Scaly leg mites in chickens
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 15 comments
Photo: Baby in my arms
Last week I noticed that Baby, our tiny cockerel was hobbling. He spends most of the day on the roof of the ark away from the teasing pecks of the Italian Cockerels. Had he been hurt in one of these attacks?
I picked him up and examined the leg and claw. It was swollen with a few small cuts. I washed the leg and sprayed it with a nifty spray cleaner and antiseptic manufactured by Savlon. The leg looked so bad I did a bit of healing on it – the claw felt very hot. Baby loves being cuddled and happily laid on his back in my arms while I treated him. By the next morning the leg looked much less swollen and I continued to clean the leg morning and evening. Within a few days Baby was walking normally.
Baby has a lonely life. He chooses to sleep alone in the old ark. Recently I’ve noticed that he does most of his feeding and drinking when the rest of the flock have retired to bed in the big chicken house so I’ve put a small feeder and drinker in the ark for him. When the Italian hens arrived he would roost under his sister’s wing. But the glamorous Zebedee has now found new friends and sleeps in the hen house.
So I’ve taken to giving him some of the affection that he probably craves. He loves having his chest tickled and gives tiny breathy clucks and stretches his legs when I do this. That is how I noticed there was something very wrong with both his legs. In some places the scales had fallen off completely.
A panicky search on the internet revealed that Baby has scaly leg mites. These are a bit of a nightmare to treat and they can spread to the rest of the flock like wildfire. All the other chickens look fine so perhaps Baby’s hermit lifestyle has its benefits. The little cuts that I saw initially were clearly where he had pecked to relieve the itching. Scaly mites can also effect the beak, wattles and comb.
Apparently the easiest way to kill the mites is to suffocate them by covering the legs with Vaseline. So Baby had his first treatment yesterday and I will continue to anoint him until all signs of mites disappear. I’m also going to get some Johnsons scaly leg lotion or Barrier scaly leg spray
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One problem with infection is it is not just confined to the chicken but also to his/her nest/bed/floor in fact the lot. Best to remove them and temp re-house, burn all waste and lime the floor depending of course what kind of accomodation they have.
Hello Cherami
Thanks for this advice – very timely in my case.
Hello Willo
Thank you so much for leaving this comment. I’ve been treating the perch too with mite powder and the bedding. I’ll look for powdered sulphur when I next go into town – all ideas are much appreciated.
Baby is doing well so far. I feel so sorry for him leading such a solitary life.
An excellent thing to add to the Vaseline is powdered sulphur. Some chickens are more suseptible than others to this affliction. It is indeed important to soak and scrub gently to get the detritus out from under the scales. I have flat smooth perches for the chooks and I regularly sweep them with a small brush to help keep mites at bay. I hope Baby is doing well.
Hi Toffeeapple
He’s much chirpier now. Loving the cuddles and attention. Have discovered that all the Italian chickens have scaly leg mites now ?
Hello Dee
I really love this little guy so he just has to get better. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I could be fond of a cockerel who can’t even give me eggs!
Hi Free
Yes you’re right. If it gets very cold I might do this with ours this year.
Hello Margo
Thanks so much for this tip. I have tea tree oil in pock as I thought it would be good for the Min Pins coats. They hated it and rolled in anywhere smelly to get rid of the whiff ?
Needless to say I have loads of paintbrushes to apply the oil mixture!
Hi Steel
Thanks for the tip about the warm water. Baby is easy to catch but I don’t know about the others so this might be the answer. Brilliant.
Hi Rachel
The chickens are much tamer if they are handled when they are chicks. Some of our flock are very flighty and impossible to catch – just hope these don’t get scaly leg mites. If you do manage to catch a hen they like to be held close and seem to calm in an instant. I always wear gloves when I’m handling mine as this gives me a bit of protection if they peck.
Geez, I read with admiration, you guys must have some tame chooks!! I can’t imagine getting within 2 feet of my girls (well apart from Henny Penny, who seems to have a different temprament to the rest (she’s the only white one, and we inherited her- next time I’m going to get all white ones!)
Hope Baby is better soon, he’s such a sweetie!!
My two ex-batts have had scaly leg since they first came to me and I’ve never completely got rid of it. I use the barrier spray and regularly give them a good foot scrub with a toothbrush while they’re standing in bowl of warm water. It also helps get all the crusty hard bits off the claws and between their toes.
They seem to really appreciate the warm water, especially in cold weather
I have had a long battle with scaly leg mite with my girls. I put a few drops only of tea tree oil in the vaseline, and also paint their legs (a chooky manicure) with cooking oil that has a few drops of tea tree oil in it and this keeps them at bay and is also very economical. good luck with the treatment!
I remember I once read that vaseline on the comb in freezing weather protects them.
Oh, poor dear Baby. Bless. Lots of tickles and love to him, ahh.
Oh poor Baby! I do hope that he continues to improve. Now I understand why you needed the Vaseline!