# Scaly leg mites and rooster abuse



## yag113 (Nov 28, 2012)

I have a hen that seems to be a favorite of the roosters despite their access to many other choices. She's been looking disheveled... missing feathers, you know the look. But today I noticed her acting off a bit and then noticed the signs of scaly leg mites. I checked everyone else...about 30 chickens, 7 peafowl and some guineas. No real visible issues.

I brought the hen in and am about to treat with ivermectin and some mineral oil (on the feet for instant relief). Am wondering... are leg mites like lice.... only a problem in weakened birds or very poor living conditions or are they opportunistic and prey on the weak? I'm trying to decide which came first... is she weak because of the mites (and if so why just her) or are the mites bad because she is weak. 

Wondering if should also start her on antibiotics but don't want to just start throwing antibiotics at her if she doesn't need them.

I am a wildlife rehabber so I know a bit about treating birds with issues but chickens are flock animals and that is a whole different situation than an individual hawk or a heron or whatever. With flocks you get flock issues... I don't want 80 scaly feet!

Thanks!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There is no concrete answer to why this one and not the other. I've noticed that if I had to deal with them it was always in my males, never my females. I have one boy who has had issues with them most of his life, he'll be ten in August. Yet none of the other birds show any sign of them. 

It might be like some people and mosquitoes, put five untreated people together and there will always be that one the bugs go after.

You are going to have to do something about the male though. He will hurt her with over breeding. Either separate him or put her and a few pals together some where he can't get to them. Or you might have to consider rehoming him if he continues.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

robin416 said:


> There is no concrete answer to why this one and not the other. I've noticed that if I had to deal with them it was always in my males, never my females. I have one boy who has had issues with them most of his life, he'll be ten in August. Yet none of the other birds show any sign of them.
> 
> It might be like some people and mosquitoes, put five untreated people together and there will always be that one the bugs go after.
> 
> You are going to have to do something about the male though. He will hurt her with over breeding. Either separate him or put her and a few pals together some where he can't get to them. Or you might have to consider rehoming him if he continues.


sounds like the rooster is doing what roosters do, breeding hens.

my wife makes chicken saddles for our hens

the question is, is he breeding her too much?

if she squats for him then the answer is no

if he chases her all over the yard then probably yes

also if he is a small rooster & you have large hens then he may not be able

to breed the larger girls.


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## OldBrickHouseFarm (Sep 30, 2014)

yag113 said:


> I have a hen that seems to be a favorite of the roosters despite their access to many other choices. She's been looking disheveled... missing feathers, you know the look. But today I noticed her acting off a bit and then noticed the signs of scaly leg mites. I checked everyone else...about 30 chickens, 7 peafowl and some guineas. No real visible issues.
> 
> I brought the hen in and am about to treat with ivermectin and some mineral oil (on the feet for instant relief). Am wondering... are leg mites like lice.... only a problem in weakened birds or very poor living conditions or are they opportunistic and prey on the weak? I'm trying to decide which came first... is she weak because of the mites (and if so why just her) or are the mites bad because she is weak.
> 
> ...


Scaly leg mites are a real problem. It's more common in older birds. Once infected, they're hard to get rid of. The best thing is to cull the bird. 
Otherwise, coat the chicken's legs with a mixture of one part kerosene to two parts linseed oil. Treat every 10 days until it clears up.
Use the same coal/linseed mix to brush on the roosts. It wouldn't hurt to coat the birds legs that don't have obvious infestation at least once.
Ivermectin can help too.



robin416 said:


> ...
> It might be like some people and mosquitoes, put five untreated people together and there will always be that one the bugs go after.
> ....


 People invite me to garden parties just to keep mosquitoes off the other guests.



piglett said:


> sounds like the rooster is doing what roosters do, breeding hens.
> 
> my wife makes chicken saddles for our hens
> 
> ...


I have 2 birds with bare backs in a flock with 1 rooster and 8 hens. I have a couple saddles I think I need to put on them.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Recently a study came out that said mosquitoes prefer people with a certain blood type (I think it was O+ if I remember right...) I wonder if this isn't part of the problem with the mites? Maybe they favor certain types of chicken for something like that? 

It's weird you mention roosters get it... I've only had one bird with this, he came with it and his legs were so bad they looked like they were made of sharp shards, barely resembled a chiken leg at all! I had no idea what to do at the time so I gave his feet and legs 2 or 3 Listerine baths. It worked. With time he looked perfectly normal and never got them again.


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## yag113 (Nov 28, 2012)

Decided to attack the problem on all fronts as concurrently as possible. Treated all the birds, chickens, peas, guineas, with a dose of Ivermectin to be repeated in 10 days and soaked their feet in a neem solution. I usually do mineral oil for instant relief which smothers the little darlings but is thick and sticky and hard to get up under the scales.

My nephew suggested neem. He is always touting neem...need solution, bark, powder, pellets.... for animals, plants, people, internally, externally.... Has anyone had any experience with it. It's an organic vegetable oil compressed from a tree primarily found in india and an old time remedy for many things. I wouldn't start using it on myself or the chickens internally without further investigation but I did give it a go as a diluted foot soak in addition to the ivermectin. It was mixed with castille soak as an adherent and we actually used a pump sprayer and a bucket of it and saturated the feet.

Will get back with the results in a few weeks.

Another question...do I have to toss the eggs after the ivermectin dose and for how long?

Thanks


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Neem appears to be safe used in a 1:40 mix. The paper I found suggested spraying at least three times in an 8 to 10 day time span to stop the cycle. I also found one that described spraying it on the dirt, there was a reduction by 80% of living mites within a few hours.

So once upon a time poultry keepers started using Ivermectin because there was no withdrawal for dairy cattle. Add in that they never really tested to see if anything we gave our chickens actually crossed in to the egg led everyone and his brother to believe that it was perfectly safe to use. I found one study that finally looked to see if any of the wormers passed in to the egg and they found that it did. Most of the wormers we use on our chickens are also used in humans so I'm not sure how concerned we should be.

Ivermectin is not used in humans at all. It appears that the half life of Ivermectin is a couple of days whether injected or topical. So, by four days it should not be detectable. 

Having feather legged birds, I could never do what everyone else did to attack the scaly leg mites. Ivermectin has always worked for any that got them. The injection worked the best.


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## yag113 (Nov 28, 2012)

Robin 416.. thank you. I'll have to ask nephew exactly what neem he had and how he diluted it...how much to how much. But whatever he mixed up was liquidy...not like sticky mineral oil so it was fine for the feather legged & footed birds (I have them also). In fact from what I've heard you could spray down the entire bird with neem or dust it with the powder. But I like to be sure before I listen to my nephew without back checking. 

I have some left in the sprayer and plan to spray the coop with it once I clean out the old bedding. I know a lot of people use 7-dust after cleaning and then put shavings or whatever on top. (Some people even dust the chickens themselves w 7!)

One thing I'm pretty sure of, there is no magic bullet... a least no easy one. You can strive for perfection but often need to be satisfied to keep the unwanted creatures at bay. I often go months where everything seems perfectly perfect and fancy myself the chicken whisperer but that kind of hubris always comes back to bite you on the butt!

I'll try to keep the thread updated on my investigation of all things neem.... it seems like it could be a valuable resource.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The paper I read treated the whole bird for red mites. So, it is possible to treat the whole bird safely. 

I learned quite a bit about neem due to your giving it a try. Looks like it could possibly be an excellent product to use on my plants. Although it did warn care needs to be taken not to damage the plant.

King, my ten year old, is a Silkie. So feet and legs are heavily feathered. Trying to do the oil or vaseline on feathers is impossible. I could never clear him. I did take him to my vet once and they injected him. He's had so many issues with mites lately that I've given serious consideration to taking him in again to be injected. 

I've never liked Sevin dust. It makes the soft feathered birds, like the Silkies, feel like crap. Then the warnings about not breathing it, don't get it on the skin. I have used it on the outside of the coop. I used permerthrins on the inside after a heavy clean out. 

Having a sand pit does help keep them off the birds. My flock was in a coop on sand with a run area that was all sand. Mites were never an issue. Once they went in to the new coop with the wood floor, that's when the challenges started. Now they have a cement pan full of sand and some use it regularly.


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## yag113 (Nov 28, 2012)

Well do keep me posted on your neem investigation. Like I said, my nephew sprays it on all sorts of things! Seems to be a good organic option for plant issues... so many of the gentle methods are not so effective... but I'm always willing to try something less invasive on animals, plants or environment.... but I'd also like it to work. I feel the same way about 7. See no reason to not use it on coop floors or even outside runs....but I'm not keen on putting it directly on the birds, although I know many people do.

Will ask nephew about the mixture we used on the feet...wasn't sticky and was mixed with organic castille peppermint soap I think for adhesion.... good option for the feathery legged and feet birds. I have cochins and langshans & brahmas.... definately don'twant to dose those feet with sticky stuff!

Will ask and get back to you!


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I've used neem oil on demodex dogs . Its a natural insecticide and works wonders( just dilute it in olive oil as full strength burns the skin) i have a bottle in stock for issues like this. If it hardens just put the bottle in warm water to soften it up again


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