mites or fleas, what do I do?

[Gwendolyn]

I'm on my way to the local Cenex hoping they can help. I have 3 1/2 month old chickens. I went to clean out the hen house and found tons of little black bugs that looked and jumped/flew like what I think are fleas. They were mainly where the droppings were under the roosts. I cleaned out all the shaving (I use wood shavings) but alas they are still there. This seemed to happen in the last couple of days as they were not there five days ago when I last cleaned out the coop. I haven't actually checked the chickens for bugs as they don't like to be held. Any suggestions or idea what problem I have?

 

[dawg53]

I recommend you use sevin dust to kill the fleas, dust the whole coop. You need to visually inspect each chicken for lice/mites/fleas. The good news is that sevin dust will kill the lice/mites as well as the fleas. You'll need to redust everything in 10 days,including your chickens,nests roosts etc... to kill any eggs that have hatched since the first dusting. Lice/mite info here:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[ChixPix]

you need to treat your yard around the coop too. you'll just re-infect by carrying them in on your feet.
We had a heck of a time with fleas in the house last year!