Stupid question - do chickens get ticks?

[grandmachicken]

I know chickens will eat ticks - but is it possible for chickens to carry ticks in their feathers and transmit to other pets or people? I found a deer tick between my fingers and my husband says it's from handling my chickens so much. (He's obviously jealous of the time I spend with my birds). Anybody know?

Christi

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I don't mean to be a downer, but there are types of ticks that feed on chickens.

They're called poultry or fowl ticks and they hide in cracks around the roosts and typically only emerge to feed on the chickens during the first hour following dusk and return to their crevices until they need to feed again. Unless you looked at the right time and at the right place, you'd never know your chickens have them. Because of their habits of hiding in crevices and only coming out in darkness, the chickens have little defense against them. Fortunately, freezing temperatures limit how far north they are found so they're generally only found in the southern states. You can read more about them here.

 

[cmom]

Are you sure it was a tick and not a stick tight flea?

 

[panner123]

I would say yes, but have never seen a tick on a chicken. They have blood which the tick is looking for.

Not new to chickens either, been around them all my life, into the Social Security years.

 

[Gazinga]

i too would say yes they can carry ticks, even though i have never seen a tick on a chicken in 35+ years

 

[citrusdreams]

Chickens eat ticks.

 

[TreeHugger]

I have never seen a tick on any of my chickens, but I would think they could get them. Maybe another chicken picks it off before it can attach itself? I think your hubby is just jealous

 

[chickachickadoo]

My hubby has picked up 2 ticks in just a few weeks without being around chickens. One has nothing to do with the other.

 

[Cetawin]

I would like to see a tick try to get on one of my girls...there would be 28 wenches all over that tick. Not gonna happen....at least not here. My poor dog was attacked by 6 of my hens when they saw a tick climbing up his leg. They got it too...

scared the ChiChi about to death but...there you have it.

 

[okiron]

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