Scaly leg mites

Ick!
Well silly me decided to help a friend and babysit her chickens (for the summer) while they move
I thought since they were coming we could adopt three others.

Once they arrived i discovered nearly all of them had lice and all have mites I would guess.

They are in my barn, away from my coop of bugless birds.

It seems there is a successful method of dipping legs in gas and smothering in vitamin a and d petroleum jelly.

I need something that will WORK and quickly.

Has anyone tried this?

As for the lice all adult lice are gone and just one hen infested with large eggs sacs on multiple feathers :-(. I don't remember how long it takes to deal with the eggs hatching.

Get some vegetable oil, any kind, and oil their legs. The oil smothers the hatched mites and they will all die shortly. The eggs, however, don't die, so you will need to oil every two or three days for several weeks till there are no more eggs. It is important to use lots of oil so it can creep up under the leg scales. Works great.

That was a rude surprise, but I am sure you can clean them up and they will be grateful. How did you kill the lice?

She did warn me derbyshire that she thought theybhad leg mites and she dusted with DE...but i don't know that she knew about the lice.

I have the lice powder on hand and the adults were gone after the first dusting. I will dust once a week until the eggs hatch or feathers fall out with moult.

I have procrastinated the mite thing.i dont think the gas will be that bad and really just want everything dead. It is a four say treatment that is supposed to kill mites and eggs.

I will have to go for it or at the very least dip them in veggie oil as i have to break down that stall for hay storage

Either way it is sad because they will not be integrated with our birds. Just tractor living then maybe out with the horse/alpacas.

I used the gas dip. seems to work. just be sure they are in a well ventilated place until the fumes are gone. I keep feather legged birds and dip all new birds as a precaution even before they go into the quarantine area. it does not seem to affect them adversely. was nervous the first time because I was worried about causing them harm but then I thought of all the times I have gotten covered in the stuff fueling the quad/mower and figured the they would be ok also.

The problem with using something like gas is that chickens will pick at their own feet. Whatever you put on them, they can and will ingest. Please do not use gas or motor oil or any other dangerous products.

Treat the birds with pour-on ivermectin (talk to your vet to obtain it and for dosage). This will kill the leg mites and when the scales shed and regrow, they should come in normally.

I second the Ivermectin- it will worm them too.