Scaly leg mite

Summer is supposed to be the season for creepy crawlies, but one of my chickens have picked up leg mites in the middle of winter.

Scaly leg mites are little mites that live under the scales on the chicken legs. It's irritating to them and can cause the scales to lift up. Like on Effie's legs above. Effie brought leg mites back with her from the place that we bought her from. We treated it successfully but now it is Flopsy's turn.

We've noticed her "nibbling" at her legs, which indicate to us that there is something irritating her. Looking at her feet, the scales do seem a bit roughened.

The treatment is to pretty much smother the mites where they are located. For some people, they dip or spray the legs with cooking oil. I use petroleum jelly. Mainly because you can apply a thick layer on the feet and it won't drip off and it should stay on the legs for a while.

Yes, it's dusty, it sits in the coop just for our chickens (the things we buy for them!)
We have to keep applying this for at least 2 weeks. For Effie, it was a combination of petroleum jelly and cooking oil spray. She's pretty hard to catch (as she hates to be picked up) so the spray was handy at night when she was on the perch. When she wasn't looking, it was a quick spray with canola oil! We had to be quick to get both feet. And it helps tremendously when the coop door is shut so she can't run away outside with only one greasy foot...

Flopsy wasn't all that pleased with me touching her feet. Here it is after I have applied it. Shiny legs!
Her spur is getting pretty long too...as long as the roosters...

The shiny legs don't stay like that for long though!

Yup, petroleum jelly and dirt love each other.

We'll keep applying it until the scales look better. Effie's case was pretty bad, so she doesn't have smooth scales on her feet any longer, but they look a lot better than what she arrived with. Plus, she doesn't seem to act like her feet are irritating her.

So there you go. Smother those mites. I hear some people use Vicks instead of petroleum jelly. Might make the coop smell nicer I suppose. The chickens might not like the taste of it though?

So keep an eye out for this with your chickens. It's an easy way to get rid of mites (provided you get to catch them!)

Cuddle a chicken (unless they don't want to be cuddled...then...err..say "good chickies!")