- Joined
- Nov 10, 2017
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- 45
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Help needed, and apologies for long post but I hope it will give you all the details.
A couple of weeks ago I bought 3 adult Pekin chickens from a local poultry market (yes I got taken up in the excitement of the market and just had to buy). Then later that day when we were collecting some fertile eggs from a local breeder, we picked up another 3 pekin, but these are around 8 weeks old.
Anyway, so I then did absolutely the wrong thing. I didn't quarantine them. A couple of days after I got them I noticed the older auction ones feet were very rough and thought that it must just be the breed. But coming across a google post I realise that they are all, quite badly infected with scaly leg mites.
So this is what I've done so far - soaked the chickens feet in warm water and vinegar and rubbed with a toothbrush.
After reading that you need to smother the legs in oil to kill the mites, I've made up my own solution I hope will work. I've used Coconut Oil which has some medicinal qualities (which is solid at room temperature, especially in my area), mixed with a bit of vegetable oil to get it easier to apply, put in some eucalyptus and tea tree oil for their healing power.
I've also removed the old wood shavings from the coop floor and added new shavings and also some chaff (which is what we put in the duck coop). I haven't added anything else to the floor, but thought maybe baking soda?
I'm also doing this for all our chickens too.
Oh, and they are all free range, so are not stuck in the coop 24/7, but the pekins tend to spend a lot of time in there.
Can these mites affect our ducks? As the ducks and chickens seem to love going in each others coop during the day to snoop around.
Any help with our situation would be greatly appreciated.
A couple of weeks ago I bought 3 adult Pekin chickens from a local poultry market (yes I got taken up in the excitement of the market and just had to buy). Then later that day when we were collecting some fertile eggs from a local breeder, we picked up another 3 pekin, but these are around 8 weeks old.
Anyway, so I then did absolutely the wrong thing. I didn't quarantine them. A couple of days after I got them I noticed the older auction ones feet were very rough and thought that it must just be the breed. But coming across a google post I realise that they are all, quite badly infected with scaly leg mites.
So this is what I've done so far - soaked the chickens feet in warm water and vinegar and rubbed with a toothbrush.
After reading that you need to smother the legs in oil to kill the mites, I've made up my own solution I hope will work. I've used Coconut Oil which has some medicinal qualities (which is solid at room temperature, especially in my area), mixed with a bit of vegetable oil to get it easier to apply, put in some eucalyptus and tea tree oil for their healing power.
I've also removed the old wood shavings from the coop floor and added new shavings and also some chaff (which is what we put in the duck coop). I haven't added anything else to the floor, but thought maybe baking soda?
I'm also doing this for all our chickens too.
Oh, and they are all free range, so are not stuck in the coop 24/7, but the pekins tend to spend a lot of time in there.
Can these mites affect our ducks? As the ducks and chickens seem to love going in each others coop during the day to snoop around.
Any help with our situation would be greatly appreciated.