Photo Credit: Microscopic view

Did you know that like our family dogs and cats even chickens can get fleas?  Summertime is the height of flea season. Chicken fleas are not as common as mites and poultry lice, but they can cause many problems for your flock. Chicken fleas can cause irritation and restlessness. But far worse, they can cause malnutrition, anemia, decrease egg production and lead to your chickens not feeling well overall.  This article will discuss three types of fleas that affect chickens-the European Chicken Flea, the Western Chicken Flea and the Sticktight Flea.  The types of fleas that can affect your flock are determined by where you live.

The European chicken flea can be found throughout the United States. It is the most common flea that affects chickens in our country. This flea is on the chickens for a limited time only to feed. Otherwise, you can find it in the litter.  If the flea population is large enough in your flock, it can spread to affect other breeds of birds, pets and people living near and interacting with the flock.

The Western Chicken Flea, also known as the Black Hen Flea, is a flea that is predominantly isolated to the Pacific Northwest. This flea is only occasionally found on the chickens, instead preferring to live among the droppings.

The Sticktight flea is common in tropical and warmer climates. It does not move yet attaches itself to the head and vent area of the chicken.  The female flea with forcibly ejects her eggs into the litter.  The worst part is that the tick larvae thrives in well drained sandy litter!  These fleas can cause blindness from sores near the eyes as this is where the prefer to live on the host chicken.

Photo Credit: Flea eggs

Prevention

Hygiene– Keep a tidy coop and run. Have you noticed that this is always comes up in chicken keeping practices? Please do not under rate the importance of regularly cleaning out your coop and run and replacing soiled bedding with clean bedding in the coop and nesting boxes. When doing so, always look for small tiny pests, especially in the corners and in the nesting boxes.

Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (FGDE)– Try sprinkling a thin layer on your coop floor, in the nesting boxes and rubbing it along the roosts.  You can also dust your flock with FGDE too- paying close attention to under the wings and their fluffy bottoms. Please read more about FGDE here before using it for the first time in your flock.

Garlic-Adding a clove or two to their drinking water as well as adding up to 3% garlic powder to their feed can deter fleas. However, there is a possibility that using garlic can cause Heinz Anemia in poultry as it is in the onion family.

Apple Cider Vinegar-spraying a bit on your flock’s feathers can help repel fleas and other biting insects

Aromatherapy– Certain herbs, such as mint, are also known to repel fleas.  Try planting these herbs around the chicken coop and drying them for later use.  You can harvest them, dry them and sprinkle them in the coop too!

Poultry Protector-Spray coop, nesting boxes and roosts once the coop is cleaned out.  Let it dry, add the FGDE, then apply clean shavings.

Treatment

There are many treatments and techniques on the market for chicken fleas.  You may find that you have to use a combination of a few to eradicate the fleas. Also be sure to check out the reference list below. You might also find some helpful information in those articles as well.

Step 1: Remove all the chicken from the coop and lock them out into the run.  They cannot return into the coop until they are treated themselves

Step 2: Clean out the entire coop, remove all the bedding and sweep out the cobwebs from the rafters. Discard the bedding. Do not add it to the compost pile. Do not toss it into the run. Some people burn it!

• Scrub the coop clean with either a water and vinegar solution, a commercial coop cleaner, or a 10% water and bleach solution.
• If you can remove the roosts, scrub them down outside and allow them to dry in the sun.
• Wait until the coop is entirely dry. While you wait for things to dry, treat the flock.

After treating your flock be sure to remove your shoes prior to entering the house. Wash your hands thoroughly, take a shower, and put on a clean set of clothes. Wash your clothing right away.

It is very important that you repeat the entire process of deep cleaning the coop and re-dusting the flock once again 10 to 14 days later. Sometimes the process needs to be done a third time in order to break the fleas’ life cycle.

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1786007