Fleas! Product recommendations please!

[SpinningJenny]

Today when after cuddling one of my pullets (10 weeks), I found a small, round flea like insect on my arm. I assumed it came from the bird, and I crushed it. but It didn't look quite like the regular flat jumping fleas the dog gets. This one was smaller and rounder. I have been rifling thru the forums and it looks like it might have been a stick-tight flea. Do we even have these in Illinois?

I do not see any fleas stuck on the chickens faces, like others have posted, but I need to look more closely in the morning. However, I did notice that the girls have been dust bathing in the drier garden soil to the point that they are all grey and their faces are dirty. I'm wondering if that's because they are itching?

Any how, it's some kind of flea and I need to know what's the safest, most effective product to use in a small yard where children and other animals play regularly. Please be specific and include a product link if you can, I'm reading forum posts where the same product is mentioned with a dozen different names and I'm very confused! Right now I'm leaning toward ProZap Poultry Dusting Powder which seems to have a lot of successful applications from it's Amazon reviews.

I'm building a new coop right now, so I think I'll just burn the other one down when the new one's finished, haha! That's going to take care of that part of the problem. But, what about the yard itself too? Anything I can treat my gardens and lawn with that won't poison my kids or my other pets?

 

[Eggcessive]

Permethrin 10% spray or the permethrin garden dust are both good to use on chickens, and are safe. The bugs you saw could have been mites, lice, or fleas. You might use a magnifying glass to look at one. Lice are fast crawling, mites are slow crawling, while fleas jump and craw. Depending on which you are seeing, will determine how often you will need to treat your chickens. It also makes a difference where on the chicken the bugs are seen. Some lice are found on the vent and under, while others inhabit the neck area, or the area under the wings. Mites can be the kind that are only on them at night, while some will be found all of the time. Mites need treatment every 5-7 days to gets the eggs hatching, while lice should be treated every 10 days to get the eggs. The coop and nest box contents need to be emptied and burned or disposed of, while the coop itself has to be treated also.

 

[SpinningJenny]

I checked them out today and I didn't find any mites or fleas on them. I checked under wings, the back of the neck around the vent and the belly under he down as best I could and saw nothing on them. Their skin has no bite marks or redness and generally looked smooth and healthy. I'm going to clean the coop, dust with DE and burn the straw, replacing it with pine shavings this time.

However, it looks like the feathers around the faces of the lighter white feathered birds are thinning out a bit. Could this be from mites around the face? Any other theories?

One of them had a peck mark above her eye, slightly reddened. I'm not sure if that was from the older hen asserting her authority, or from other birds pecking at bugs around her face. Would they peck the bugs off each other to the point of removing feathers?