Those of you who aren’t chicken keepers (and maybe some of you who are) are lucky enough not to know about scaly leg mites, but in our flock they have been a veritable scourge, and extremely labor-intensive to take care of, until I stumbled upon a simple and effective remedy.
“Scaly leg mites are parasites that lodge and reproduce underneath the scales on chickens’ legs. This results in a typical look of uneven, crusty, deformed scales, and can lead to impaired walking, infection, loss of toes and, in extreme cases, even death.
Most home treatment options for scaly leg mites suggest dipping the bird’s legs in mineral oil or petroleum, and then slathering them in Vaseline. The goal of this is to smother the mites. The treatment is then repeated after an interval of a week or two, to take care of the nits that might have hatched in the meantime.”
But, as I said, I’m using something a lot simpler and no less, possibly more effective now. Read more in my Mother Earth News post.
Domestic Felicity 