Poultry fleas are also known as stick-tight fleas because the attach themselves to the host and are completely impossible to brush off. The fleas though not themselves disease carriers can be a danger to your flock as well as your domestic pets. This is because they cause a lot of irritation and the animals and birds spend time scratching that they would be feeding. When they scratch they can cause injury to the eyes and skin and these open sores can get septic. Getting rid of Sticktight Flea Chicken Parasite is however not difficult. But it requires persistence.
These nasty little critters like to attach themselves to the waddles, combs and around the eyes of your chickens as well as around the eyes of your dogs and cats. While not deadly to the larger animals, they can cause distress and death to members of your flock. The first sign of these fleas will be the constant scratching and shaking of your birds as well as small black specks around the eyes, waddles and combs.
Life Cycle
If you understand the Life Cycle of the Pourtry flea, then you know where and when to attack. Before mating, both sexes hop around freely. However, upon fertilization, the female attaches (by her mouthparts) to the host and spends the rest of her life in that position. The female lays eggs that fall to the dusty ground. Here they hatch and larvae feed on organic debris, including the adult flea faeces. After a week or two the larva burrows deeper into the dust and pupates into a silken cocoon. If conditions are right, an adult may emerge from the cocoon within days or, under adverse environmental conditions, may remain quiescent within the cocoon for several weeks or months. The newly-emerged adult flea mates and then attaches itself to a host.
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How to get Rid of Sticktight Flea parasite on Chicken
The best way to completely get rid of the Flea menace in your firm is to attach it in all the stages of its life cycle.
Adult flea: Apply a layer of vaseline on the affected areas of your chicken. The flea will suffocate and fall off. This will give the chicken immediate relief but temporary since the flea can always find the host again. Therefore they need to be killed.
Maggots and adults
Use a recommended acaricide to spray the areas where the chicken reside and where they take their sand bath. It may be necessary to wet the ground first so that acaricide can spread widely and penetrate deeply.
Other pets: Treat other pets such as dogs and cats since the fleas can attach to the too.
Note: as you can see from above, there was no attack targeting eggs and pupae. These are protected from most insecticides. Therefore it is important to repeat this procedure every week for at least three weeks. One week gives the eggs and Pupae to hatch but not enough time to complete the cycle.