how can i get rid of chicken fleas????

[RCRIR]

Eprinex will kill both internal and external parasites.

DE will not help with internal parasites. DE will also need to be applied frequently, while Eprinex is effective for at least 6 weeks.

 

[chickenzoo]

Been having trouble at my new farm with Stick Tight fleas on my chickens, turkey and geese. They are Horrible!! I've dusted, I've sprayed, I've used Cattle pour on, I've even sprayed them with Frontline.... still they show up. How do you get rid of them on 16 acres..... U GH.. Working on a combo of things to see if I can get a handle on them...

 

[hennypenny99]

Does anyone know how these products would affect chicks or a broody hen about to hatch chicks? I just went to check on her to see if she had babies yet. I was leaned in close listening for peeping and I saw a flea or lice? crawl into the feathers on her head. I don't know if any of the other chickens have them or just her since she has been setting eggs for three weeks and now getting up and dust bathing much if at all, she only gets up to eat and drink now.

 

[JSteinhorst]

I have a two week old chick, I found 2 clear white bugs on her when I tried to wash her with flea and tick spray for parakeets, she was so miserable for an hour as I tried to dry her and shivering that I felt like the worse person. On the other hand, the bath did not rid her of the pests because I must have missed areas. She (I say the term loosely since I do not know) has multiple bald spots... I read about Sevin dust and it says not to be used on animals, should I use it anyway? Also, she likes to eat the pine shavings so I now have her on paper towel over pine shavings, I sprinkled the shavings with sevin dust, should I also sprinkle the paper towels?

Thanks in advance, I REALLY need advice!!!

 

[Firefly1v]

I hate to tell you guys this but we had these fleas as well. Talked to a vet that specializes in chickens and he told me they would be impossible to get rid of. We sprayed the pens and chickens every 2 weeks for 6 mths. Dusted the pens with DE and sevens dust. Ivermectin the chickens and even bleached all perches, nest boxes and floors. Nothing kills these things. Also found out they can be brought in by coons or other pests. We had a family of coons getting in the pen. We would trap them and because they were in the pen overnight we think the fleas got in our pen.

By accident we figured out how to get rid of them. A few of my hens got out and we couldn't catch them. They were bald headed and you could see the fleas. After a week I noticed the hens that were out (3 of them) the fleas were disappearing and their feathers were coming back. We have 4 acres so we built another pen on the opposite side of the property and put the 3 hens (After some late night catching in the dark) and a couple others in the new pen. Coated the floor with sevens dust. First night we sprayed them with the flea spray and again in 2 weeks. By the end of the month they were flea free and the feathers were coming back. So we built a chicken tractor out of pvc and wire. Moved a dozen chickens at a time and treated with the same spray every 2 weeks and as they were flea free moved them to the new coop. We had over 100 chickens so this took some time but we are now flea free. We woud move the tractor around the property so if any fleas got into the ground their eggs couldn't reinfect the chickens. We have left the old coop empty of chickens for 6 months now. We have alot of chicks hatching now so looking at putting chickens back out in it. We have left the water bowl on a white towel with the heat lap trick and no fleas in the water. We also would get attacked on our legs if we walked into the pen before. They haven't done that the last few weeks. We didn't get a cold winter either so it wasn't the weather that helped get rid of them (central Florida).

So we are going to clean it back up and spray it. Hopefully it will stay flea free.

So in summary (LOL) the only way we were able to get rid of them was to empty the coop and give the fleas nothing to feed on. I think it is they infest the area so you have to empty it to get rid of them. You don't have to empty it for as long as we did but at least a month or more would be best.

 

[Firefly1v]

Oh forgot to say I would not put sevens dust or these flea sprays directly on chicks. A broody hen with no chicks, Yes.

 

[gypsychicken]

Thank Everyone!
Well, what I do not is every once in awhile dip their butts in flea bath, then again in 2 weeks.
I make sure and not do this close to when I'm going to take them down and make a stew

But I accept that chickens have critters.
I also don't name them any more, or hold them too much, so I don't have to worry about the critters.
Taking down my first flock was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
I learned so much, and I mostly I learned not to "play with my dinner", at least as long as
I don't have a big barn that can accomodate older and younger gals and generations.
Thank you all for helping out. As a novice I appreciate it!!
Now I'll start another thread.

 

[Maryallison]

Thanks for the help everyone. I am kinda sensative to the fleas and now I have them too! Just seeing what kind of options I have.

 

[theProvost]

This is a late post but I had a hen who was the best from the bunch die unexpectedly sitting on her eggs. It was her second time laying so I didn't know what happened. After I buried her I decided to call it a day and move her eggs into an incubator later. The next day when I went over to her nest I grabbed an egg and there were a lot of fleas crawling on my hand like grabbing a piece of candy that had ants all over it. I quickly dusted it off and washed it off with water. I've seen chicken fleas before but never in that amount where they swarmed up my hand, so I grabbed a stick and used it to move nest outside to into the sun. I saw literally thousands of fleas all over the bottom of the nest and around the bedding. That's when I realized that it was probably the fleas that killed my hen, malnutrition and fatigue from sitting on eggs for about two weeks her mother instincts killed her. She literally was a sitting target, sitting on her eggs weak as all those fleas just sucked her dry. I then removed the rest of the eggs and just burned the nest box.

After my hen died and saw the fleas in that amount I was sure my other chickens had it too and I grabbed my rooster and inspected him and he had a lot on him too. So irritated and frustrated I went to my shed to find something to deal with it and grabbed some powder pesticide I used for my garden to kills snails and other pests. I put on a pair of disposable gloves, wore a dust mask, and tied my rooster legs together. Then I put him on the ground and rubbed pesticide it all over his body from the throat down like I was marinading him. I doubled up around the fluffy feathers under his butt because that's where the flea headquarters and I think breeding grounds are. After I was done I let him up and he dusted himself off (be sure to stay away a lot of particles will be flying). After I was done I was thinking why did I do that he might breathe it in and die or something. But he was fine and the next few days I checked his bottom and there were no fleas. So it worked and my rooster was fine. Then I continued on the rest of my chickens.

So now any time I detect fleas I just follow the same procedure and I also realized that fleas are on the walls and roost so I sprinkle the pesticide along the walls and floors of the room and I move my chickens and let the pesticide sit for a day or two and hose it down before I move my chickens back. Seems to works for me. Sometimes I don't get all of them and a second time is needed but you do see a drastic decline in fleas usually only stragglers. Keep in mind I don't have a lot of chickens (can't imagine treating over 10 chickens) and don't use them as layers only for meat sometimes. The time I eat them is a long time away from me treating them for fleas and I don't know of any side effects that it has on eggs, meat, or on the chicken itself. Been doing it for a few years now with no problems on my chickens health or anything. Just thought I'd share a flea solution that works for me.

Not sure on the pesticide I use but its for snails, slugs, and other garden pests also its in a powder form like baby powder.

 

[pjtoal]

Will Eprinex get rid of fleas too? when reading the about Eprinex it states only mites? I've used DE and sevin dust. I have ground squirrels that brought the fleas in. But I have taking care of that by laying down chicken wire on the dirt flour of the coop. But I still have fleas.Just seem impossible to get rid of the fleas.

PJ