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.
