Scaly Leg/Tassel Foot and Scaly Face in Quail Part Two - Treatment

In the first part of this article, which you can find here we discussed the behaviour of the mite, why and how your quail might suffer an infestation and the link between the latter and nutritional deficiency.

In the following we will look at how to treat scaly leg and scaly face with organic, readily-available, effective and low cost solutions. The initial idea would be to suffocate the mite by using a viscous substance such as an organic vegetable oil which will be harmless to the bird but will block up the breathing tubes (spiracles) or rudimentary lungs. However, when I first had to deal with external parasites many years ago, I read a lab report in which  it was documented that arthropods treated solely with a carrier oil had in fact been able to 'hold their breath' for more than an hour. Thus their breathing apparatus had had time to absorb the oil, become unblocked and therefore the mites had been able to survive the treatment. Thus I have a combination of remedies to use in different areas where the mite is present.

Communicate 

Your bird will be very grateful to you for solving this problem as parasite infestations are, as you can imagine, a horrible thing to endure. However, your quail may not enjoy being treated for them. Talk to your birds throughout the treatment, reassuring them by the tone of your voice that all is well. If you have noticed the similarities between human and bird-speak, then you will already understand that tone and cadence are all important. Your quail will instinctively know what you are saying.

Raw Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

One of the most important grocery items ever present in my kitchen cupboard and which is also a powerful medicinal is raw, organic coconut oil. Although more expensive than other organic oils which can be used as carriers for essential oil, coconut oil has virtues of its own. It is therefore invaluable in areas such as the eyes, ears, nose mouth and vent, where treatment with essential oil (of this further) is inadvisable. Coconut oil contains lauric, capric and caprylic acids, these have wide ranging properties, such as insecticidal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities. Coconut oil is a great support for the immune system and has both healing properties for the skin and promotes the regrowth of feathers/hair. We use it in cooking as well as in making cosmetics. Although a saturated fat coconut oil is made up of two thirds medium-chain fats aka medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs, these are metabolised in a completely different way to most fats, in that they do not need bile or digestive enzymes. Thus, when used internally, MCTs in coconut oil are readily available for use by both the body and the brain and not stored as in the usual way of fats. In the case of a stressed, tired bird or one lacking in energy due to mite activity, this is an assured way of giving a great boost to both motor and nervous system function. So when I treat externally with coconut oil, I always make sure the bird gets a nice nugget of coconut oil to eat as well - my birds love it! In the case of quail, who are sometimes fussy about new tastes, I add coconut oil and turmeric to boiled rice and when we eat it they get the scrapings from the bottom of the pan!

Lauric acid makes up about half of the fatty acids in coconut oil. When lauric acid is digested, it transforms into a monoglyceride called monolaurin. Both lauric acid and monolaurin aid in ridding the gut of an overgrowth of harmful pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. This, as we have already discussed in previous articles on parasites, is a bonus in the case of external mites, where continued activity can have compromised the gut and thus the immune system and digestive processes. So even if your bird is now eating well it may still not be able to extract the nutrients from its food. Coconut oil therefore is a most important asset to your medicine chest.

Organic Olive, Sunflower Oil or Similar

These are suitable inexpensive carrier oils for use when treating the legs, I usually try to recuperate organic oil from the large, ex bulk-storage olive jars given away when empty by my local organic shop. I always ask them not to bother to pre-wash them as I have a use for the remaining oil.

As discussed above killing the mites by suffocation, i.e preventing them from accessing oxygen is not sufficient and treating several birds with the more potent coconut oil can get quite expensive. Thus the addition of an essential oil with insecticidal properties is necessary to be sure of removing them from the host.

Essential Oil - Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)

For both scaly face and scaly leg I use Tea tree essential oil as amongst its many properties it is an insecticide and is used in organic farming as such. In fact it was a farmer friend of mine, who shadowed an organic vet as part of her continuing education, who first recommended tea tree to me as a cure for scaly leg many years ago.

Tea tree also has wound healing properties and as these mites can cause skin lesions, this is a very welcome extra virtue. As so little oil is used in each treatment and as a typical 10 ml bottle of pure essential oil translates to 250 drops, it is worth investing in the best quality organic.

Why I Use Organic Cotton Hygiene and Health Products

Cotton is one of the most chemically intensive crops in the world and cotton defoliants are the most toxic farm chemicals currently on the market. Cotton farming accounts for 25% of the World's insecticide use and at a cost of, on average per year, $2.6 billion. As an anecdotal incidence, my friend's mother in Alabama never wore cotton her whole life and warned constantly against the dangers. Think though how much worse it is to use conventionally-grown cotton products on damaged skin and open wounds.

Scaly Face - Treating the Sensitive Areas of the Face

Be generous in your use of coconut oil, as with all microscopic creatures, it is easy for some of them to avoid direct contact with the treatment. In a serious scaly face infestation, as you apply the coconut oil, layers of these creatures and their debris will be removed, so to avoid any being reapplied and surviving, change the cotton bud often as practical. It is also possible as you get nearer to the skin that you will remove creatures that have burrowed below the surface, this may cause redness and maybe even some slight bleeding. Stop the 'cleaning' treatment of these areas immediately if this happens and instead just gently pat on some coconut oil. This will both aid in skin repair and stop, by the antimicrobial effect of the coconut oil, any potential infection.

Scaly Face on the Neck or on Facial Areas Excluding the Above

It will be most unlikely that your quail would just get scaly face around the ears, mouth and other sensitive areas mentioned above so it is on the non-sensitive places that you can carry out the full (essential oil) scaly-face treatment.

At the back of the neck, around the top of the head or to treat any other area away from the ear, eye, nose or beak,  I add one drop of tea tree essential oil to a teaspoonful of melted (carrier) coconut oil. This is the recommended dilution of essential oil for each bird needing treatment.

Thus, if I have a very large area to treat and run out of the essential oil/carrier oil mixture, I revert back to just using the pure coconut oil. There are several reasons why I only like to use 1 drop of tea tree when treating scaly face. The first being because tea tree is a strong oil and I don't like to use too much on the skin (unless as with my pigeon, in an earlier article, this is a case of gangrene or infection). Secondly because one of the greatest receptors for  essential oil is through the lungs and as I'm treating the bird in areas in close proximity to its nose I know it will be accessing oil by inhalation too, therefore I keep the dose to a maximum of one drop per day. That does not mean I do not treat a bird's legs on the same day because it would be very unlikely that I would ever need to use a whole teaspoon of mix on one small quail. I would also want to treat scaly leg and scaly face together when it occurred on the same bird as I wouldn't want them passing the mite back and forth through scratching.

Essential oils are quick acting and should only be used for a short period, with hens I work on a schedule of five days of treatment and then five days with no treatment before starting again, I have rarely ever got past the first five days. The ailment has either cleared up or I have realised I had made the wrong diagnosis and switched treatments. With my quail, I just did one treatment and then left it for a week, that was except for my quail with the scaly leg infestation, that one, as you will see below, I treated differently.

Scaly Leg Treatment

Its microscopic size and its nature of boring into the skin make Knemidocoptes mutans slightly more difficult to treat than other mites. You should also really treat all your birds because it takes a long time to build up colonies of mites that are big enough to cause visible damage. Therefore, chances are some other birds in your flock already have the parasite. Using an edible organic carrier oil and a small amount of essential oil will mean the bird will have no problem with cleaning up its legs once the scales have softened. I add tea tree essential oil, organic if possible and no more than 1 drop per bird (if treating individuals), dissolved into one to two teaspoon of the chosen carrier oil.

On a quail I use an organic cotton bud or small paint brush to apply this and spread it all over the legs including the back of the hocks up to where the feathers start. If I am treating several birds at once then I use a small wide mouth jar filled up to hock height with carrier oil and add up to 6 drops of tea tree. I then mix this well and stand each bird in the pot. If the neck is wide enough then both legs can be done but be aware that quail are incredibly strong in the legs and they will use the full force of this to get away from you, so treating one leg at a time may be a better option!  I know with my own birds some take this treatment as a breeze but others kick up a fuss so putting their feet in a jar is not always the best option!

The quail  should begin to preen around the legs and feet the minute they are put back on the ground and as the legs and feet soften up during the day I often see them working with their beaks around the scales. The object as always with this branch of medicine, is to get the bird to heal itself.

In extreme cases (as with my bird with the infestation), where there are many raised scales and deep layers of excrescences, then a more radical treatment is needed. I have found that softening the scales overnight in the same mixture I use to relieve inflammation (see left), i.e., a cabbage and lard poultice works wonders.

If the scales are very badly deformed I will soak organic cotton wool or an organic makeup pad in the oil mix and bandage this onto the leg and keep it on overnight. This of course still respecting the 1 drop of tea tree per quail and dissolved in one to two teaspoons of carrier oil dependent on the area to be covered.

With my 'infested' quail I used an organic cotton make-up pad to rub the oil in between the badly lifted scales, after the initial soaking in the jar. As I felt the scales were loosening, I then made a tentative attack on the tops of the lifted scales. The top layer should and did, come away revealing a harder dryer layer underneath. As a tip: - if you hold the base of these excrescences tightly between finger and thumb, then you can gently remove the top part with your finger nail. The feet and legs can then be quickly dipped again to allow the oil to sink further into the scales.


In the next article I will discuss follow-up treatment and there will be a film of the whole process.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or It all helps to keep me going!

Until next time, all the very best from sunny Normandie! Sue

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© 2020 Sue Cross

Scaly Leg Mite in Organic Poultry Part Two - The Treatment

Scaly leg mite aka Knemidocoptes mutans is, as previously mentioned in Part One of this topic, an incredibly successful creature. Although it is slow to develop large colonies and in reality should not be a problem because we should see it and deal with it, it is very easy to be taken unawares by its prolific exponential growth. The problem is particularly difficult to spot in feathery footed creatures such as Cochins and if you have these birds then it is important to check them regularly for the first telltale signs of white powdery deposits on the scales of the legs and feet. Rarely mentioned but equally important to prevention and treatment of this mite is the diet of your poultry. If you have not read my initial article on this topic, it might be a good idea to take a look at it, so as to appreciate the importance of diet on external parasite prevention and cure. Topical oil treatment is only a short term solution, the diet of your birds needs to be addressed simultaneously.

As already discussed in the previous article, grain depletes Vitamin A and it is this nutrient which lies at the very heart of the mites' ability to thrive and multiply on your bird. The other crucial thing to remember about treating for any kind of external parasite is that if your bird has become overwhelmed by these mites, there are probably extenuating circumstances. So begin by checking individuals for damaged beaks, depression or stress, which has stopped them from preening or from getting their share of vitamin-rich forages or foodstuffs you have supplied. So even before starting any sort of treatment my first act would be to up those foods rich in beta carotene and make sure by individual feeding that everyone is getting their fair amounts. Above all, as with everything in the forest garden, observation is key, so I regularly sit down and watch my birds just to make sure no one is showing signs of limping or stress.

A quick aside here on Vitamin D₃, as although discovered in 1937 it is only recently that we have began to appreciate the critical role it plays in achieving optimum health. The precursor 7-dehydrocholesterol is stored in the oil of the Uropygial gland and when the bird preens itself the action of the sun's ultraviolet rays transforms this into provitamin  D₃ (Cholecaciferol). When the bird grooms itself it ingests this  provitamin D₃, which is then transformed in the liver and kidneys to Vitamin D₃ (Calcitriol). Thus the evidence of external mites will be a good indication that the pathway of 7-dehydrocholesterol has been compromised i.e. with the blocking of the preen gland by excess keratin and thus the bird may develop all kinds of conditions symptomatic of D₃ deficiency. One of these conditions is, as you may have guessed, keratosis, the over-production of keratin. This is a complex and seemingly for some reason a controversial subject and in the near future I am hoping to present an article that will cover as much research as possible and my own anecdotal material into the importance of Vitamin D₃.

One other Vitamin deficiency also contributing to keratosis is Vitamin K, again a complex compound and which needs an article of its own. To counteract this in your flock, make sure your birds are all getting enough green leafy vegetables and in particular kale.

Having addressed vitamin deficiencies, the next thing to do is to deal with the microscopic spider that causes this problem. Its size and its nature of boring into the skin make this slightly more difficult than other mites. You should also really treat all your birds because it takes a long time to build up colonies of mites that are big enough to cause visible damage, so chances are some other birds in your flock already have the parasite.

The initial idea is to suffocate the mite with the use of a carrier oil, I use a mix of olive and sunflower which I recuperate from the self-service olive jars from our local organic shop. I filter out the herbs and last traces of olive debris and use that. If this is not an option then any (preferably organic) supermarket vegetable oil will do. Organic sunflower oil is cheaper to buy than olive and here in France safflower is even more so. Using an edible organic oil will mean the bird will have no problem with cleaning up its legs once the scales have softened. I also add tea tree essential oil, organic if possible and no more than 2-3 drops per bird (if treating individuals) depending on size, dissolved in one to two teaspoons of the chosen carrier oil.

I use a tooth brush or paint brush to apply this and spread it all over the legs including the back of the hocks up to where the feathers start. If I am treating several birds at once then I use a wide mouth jar or preferably a heavy, glazed china flower pot (cache pot) fill it up to hock height with carrier oil and add up to 10 drops of tea tree. I then mix this well and stand each bird in the pot. If they are bantams both legs can be done at once and with the flowerpot I can accommodate the feet of larger birds too. Cochins and their ilk with feathery feet need to have the oil painted on to avoid soaking their feathers but in extreme cases, I would soak feet and feathers. If this all sounds too difficult then paint each bird's feet and legs with a brush, using the mix from the jar. I know with my own birds some take this treatment as a breeze but others kick up a fuss so putting their feet in a jar is not always the best option!

The birds will begin to preen around the legs and feet the minute they are put back on the ground and as the legs and feet soften up during the day I often see them working with their beaks around the scales. The object as always with this branch of medicine, is to get the bird to heal itself.

In extreme cases (as with a friend's old hen, left), where there are many raised scales and deep layers of 'spongy' excrescences; these usually occur at the back of the legs and on the hocks, then a more radical treatment is needed. I have found that softening the scales overnight in the same mixture I use to relieve inflammation, i.e., a cabbage and lard poultice works wonders. I then make a tentative attack on the tops of the lifted scales often the top layer will come away revealing a harder dryer layer underneath. If you hold the base of these excrescences tightly between finger and thumb, then you can gently remove the top part with your finger nail. I then treat with the tea tree and oil mixture as above but in this case, treat each bird with its full individual dose. If the scales are very badly deformed I will soak organic cotton wool in the oil mix and bandage this onto the leg and keep it on overnight. This of course still respecting the 2-3 drops of tea tree per bird and dissolved in one to two teaspoons of carrier oil dependent on the area to be covered.

Calendula and tagetes infused oil, which you can easily make at home from the common marigold and African and/or French marigold respectively, are also excellent skin softeners and furthermore they repair tissue and reduce pain. Importantly for this case too they are also anti acarian and natural insecticides.  In a later post I will be sharing how I grow the flowers and make the oils. By adding beeswax and extra carrier oil, the infused oil can be transformed into a balm or salve, which can then be smoothed into the raised scales for further deeper treatment. You can also use raw organic coconut oil for an extra deeper moisturising action. ..and now the film...

Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon.

All the very best from Normandie! Sue 

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© 2017 Sue Cross