Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

My rooster has a few feathers on his legs and until now I just assumed they looked a little funny because of how the feathers come out.....but now I worry he might have the start of scaly leg mites. I cannot find any internet pics of leg mites on a feathered leg ...or even close up pics of feathered legs, to compare him to. Can someone show me what a healthy feathered leg looks like...right where the feathers come out of the skin?

I will try to get some of my girls.

This is two different birds. The black one is 6 months old and the lighter one is just over a year old. I may be wrong but in my limited experience their scales look SLIGHTLY lifted where the feather shafts come out. The scales on the inside of the leg and foot should be smooth. If I am wrong someone please correct me because I may have a problem as well!

@Happy , do you have some VetRX or coconut oil (or any kind of vegetable oil) to rub onto his/her legs/feet? If it is scaly leg mites, and it looks like you could maybe have something going on with the second girl (not sure), you caught it very early. That said, I have read that feather-legged chickens are apparently more prone to getting scaly leg mites than clean legged birds.

I thought my poor rooster was suffering from them because his legs looked sore too. Then I found the hens carefully plucking his legs!

I do have vetrx and coconut oil. The second (older one) is molting right now so new pin feathers are coming through those iffy scales. I don't think she's got mites but it's possible. I'll slather her legs up. It's so not a pretty thing to do to a fluffy legged bird lol.

Well, it could just be new feathers coming up then, @Happy .
Maybe hold off dealing on the messiness until she's done re-feathering?