I hate scaley leg!

Alright. I'm going to pull a Miss Cynthia, and refuse to capitalize scaley leg, and go one step further and only refer to them as sl!

I was certain I had nipped this in the bud when I fought it last time. I dipped their legs in the cheapest vegetable oil I could find, every day for a week, every other day for another 7 days, every 3 days for 7 days, every 4 days and so on until reaching 0. Legs healed, chickens clucked, scales went away. Good.

WRONG.

I noticed today about 1/3 of my chickens are showing signs of it again, with one banty who stood up to show her feet are particularly bad. The others have beautiful legs which appear without issue. I also know this is wrong.

Here's where I'm at with this. From reading (again), these mites spend their entire life cycle on the bird -- supposedly, this means dusting the floor is ineffective and a waste of time. True or not? I bought this... dusty powdery chemically stuff when I first started, never used it. It's mite dust, In your opinion, should I bother with it?

I understand Ivormectin, -not- avermectin, though not regulated and sanctioned for use on poultry is supposedly effective and I remember a few people here saying they've used it. Egg withdrawl is unclear, maybe 3, maybe 7, maybe 21; meat is equally as unclear, maybe 28, maybe 60. Oh good, this is a tight science, isn't it! I'm wary of this stuff as well. Similar product, packaged incorrectly with no recall issued, killed a cat I had years ago, and it was the most terrible thing to watch. If I were to go this route... Dosing, back of the neck? For a flock of 40, how much would I need, and is it true this needs to be re-applied weekly?

So, has anyone treated with the oil/vaseline method? Is it required you do it every day, or is it once every 3-7 days for a month to stop the life cycle? In addition, is this something I shouldn't be doing either way due to the temperatures? I've also read dipping in rubbing alcohol for 30 seconds and then patting dry before applying oil/vaseline is effective in just a week. Anyone? Aaanyone?

Tea tree oil, Grapefruit seed extract and Chamomile oil have also been listed. I mixed Oregano oil in last time to help with healing. Yes, no? Is this something I will fight forever, like mereks, once here always here?

Forum open!

Never had it but I know the oil works by smothering the mites. Any oil should do but I think the more viscous the better. If the oil had some natural healing/antiseptic properties it sure couldnt hurt. I would apply the oil twice a day for the length of the life cycle of the mite plus 10 days to ALL the birds you have, whether they show symptoms or not. More is better than less.

I have a bottle of Neem oil in my fridge in case I ever encounter this scourage of an arachnid, and I think I might try it if I ever get ear mites again.

Sue is right, the oil, vasoline smoothers them.
Ivermection goes through the blood and they ingest it.
I have heard, but never tried it, that you can actually smear the ivomectin (if it is a pour on) straight on the legs. Do a bit of research, ivermectin products have a very large margin of error, meaning if you use to much it doesn't have adverse affects.
If you sl is this stubborn, you may try this. Remember it takes a long time for the legs to look good again and if you are treating one, treat them all because it also take a while to show the lifting of the scales.

Coopslave you are right, I had a friend that had the problem and he put the ivomec pour on right on the legs, I think he used a brush and made sure it soaked in. Only had to do them once but if it was me I might do it again at the end of the life cycle.

Heather

Neem oil or mineral oil both should work just fine. I have used both to treat soft-bodied insect infestations in plants and it does a reasonably good job with mites. My wife made me a salve out of olive oil, tea tree oil and a couple others I can't remember. I can't guarantee it worked since I lost track of the one hen that had it but I have not seen any horrendous legs lately. Juniper/cedar oils also have good potential, but being so expensive I'd mix a few drops of extract with one of the other oils. I have friends who use vaseline with great success, I just don't use it because I try to stay organic. I have also heard of using cedar shavings in nest boxes, the idea being that the legs get a daily dosing of cedar oils while she nests. Certainly this last one would be more preventative than cure if it works.

As to weather you will be dealing with leg mites forever or not really depends on your management. If your birds are ranged it will come up often on older birds. If kept in confinement it will almost never come up.

I know I'm the crazy organic guy, but do you really want to expose your animals to something that soaks into their blood stream if you have an alternative? I personally believe that this would constantly eradicate the natural parasite load in their gut. I can see this having two outcomes: imbalanced health in the bird and given the frequency with which people use these products on poultry, almost guaranteed resistance to the pesticide. (yes, I know this is what I always say when somebody even mentions any pesticide on here)

MY experience.

I was given some birds that had the WORST leg mites and it rapidly spread through the hen house.( THis was before I knew what a leg mite was, way back in the day)

I bed with 100% cedar, it has never made a dent in a leg mite. The volatile oils in cedar shavings very quickly evaporate and any medicinal qualities are very quickly lost. A cedar board, due to its greater density and mass, will hold onto its volatile oils much longer (thus moth repellent closets are lined with cedar boards) But shavings , not so much. Cedar will not save you here.

I dipped the birds in used motor oil. This made them slippery, unable to stay on the roosts, flopping and sliding all over the place. IT made the roosts messy and I had very many greasy, stinky eggs. That motor oil got everywhere on everything. It did NOT kill the mites.

I went to the pharmacist and had him mix a batch (replica) of a not available product called Camphophenique that I read about on another forum. It is camphorated phenol in an olive oil or mineral oil suspension. Its use is for cold sores (it works) Horsey Daughter also discovered that it works great for drying up zits. I put this on the legs, the hen house smelled great, but I can't say it was a big success.

Those poor, gnarly Silkies! In warm weather I set them in a bucket of warm, soapy water and let them soak. Long soak. Then I worked off the worst of the twisted, lumpy gnarls. Some of them had lost toes!

Since I started using Eprinex, I have had no more sl mite in my flock. I also swear that the No Pest strip is the key to the whole thing. Use the Eprinex to get the battle going, and the No Pest strip to keep them away.

Personally, at the cost of Eprinex I would not rub it on the legs! I would give everyone a back of the neck eye dropper full. 3 weeks later, repeat. Hang a strip and wait. Remember that it takes a long time for legs to return to normal looking even after the mites are dead. THey do a lot of damage. Soaking and removing crud (depending on how bad it is) can help renew.

I don't think I discarded any eggs, but I did not sell any to anyone else for a week or better. We suffered no ill effects that I am aware of. Since these birds were not for eating, withdrawl for slaughter was a non-issue.

Just remember that Eprinex has a different active ingredient, it is eprinomectin. It is still a mectin but acts a little differently.
I still believe Cydectin (moxidectin) is the best choice for anything like this. It is longer acting and much more 'friendly'. It is the best choice in Australia because it does not impact the dung beetle like other products do.
I know the pigeon people use moxidectin made for their birds, down in Aus. Maybe it is the same here???? It doesn't have to have the brand name Cydectin on it, it just has to have the active ingredient moxidectin.

UNO....When you mention the NO PEST STRIP....Where do you hang it, in the chicken house?

lady leghorn wrote:UNO....When you mention the NO PEST STRIP....Where do you hang it, in the chicken house?

She hangs it around her neck. Uno has a deadly fear of pests, especially mites!

Thank you for that, SoShutUpSue.

Lady Leghorn, yes, I hang the No Pest strip in the hen house. Mine has been in there for over a year and last time I checked bums, there were no crawlers.

I slather vaseline on everybodies legs once a week for 3 weeks. That seems to work. I do it at night with a flashlight and rubber gloves so they don't get too upset.