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| Credit: http://www.backyardchickens.com |
Our chickens are quite healthy girls, but one ailment that they catch on and off are scaly leg mites. These little beasties burrow underneath the scales on the legs of the hens, which cause discomfort, irritation and some pain. If left untreated for a long time, it can cause the chook to go lame.
We find that it is best to treat all the hens at the same time, because the mite can travel from bird to bird.
Yesterday, as part of their normal fortnightly health check, Ben helped me to treat our girls.
Treatment is very easy. Firstly, distract the girls with some food, then one by one do the following;
With warm soapy water, gently remove all the dirt from their legs with a nail brush. This softens any crusty scales. Gentle is the operative word, because you are removing the dirt and crusty bits, not their leg scales.
You will note in the picture above that the top of the talons are a little pink in colour. This is because this particular chicken was treated last week as well, and the mite has dropped off, along with the infected leg scales. New scales will grow back in a few weeks.
Once the legs are clean, holding the chook firmly, we dunk each leg into olive oil that we store in a 2 litre (2qt) icecream container. Ben holds the container so that the hen doesn’t kick it over. Once the legs are coated, we let the excess drip off, then release the chook into the chicken run.
We use this routine if any one of the girls gets infected, by treating the entire flock;
- Week One – clean and apply treatment
- Week Two – treatment only
- Week Three – treatment only
- Week Four – treatment only
- Week Eight – treatment only
- Week Twelve – treatment only
If their legs get really dirty, we repeat the clean and treatment step. Usually by about week three their legs look much better, and the leg scales grow back much healthier. Keep going with the treatment through to week twelve to ensure that re-infection does not occur.
I have read many other types of treatment for this mite, like using WD40, Frontline for dogs, Kerosene, Sump oil, but that all of these contain toxins, which would harm the hen and pass through to the eggs. Being one for natural treatments, I find that soapy water and olive oil (any kind of cooking oil will do) works the best.
No fuss or trouble, and it only took us twenty minutes to treat our flock of eight hens.Healthy chooks are happy chooks, and lay wholesome eggs.
Does anyone else have any natural method to get rid of scaly leg mite in their flock?
For more backyard chicken advice and health problems and solutions, check out my new eBook – The Way of The Chicken – A Guide to Keeping Backyard Chickens.
Gav, when I went to a Keeping Backyard Chicken talk recently, there was a lot of talk about Neem Oil. At this stage we haven’t needed to worry about this but it is always in the back of my mind.
Hi BM, yes, I have heard that it works as well.
I’ve never had to deal with scaly leg mites either, but I have heard about the olive oil treatment. The soapy water seems very practical as well. Where are they coming from? Is there a way to prevent them?
Hi Dawn. My flock caught them from one of my Leghorn hens who at the time was carrying it. I didn’t know about scaly leg mite back then, and if I did, I would have been on to it straight away. Treatment of the hens, and keeping their house clean is the only way to prevent further attacks, from experience.
yep we’ve done the olive oil too. 🙂
Any oil will do, even old sump oil….why waste it?
True Olive, but I don’t know if I would use the sump oil which is full of toxins.
I asked for, and got, a 20litre drum of used cooking oil from the local takeaway and use it in the same way.
I think we need to use what we can easily get, bearing in mind the cost to us and the chook as well.
Barb.
I like your recycle idea here Barb
Me too!
Is there a risk of the chicken being covered with oil during a winter treatment. I had read somewhere that if the oil gets on the feathers the chicken can freeze?
Hi Anon. Not sure, as I don’t live in a cold climate. You could try petroleum jelly for colder climates and avoid the feathers.
Gav
Can I use straight paraffin oil or do I mix it
Thank You! Is Vaseline ok?
Yes, Vaseline is the brand name for petroleum jelly
I will get Vaseline. What should I do about mites that are in there feathers?
Those are a different kind of bug entirely and need different treatment
We use vaseline. Easy to apply, doesn’t drip and works straight away.
How long do you use Vaseline???
I use a mix of veggie oil and DE, and dip their legs every 3-4 days, its amazing the difference after one dip!
Hi Carla. Thanks for the tip
Gav x
I have been powdering their feet and legs with diatomaceous earth after spraying with Manna Pro’s mite spray, with is nontoxic.
These mites are microscopic and ditmetrious earth isn’t as effective as simply smothering them with oil and/or vaseline
Ive also heard about using teatree oil and eucalyptus oil
I know this was posted years ago, but it needs replying to….. Please, don’t use essential oils with birds! They are toxic to all birds and can even kill them. Stick to vegetable/petroleum based oils….
what do you treat their house with
Pestine powder
Q: What to treat their house with?
A: diatomaceous earth (shell micro organisms, acts like glass to the mites)
Wear a mask when spreading it
Just bought a new Black Silky and realised when I got her home that her feet were not right. I looked it all up and can now see she has it really bad and her feet are nearly deformed, she even stands like a flamingo on one leg. I was offered my money back from the seller but don’t have the heart to give her back so Im trying to treat her. Soapy water and oil with tea tree in at the moment and just soaking no scrubbing as they are way to scaly and I don’t want to cause any pain. The house and run have been covered already with Diatomaceous Earth and I have renewed today. I am fairly new to chickens and did not realise until she had spent the night with my other four! So I guess I will have to treat them all now.
Do you treat them daily for the first week or just once in the week?
Just once a week
Hi Gavin my name is Sue I grew up with having chickens not only for eggs but for meat to we never had any scale mite so this is new for me the chickens weir given to me when my dad had to go in to a nursing home last year aged 90 thay have been fine till now so what have I done rong ? after all this time? would it be the heat that we been having that courest it? thank you
Hi Sue. You have done nothing wrong. Leg mites can be passed to your hens by sparrows and pigeons which are usually infested in the things. If they visit your chooks, then that is how it probably got passed on.
Gav x
Hi…before reading these posts I rang my local vet nurse…she told me to dunk each hens legs in sump oil…which I did last night!!!! Now my hens are black half way up there bodies..have I done the wrong thing and what should I do now…I like the idea of vegetable oil much better, or is it too late for that.
She told me to paint their perches with sump oil too. I havent done that yet. Help please.
Hi G Grixti,
I don’t know what veg collage this quack went to, but sump oil is the last thing I would use. Olive oil works find, as they suffocate the mites just as well. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) works too, but lots of straw sticks to it.
Don’t think its too late, just wipe off the sump oil, and use olive oil instead.
Gav
Thanks Gav – I will wash off the sump oil as best I can today…and proceed with olive oil…so much for the educated experts. Thanks again
sump oil does work and it wears off and their legs do look better,but it is a bit messy first up
You shouldn’t use Vaseline, it is a petroleum product. Just use vegetable oil… it’s not expensive unless your using extra virgin olive oil.
Hi. Quick tip for ease of applying, use a spray oil. This way you can hold the chook upside down by the legs and spray with your other hand.
Nice tip. Thanks Lenneke!
How about using hydrolysed wool fat? (Lanolin)
Yes, as long as it suffocates the mites.
Can I use straight paraffin oil
Hi Gavin , we have a flock of 13 chickens and 1 cockerel. We had tried many things (including WD40 etc.) Nothing had worked. We are now using your method of vegetable oil and treating every chicken every week. After 4 goes , we are now seeing a big improvement. Many thanks and we will be sure to watch for other tips. 🙂
No problems Paul. Glad it is working for you. Hope your feathered girls enjoy their mite free legs!
Just purchased three hens, all having scaly leg mite, one worse than others, Our original hens didn’t have it, so we are going to treat them as well.. We scrubbed the legs in soapy water first then used a mixture of tea tree oil & olive oil, check the results in a couple of days then dose again… Hopefully will help? Not sure if I need to clean there house?
It will take about 2 weeks before you see real results. Don’t forget to keep the treatment going, to prevent the mites from reestablishing.
I have 7 hens (purchased at a poultry auction as ex-battery hens). These are lovely girls, pure Isa Browns and were $1 each – and are still laying and must be at least 5 years old now! I will treat their leg mites with warm soapy water & olive oil spray (much easier to get an all over cover).
When I farmed at Stroud, NSW, we were told by the elder farmers to always paint the roost and nesting boxes with lime wash (I remember this as a kid in Melbourne, when people used to paint their paling fences and it was called White Wash).
Not sure if you use ordinary garden or builders lime mixed with water but either should work.
Also, regularly change the straw/wood shavings/shredded paper in each nesting box and vacuum out the ‘dust’ because this would contain mite eggs I’m sure.
Hi Gavin
We have recently discovered one of our new bantums has got scaly leg so we did a bit of research and decided on parafin as its what we had at the time and some natural moisturiser so we have been swapping between washing and bathing her feet, dunking them in parafin and moisturising her for just over a week now and her feet have improved but today I noticed her stumbling about and wobbling everywhere as if her feet and legs are really sore, so I brought her inside and stood her in a batch of warm water and noticed that her body is all crusty and yellow all over her breast and under her wings a little. Do you think this could be to do with the mites or is that from the treatments we’ve given her? (We will be using the oil method you have suggested above from now on)
Hard to tell Hydi if your treatment has caused those other symptoms. As paraffin is a mineral oil that is used in products like baby oil, sorbolene, and other body care products, it may not have been that. Having said that though, a natural vegetable oil is less likely to do harm if absorbed or digested.
Gav
Thanks for your response, I think I will try the oil method from now on just to be safe. What do you think could be causing her to stumble about. As for her scabby body, It almost looks like the scaly leg has spread apart from she obviously doesn’t have scales on her body, it could be residue from the moisturiser that has got in her feathers and completely unrelated but I just don’t know.
It may be Hydi. Have you checked the hen over for roost mites, which is another common parasite. They look like little black dots that move when observed. They are blood suckers, and I have to douse my chooks with DE to ensure that they are clean. The blood pidgeon bring them in when they try and steal the chook food.
What is “DE”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
To DE-louse means to get rid of lice. To DE-mist is to get rid of condensation on a window (eg in a car).
in reply to mohammed i forgot to mention the other DE word: Descale – to remove scale
Wish I had read your post first, the first thing I googled said to dip their legs in gasoline, dry then apply vaseline.. poor things ran away screaming, their legs were red!! I managed to pop them all back into the coop for the night but theyre not happy roosting.. will try the olive oil treatment tomorrow instead, sounds way gentler and just as effective. Thanks!
Hi Gavin,
Love reading all the feedback and advice.
We (I mean our chickens!) had a leg mite problem – probably because of the crested pigeons that come to feed – and started the vege oil treatment. But we the found the ‘gasoline’ cure on a USA site and tried that with good, quick success. Dunk the legs in petrol, allow it to dry then massage a mixture of Vaseline and lanolin (3 to 1) into the legs on the first day. Second day just the Vaseline/Lanolin rub. Third day repeat the treatment for the first day. They showed immediate signs of improvement after the first day (no limping) and two weeks later their legs look great.
Apparently the petrol kills the lice and the nits under the scales. We also dusted the whole of their coop with DE and when I replace their straw bedding every week I dust with the DE again.
I know that using petroleum products will be unacceptable to some, but it limits the number of times that you need to handle the birds and appears to be very effective
Can anyone tell me where to buy diatomaceous earth in Ballarat or Melbourne? My poor rooster is badly affected!
Try this: I washed down the roosts, nest boxes and dirt floor with buckets of water containing a couple of caps full of regular Detol liquid. The scales disappeared! Also olive oiled one rooster’s legs and that helped. The problem seems to be reinfection and that’s where the Detol came to the rescue. . .
Hi Lian peet.
I don’t live in Aus, I’m in NZ but I get mine off trade me as it is cheaper than going into a farming supply store. I would suggest trying online, vet centres or farming supply stores
This is how I always used to treat these mites on chickens legs but then I discovered Revolution for dogs. You treat your chickens with it, one drop per kg of body mass. It kills lice on chickens and the mites that cause scaley legs and it lasts a whole month! Very easy to apply, just move feathers and apply to the skin anywhere on the top of the bird.
Nice tip TJ. It may not work in areas where that type of flea treatment is no longer effective. I have heard reports that the flea population in the UK is developing a resistance to Revolution and Frontline and are harder to kill as a result.
My poor boy “Vladimir” (he is a Russian Orloff) has a bad case of scaly leg.
I got a treatment from the vet, blitzed the coop and enclosure within an inch of its life with
Stalosan F – 50g Weekly – Scattered on bedding etc
Smite Spray Solution – use liberally on hen coop.
Smite Red Mite Dusting Powder – use Powder Duster.
My three hens seem okay but I treated them also anyway, but he is still limping quite badly.
I decided to look on the internet and thankfully found your page.
I will try the Olive Oil & Tea Tree treatment as I hate to see him limping like that.
Is there a specific ratio of Tea Tree to Olive Oil for this treatment.
Kind Regards, Susan
I’m treating the legs with the veg oil and DE powder but do I have to empty the deep litter to?
I would.
I read somewhere (sorry- maybe the Crabby Puppy Farm blog??) that there is a bigger problem with mites when the deep litter is changed, implying that the heat from the deep litter method may actually be protective for the flock. Don’t know if there’s any studies on it but you might want to think about it before replacing the litter if it’s got good composting action going.
Hi Gavin. I always used petroleum jelly (vaseline). You can mix in a few drops of essential oils like lavender which is good for repelling insects and will discourage the chicken from removing it from her feet. Also petroleum jelly will stay on the feet for a few days as olive oil only last a few hours. I repeat every 2 weeks for about 2-3 months.
Nice alternative Chris. I did try that the first time I treated them, but their legs soon got covered in all sorts of stuff when they dust bathed, but certainly willing to give it another try as one of them has leg mites again. Seems to get infected in phases.
Hi all, I’ve had problems with scaly legs mites for a while. A few weeks ago I was mulching my garden beds with tea tree mulch which I bought in bulk. I had a fair bit left over so decided to use it in my chicken coop (approx 20m2) which they are locked into in the night time.The mulch was around 10cm deep over the whole of the ground. They free range the rest of the time. I noticed maybe 6 days ago their scales were dropping off and since then most of my chickens (around 24) have lost 50% of their scales! I am sure its the tea tree mulch so thought I’d share as its much easier than catching each individual chicken multiple times to clean and dip their legs. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has noticed this with tea tree mulch?
I’m pretty sure my “small” flock of 12 chickens (11 hens, 1 rooster) have scaly mites, and I think they got them from the roo. I had no idea what scaly mites were when I got him, but have seen some changes in my hens legs. I plan on treating them, but was wondering about the roo. His legs are pretty bad, but he doesn’t seem to have any problems. I plan on treating him too, but how will the oil affects feathers if they come into contact? He’s a silky cross, so he has feathers on his feet and I want to make sure that his feathers won’t get mess up because of the oil.
i know everyone is looking for clean and green remedies , but this is a one treatment only remedy that i have used myself on our chickens , AND IT WORKS, 50/50 deisel and petrol , u need at least 10 litres for 20 chooks , in a solid pot or heavy bucket, sit it betwwen knees, have someone pass u chickens one at a time , dip each leg in the solution , scrub with good scrubbing brush , dip in each leg right up to the feathers or top of leg , do EVERY leg of EVERY chook , in one go , next moult those scales will all fall off.
I’m using Ivermectin as a last resort- once a week to get rid of scaly mites after using neem oil dips, permethrin & psp(3 weeks total)I dipped them multiple times in neem oil and water with a little dishwashing detergent( helps the oil mix with the water).I’ve also just dipped their feet in vegetable,olive oil and neem oil in between treatments.I also used permethrin& psp & neem oil in the coop & run then put turpentine and neem oil on the roosting bars.I white washed the coop too.2 hens died .I only have 4 now.I’m ready to build a new coop at this point but can’t afford one. These mites are the devil to get rid of.
I enjoyed reading you blog. I also am organic and cant stand the idea of all the toxic treatments out there. After buying a treatment for the leg mites that was said to have been made from chrysanthamums, I then read the fine print and was scared to put it on my girls. I promptly got out the veg oil and dipped the 1 girl with the mites. I will add tea tre oil to the veg oil and do all 9 girls tonight when they are in the coop. I cleaned the coop out this am, but want to try the lime in their house. Life is a learning curve! LOL
Thanks,
Sue B.
San Jose CA.
No problems Sue, happy to help. Hope your girls are feeling better soon.
Hi Gavin, we’re about to start treating our hens who are badly infected with scaly leg mites using the method you’ve suggested – soapy water and then vege oil. We have Pestene Powder to clean out their pen as well. I don’t like the idea of the poison in Pestene powder. Is there a more natural way to clean the coop?
Hi Rachael, try using DE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth. That should work just as well as Pestine for keep away roost mites (little red bugs)
Thanks so much for all your great tips Gavin. All 17 ladies and big Hugh had their feet treated today. Twelve more weeks to go.
Excellent work Rachael. They should be right as rain in a few weeks time, but keep the treatment going as you need to kill every last mite or you will be doing it again in 12 months time.