few drops of undiluted 10% permethrin into the Vaseline before smearing her legs. You could also mixed permethrin dusting powder in with the Vaseline. Continue on the girl with the worst legs for another 2 weeks.
Good luck with your flock.

 

[aart]

10 days should be plenty to kill the mites.
If infestation was bad and/or long the scales may never look like they did before.
If scales do grow back it can take weeks to see them.
Pics would help.