Sticktight Fleas!!!

[ThePamperedPullet]

Kickin' Wing :

Pamperedpullet.... like the idea of burning the dirt, I'm surprised my husband didn't already think of that. These bugs are horrible!! MotherJean, does cull mean KILL? I hope not! Not to be rude but our chickens are our pets, and I'd never kill them because they inconvenience me with having to take care of them. "SORRY SUZIE, YOU CAUGHT LICE AT SCHOOL?................NOW IT"S OFF TO THE DEATH CHAMBER" Good luck lswaton!!

 

[redhen]

What frontline are ya'll talking about?? The kind in the little tubes?? Or the bigger spray bottle of it??

 

[MotherJean]

Yes, Kickin Wing, unfortunately "cull" can mean to "slaughter," but it can also mean removing a bird from your flock by sending it back from whence it came or giving it away to someone willing to deal with its problems. I suggested returning the infested birds to the seller OR (if that wasn't possible) culling them to protect the rest of the flock. I was raised on a farm. My grandfather was a poultry farmer with a couple thousand birds to care for. Consequently, my perspective is one of chickens as livestock that provide us eggs or meat for the table. Doesn't mean I haven't made pets of my backyard flock or that I wouldn't be saddened by the loss of any of them. It does, however, mean that I would not spend a whole lot of money or time or risk the health and welfare of the whole flock for the sake of a $5 or $10 chicken I just bought. I am baffled as to why you seem to think that makes me somehow inhumane and deserving your ridicule.

If the concept of culling offends you so greatly, I suggest you not spend any time over there on the "Managing Your Flock" threads where folks talk about sending their roos to "freezer camp." If you go suggesting that they'd send their little boy babies to a death camp because they only wanted girls, you will certainly start a flame war on BYC. Surely you don't want that?

 

[geebs]

DE is ineffective??? interesting... I would go with ivomec the pour on.... it works for nearly everything... and as for my property... DE, WHAt eats fleas... Do guinea hens?

 

[bigdaddyabc]

Quote:
AMEN!! I get the "pet" thing folks, I really do....I have had pets all my life and still do. Heck, I LOVE my chickens too. But they are CHICKENS, not my kids.....and comapring them to one of my kids bringing home lice so off to the gallows leads me to believe that perhaps someone might needs counseling or perhaps medication. Settle down. My kids highest and best use is not, nor has ever been as a producer of food, or food themselves. the chickens??? FOOD is their highest and best use when it is boiled right down the the bottom. Culling is done by nature to protect the herd and the flock every day. Just my two cents.

 

[calista]

Another "AMEN!" to Mother Jean and Big Daddy's comments. Farmers and animal-keepers must be objective and realistic. Pets are not children.

Look up the definition of "anthropomorphism" in Wikipedia or your dictionary of choice:

In the scientific community, using anthropomorphic language that suggests animals have intentions and emotions has been deprecated as indicating a lack of objectivity. Biologists have avoided the assumption that animals share some of the same mental, social, and emotional capacities of humans, relying instead on the strictly observable evidence. Animals should be considered, as Ivan Pavlov wrote in 1927, "without any need to resort to fantastic speculations as to the existence of any possible subjective states." More recently, The Oxford companion to animal behavior (1987) advises "one is well advised to study the behavior rather than attempting to get at any underlying emotion."

Scientific method involves observations, definitions, and measurements of the subject of inquiry; empathy is not generally seen as a useful tool. While it is not unknown for scientists to lapse into anthropomorphism to make the objects of their study more humanly comprehensible or memorable, they often do it with an apology.

 

[lswatson111304]

Look, I only had one chicken left after something got ahold of my other 7, so I am not to worried about infesting my entire flock..its just one other bird! LOL Here is what I did yesterday. I went to the feed store and purchased Viper Powder, which is what the guy that we bought them from was using, DE, and vaseline. I got home and made a paste of the viper and Vaseline and smeared it wherever I saw fleas. Then I dusted them, then I dusted my coop, and around it. I went out this afternoon after Church and the fleas look to be dead, and I'm praying they fall off on their own. I can't tell you how much of an improvement it already looks like from just one time smothering them. I'm going to smother them again tonight and dust again, and continue to dust the coop for a while in case they released any eggs. Praying this works. My DH is on vacation this week, so we might build a temporary coop to move them to until we get the big one all sorted out.

 

[Wiglwerm]

Right or wrong, here's what I did when a freind gave me two RIR that were covered with sticktight fleas. I took some Sevin dust mixed it with water and slathered every spot that had fleas, glopped the goop all over her and put her back in her quarantine pen. The fleas were dead within a day and ALL fell off within 3 or 4 days. No reapplying, just a one time coating. Good Luck, those things make my skin crawl!! (By the way, no ill side affects with the 2 hens, I think their health improved quite rapidly after I got rid of those blood suckers!!)

 

[DianeB]

You may try a magnifier and a flea comb or treazers to get those fleas off her face. Flea combs have been one of the most effective ways for me to get rid of fleas on pets. DE is best used in the yard or house to dry up eggs and help break-up the pest's lifecycle.


Please, find another forum for any debates about anthropomorism. This person is asking for advice for her ill hens. Lets not get side tracted with a heated discussion that may close this thread.

 

[paridisefarm2009]

Kickin' Wing :

First and foremost, DO NOT put these chickens anywhere near your other chickens!! These fleas spread through the sand. The eggs are dropped to the sand to hatch out. We are currently going through this awful problem with ours. So far, we have tried Sevin, DE, Adams, and 10% Permethrin. We've sparyed and dipped our chickens, and we have treated each chicken with these chemicals by using qtips on their combs, waddles and around their eyes, as well as treating their coops and runs. We still are having a problem getting rid of them. We've done some reasearch, and it seems that people say different ways of getting rid of them, well, we have been trying every suggestion. I would try the things also, but my suggestion to you is to keep the chickens seperated. This weekend we are gonna try the vasline/flea powder paste idea. We are in Shady Hills, Fl, curious as to your location, I've heard sandy soils are the worst. And btw, our lighter chickens have them worse. (don't know why) Good luck, if you do succseed, PLEASE post how you did it!! Thanks, Kicken' Wing

Hey Im in hudson.
Howdy neighbor I am going through exactly the same flea thing Its driving me crazy I tryed this spray from surban feed got my first bottle for 3.99 then went back and they are 7.99 you can mist the chickens with that But i also baught the last bag of dust from them that they had and have dusted them the last 2 nights and did the ground where I know they like to bath , The first time I saw thease there faces were covered I didnt know anything So I grabbed one of mybirds and looked closer And I was LIKE OMG What is that , this is crazy what we have to go through if its not the coons and possoms Bothering our birds now its fleas , Im gonna try not to let it get me down Just have to stay on top of it Caus I think the powder works the best so far caus the first time I powered them poof flease were gone But i guess you have to keep up with it .
I also wanted to ask what is DE and where to get it I know about the seven going away I see a little on the shelves But not much left . thanks Jean​