I decided I would share my experience with (very extreme) scaly leg mites.
This year we built a second coop to house only silkies. In April, we got four silkie hens off of a craigslist ad and a few weeks later got Orville, our beautiful white silkie rooster to go with them. After having the hens a few days, I started to notice a build up on two of the hens feet. I knew silkie feet had alot going on but didn't know anything about scaly leg mites and should have known better and checked their feet when we picked picked them up off of the ad. I think these young hens were raised in very poor conditions, in a neglected and untreated coop, and rather than get angry about it I like to think that they are lucky that they came to us.
(April 2015) This is the extreme build up I am talking about....
Note: our poor buff came with an injured foot. It is completely curled to the side and not the prettiest site. We don't know what happened to her but she never lets it get her down..lol.
The Treatment: We had to act quick with this problem. I was afraid they would lose their limbs or lives. We started with soaking the two girls in a warm foot bath covered with a towel. We used dawn/ flea shampoo and kept the water level very low, just enough to cover their feet. We would leave them in the bath for about an hour to loosen up the build up. After that we would use a toothbrush to gently scrub away at the white residue. After the scrubbing, we would cover their feet and legs in antibiotic cream followed by vaseline. To prevent infection and soften their legs and feet. After that the girls would spend the night in the house.
(April 2015) During treatment:
The color came back to their feet right away. The buff was able to place her (good) foot flat on the ground. Unfortunately some blood did result since the build up completely covered the buff's last two toes. Sorry the picture isn't the best for the blue but she did get a much needed nail trim as you can see! I think the poor girls were in so much discomfort that they wouldn't scratch.
The soaking/scrubbing treatment was done about three consecutive days. We would do it at night, then let their feet dry good over night with the cream and vaseline on.
The Rest Of The Coop: Our other two silkie hens did not have the same build up but we dipped their feet in vegetable oil anyway just to be safe. Then the flock was treated with Ivermectin and the coop was dusted with Seven dust.
(August 2015) What their feet look like today:
Their feet aren't flawless but I can't complain because the condition was so terrible. Both hens lost a portion of their fourth toes sadly. This has definitely been a learning experience and I'm glad that I know what to look for now. I hope all of this information can be helpful to someone else. I guess you should keep in mind that things can get better and scaly leg mites suck!
This year we built a second coop to house only silkies. In April, we got four silkie hens off of a craigslist ad and a few weeks later got Orville, our beautiful white silkie rooster to go with them. After having the hens a few days, I started to notice a build up on two of the hens feet. I knew silkie feet had alot going on but didn't know anything about scaly leg mites and should have known better and checked their feet when we picked picked them up off of the ad. I think these young hens were raised in very poor conditions, in a neglected and untreated coop, and rather than get angry about it I like to think that they are lucky that they came to us.
(April 2015) This is the extreme build up I am talking about....
Note: our poor buff came with an injured foot. It is completely curled to the side and not the prettiest site. We don't know what happened to her but she never lets it get her down..lol.
The Treatment: We had to act quick with this problem. I was afraid they would lose their limbs or lives. We started with soaking the two girls in a warm foot bath covered with a towel. We used dawn/ flea shampoo and kept the water level very low, just enough to cover their feet. We would leave them in the bath for about an hour to loosen up the build up. After that we would use a toothbrush to gently scrub away at the white residue. After the scrubbing, we would cover their feet and legs in antibiotic cream followed by vaseline. To prevent infection and soften their legs and feet. After that the girls would spend the night in the house.
(April 2015) During treatment:
The color came back to their feet right away. The buff was able to place her (good) foot flat on the ground. Unfortunately some blood did result since the build up completely covered the buff's last two toes. Sorry the picture isn't the best for the blue but she did get a much needed nail trim as you can see! I think the poor girls were in so much discomfort that they wouldn't scratch.
The soaking/scrubbing treatment was done about three consecutive days. We would do it at night, then let their feet dry good over night with the cream and vaseline on.
The Rest Of The Coop: Our other two silkie hens did not have the same build up but we dipped their feet in vegetable oil anyway just to be safe. Then the flock was treated with Ivermectin and the coop was dusted with Seven dust.
(August 2015) What their feet look like today:
Their feet aren't flawless but I can't complain because the condition was so terrible. Both hens lost a portion of their fourth toes sadly. This has definitely been a learning experience and I'm glad that I know what to look for now. I hope all of this information can be helpful to someone else. I guess you should keep in mind that things can get better and scaly leg mites suck!
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