Found a cheap fix for scaly leg mites at a farm supply store

Went to Tractor Supply in Allentown last weekend for feed and spotted a bottle of ivermectin pour-on for cattle for $18. Read online you can use a tiny drop on the back of each chicken's neck. Tried it on my 4 hens that had crusty legs and after 10 days the scales are already flaking off clean. Has anyone else used the cattle pour-on instead of the expensive poultry stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley_flores281mo ago

My neighbor lost two hens to scaly mites last spring before she figured out what was wrong, and it was heartbreaking watching them struggle to walk. I switched to the cattle pour-on about six months ago after my Barred Rock started getting those crusty scales and it worked like a charm. Twelve dollars saved me a trip to the vet and my girls are scratching around happy as can be now. It feels good to find a cheap fix that actually works, especially when the fancy stuff costs an arm and a leg.

lee_grant9714d ago

Scaly mites are definitely gross and annoying but I gotta say people act like it's some apocalyptic tragedy for the birds. My granddad had chickens for forty years and he treated mites with a little olive oil and vaseline and never lost a single hen. The whole "heartbreaking watching them struggle to walk" thing sounds a bit dramatic to me. They're tough animals, they bounce back pretty quick if you catch it early. Is it really that serious or is it just the internet making us all worried about every little thing our chickens do?

lewis.drew1mo ago

Man, that's rough about your neighbor's hens. I still feel bad every time I see a bird limping like that, reminds me of the time I tried to treat my own chickens with some expensive spray from the feed store and it did absolutely nothing. I ended up looking like an idiot walking around with a half-empty bottle of overpriced snake oil. The cattle pour-on trick though? That's the real deal. I finally tried it after my Wyandotte started looking like she had dinosaur feet and it cleared up in like a week. Twelve bucks and a little patience is way better than dropping sixty on some fancy vet visit, lol.