Chicken mites are capable of annoying the inhabitants of the chicken coop much more than other blood-sucking mites. At the slightest suspicion of their presence in the poultry farmers, the poultry farmer should carry out a diagnosis and get rid of the annoying parasites as quickly as possible. How to do this is described in the article.
The chicken mite is divided into several varieties that differ from each other appearance, size and habitat on the bird’s body.
- Very small arthropods that cannot be seen with the naked eye. These include: Knemidocoptes, Epidermoptes, Cytodites. They feed on skin flakes and various animal secretions. They cause leg and body scabies and live in the trachea and lungs of birds.
- Larger representatives of the species. The size of lice and fleas. These are ixodid ticks, Persian ticks and red chicken ticks. Representatives attack chickens only for the purpose of biting and feeding on blood. The rest of the time the arthropods spend on the walls, perches, and floor of the chicken coop.
It is not so easy to spot small mites in feathers, so owners often rely on signs of damage.
Attention! Chicken mites can drink the blood of people caring for poultry. Frequent bites lead to allergies and dermatitis.
Having settled in a chicken coop, the red mite causes significant trouble to its inhabitants. Regularly feeling bites, adults reduce egg production, and young animals grow poorly. If arthropods take up residence in the nests, the chickens will stop visiting them. Constant, albeit small, blood loss leads to anemia, which is easily determined by the pallor of the earrings and combs.
Attention! Too many red bloodsuckers lead to the death of birds.
The fact that there was a red one in the chicken coop chicken mite, can be suspected based on the following signs:
If such signs appear, each bird should be carefully examined. If it is a red mite, then small black and red specks are visible on the body and feathers. A red tick looks like this:
- Oval body 0.6-0.7 mm long.
- The arthropod has 4 pairs of legs of different lengths.
- The color of the body is red. After the tick has eaten blood, it turns dark purple.
Advice. The tick is clearly visible on white paper. In order to detect the blood-sucking insect, the leaf is passed along the walls and perches. Maximum accumulation in litter.
Chickens affected by mites and the chicken coop premises are treated insecticide. It is recommended to burn walls and perches indoors blowtorch. On the walking area, containers with sand and ash are installed, where the birds can “swim”. For prevention, aromatic herbs are scattered on the floor: wormwood, chamomile, tansy.
Diseases and treatments
Attention! If ticks are found, you should contact your veterinarian. The specialist will select the necessary medications and prescribe treatment.
The chickens have become nervous, started laying few eggs, refuse to go into the coop in the evenings, constantly shake their heads, and have their combs become pale?
Most likely the problem is mites.
These insects can infect both pullets and adult chickens; most often, trouble occurs in the summer.
Poultry farmers must know not only the types of chicken mites and methods for identifying them, but also the rules for solving the problem.
Chickens are affected by three types of mites, each of which has its own individual characteristics.
Red tick
The danger of the red tick is that it spreads a variety of infectious diseases chickens and can lead to the death of the entire poultry flock.
Feather mite in chickens- a real disaster, because it is impossible to cope with mass infection; the entire livestock will have to be removed.
The owner of a chicken flock can notice the presence of leg mites by the thickening of the stratum corneum on the paws and the appearance of a gray coating on the phalanges of the fingers. As the disease progresses, the bird's toes begin to become deformed.
Treatment methods - how to remove mites from chickens
You can get rid of ticks from chickens using the following methods:
- All items are removed from the chicken coop - feeders, perches, drinking bowls. The room is cleaned of wet bedding and chicken droppings on the floor and walls. All surfaces are poured with boiling water, or treated with fire from a blowtorch - high temperatures destroy both the ticks themselves and their larvae. The perches also need to be heated, and all equipment must be thoroughly washed.
- All poultry is processed using Pyrethrum or Sevin powders (7%), Ecofleece aerosol. The feathers of the birds and their paws are sprinkled with powders; the aerosol is simply sprayed on each chicken. You can use no more than 15 grams of powder per head.
- If possible, it is worth purchasing the drug Creolin against fleas and ticks in chickens is a water-oil emulsion, which is diluted in the proportion of 50 liters of water per 100 ml of product. Ready solution spray the bird.
Please note: poultry treatment with special preparations should be carried out after collecting eggs and with an interval of 10-14 days. These products are safe for both poultry and humans - after treatment, eggs can continue to be eaten.
- From folk remedies To combat chicken mites, you can select “bouquets” of strong-smelling herbs - mint, garlic or onion leaves, parsley are hung in the chicken coop.
- Foot mites are removed with the help of birch tar - they simply lubricate the affected paws with it twice every 10 days.
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Preventive measures:
- Promptly remove wet litter, replacing it with dry litter.
- Once a month, clean the room from droppings and dirt, pour boiling water over all surfaces or burn with a blowtorch, and thoroughly wash all equipment.
- Use a sulfur smoke bomb to smoke the room at least once every 30 days. As a last resort, this can be done in spring and late autumn.
- Monitor the constant presence of ash in special baths for swimming. Ash can be mixed with sand; the mixture should always be dry and clean, for which it is changed once a week.
Preventing mites in chickens is easier than getting rid of them.
The chicken mite is a pest that lives off the blood of birds.
What danger does the appearance of ticks pose?
Finding them in a chicken coop is quite easy. It is necessary to inspect the premises, especially if it is damp or poorly ventilated. In addition, the tick is easily identified by the birds themselves. Chickens lay much fewer eggs than usual, but they need much more feed. And the chicks grow slower than expected by standards. They can also be infected, since the tick often settles in.
How to get rid of ticks?
Red chicken mite
Birds need to be inspected regularly
Prevention: what measures to take?
Bird feeders also need to be cleaned; in no case is it recommended to pour food into forms that have not been doused with boiling water. Cover the area where you walk chickens with sand and provide quality lighting and keep it dry. As a preventive measure, it is also recommended to organize baths for birds with a mixture of sand and ash, which were mentioned above. Also, when you receive egg boxes or cages, inspect them for mites.
Types of ticks
There are two other types of pests: feather mites and acariform mites. Feather mites live on bird feathers and slowly cause them to break down. The chicken may be left with virtually no feathers, which has a bad effect on all its vital functions. An effective method to get rid of this type of tick has not yet been developed.
Acariform mites mainly settle on, occasionally choosing chickens as their victims. They lead to a disease - knemidocoptosis, popularly known as “lime foot”. This disease results in deformed legs, which impairs the bird's ability to move normally. Birch tar is relevant as a method of control. It helps get rid of the gray growth that quickly spreads along the legs of birds. It will take about a week to treat the skin to see the first positive result.
The chronic disease is caused by acariform mites, which live under the scales of the unfeathered part of the legs.
What to do if a tick is on a person?
You should wear thick clothing that covers open areas skin. Special thick clothing together with rubber boots can protect you from chicken mites.
It must be remembered that it is much easier to prevent a tick invasion than to subsequently fight for the health and life of birds, going through a huge number of methods in search of an effective one. It is recommended to follow the above preventive measures, as they help protect the inhabitants of the chicken coop from pests. The more closely you examine birds, the more likely you are to never know what they really are.
Chicken mites are capable of annoying the inhabitants of the chicken coop much more than other blood-sucking mites. At the slightest suspicion of their presence in the poultry farmers, the poultry farmer should carry out a diagnosis and get rid of the annoying parasites as quickly as possible. How to do this is described in the article.
The chicken mite is divided into several varieties, differing in appearance, size and location on the bird’s body.
- Very small arthropods that cannot be seen with the naked eye. These include: Knemidocoptes, Epidermoptes, Cytodites. They feed on skin flakes and various animal secretions. They cause leg and body scabies and live in the trachea and lungs of birds.
- Larger representatives of the species. The size of lice and fleas. These are ixodid ticks, Persian ticks and red chicken ticks. Representatives attack chickens only for the purpose of biting and feeding on blood. The rest of the time the arthropods spend on the walls, perches, and floor of the chicken coop.
It is not so easy to spot small mites in feathers, so owners often rely on signs of damage.
Attention! Chicken mites can drink the blood of people caring for poultry. Frequent bites lead to allergies and dermatitis.
Having settled in, the red tick causes significant trouble to its inhabitants. Regularly feeling bites, adults reduce egg production, and young animals grow poorly. If arthropods take up residence in the nests, the chickens will stop visiting them. Constant, albeit small, blood loss leads to anemia, which is easily determined by the pallor of the earrings and combs.
Attention! Too many red bloodsuckers lead to the death of birds.
The fact that a red chicken mite has appeared in the chicken coop can be suspected by the following signs:
If such signs appear, each bird should be carefully examined. If it is a red mite, then small black and red specks are visible on the body and feathers. A red tick looks like this:
- Oval body 0.6-0.7 mm long.
- The arthropod has 4 pairs of legs of different lengths.
- The color of the body is red. After the tick has eaten blood, it turns dark purple.
Advice. The tick is clearly visible on white paper. In order to detect the blood-sucking insect, the leaf is passed along the walls and perches. Maximum accumulation in litter.
Chickens affected by mites and the chicken coop area are treated with an insecticidal agent. It is recommended to burn the walls and perches in the room with a blowtorch. On the walking area, containers with sand and ash are installed, where the birds can “swim”. For prevention, aromatic herbs are scattered on the floor: wormwood, chamomile, tansy.
Diseases and treatments
Attention! If ticks are found, you should contact your veterinarian. The specialist will select the necessary medications and prescribe treatment.
While sucking blood from chickens, mites inject poisonous saliva, along with which it can get into the wound.
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Preventive measures
No treatment will be effective unless preventative measures are taken regularly.
To get rid of ticks faster, you should:
- periodically change bedding;
- keep the chicken coop clean;
- treat feeders and drinkers with boiling water;
- create a schedule for regular disinfection of the premises. You can treat the poultry house with diesel fuel, and lime has also proven to work well, which is used to whiten the walls and floor;
- remove cobwebs;
- carry out inspections of chickens, and if an infected bird is identified, isolate it until it is completely cured.
If you are going to build a new poultry house from wood, then the material can be soaked in hot grease, which contains a substance that repels ticks.
