Sticktight Fleas!!!

[MotherJean]

DE is diatomaceous earth. It's a fine powder that looks like talc. It's available in two forms - horticultural and food grade. Food grade is the safest form to use directly on animals (besides the chickens, I've used it successfully on cats, dogs, and ferrets to kill fleas). The food grade DE is available at my local feed store, but only in the 50 lb. sack, for $27 and change. I've seen many threads by BYC folks in various parts of the country that say they have difficulty finding food grade DE. Some have said it is available on eBay and other Internet based businesses, but you'll pay shipping costs. Still worth the investment, IMHO. I cannot testify as to its effectiveness with sticktight fleas since we don't have these horrid things in my part of the country and I've never had to battle them (thank God). There is, however, ample evidence showing that Sevin mixed with Vaseline is effective. The problem remains in the soil. If you do not treat the soil, the sticktights will likely reinfest your flock unless you keep them dusted. DE would be my choice for a preventative measure.

 

[Kickin' Wing]

paridisefarm - DE is short for Diatomaceous Earth. We purchased it at Suburban Feed. You mix it in their feed and dust them with it. I heard the rumors about Sevin, but so far we haven't had any problem finding it. Just bought some yesterday at Tractor Supply in Brooksville. Good luck on your problem, I think we have a lot of work ahead of us considering how sandy it is here! Come on rain!!!! Take care!!

 

[SAMnELLA]

Hi, just wondering if you ever got rid of your sticktight fleas on your chickens ? I just got 2 from a neighbor and they have them.

 

[Hemahema]

I am in Queensland Australia. Stick tight fleas can only be eliminated by breaking the life cycle..that means a concrete floor below their perches. Yu can use spray on Frontline under the wings every month and lay a concrete floor to stop eggs from hatching every two weeks. Frontline will kill the fleas. The concrete will break the breeding cycle.

Alernative is kill the birds and dig out the earth in the perch house, sprinkle DE and rake in and leave empty fro 6 months...these are nasty critters

cheers

 

[rabbott]

I know this is an old thread but I'm experiencing these sticktight fleas for the first time ever on my birds and Its kinda freaking me out too!
We live in central California and I've never heard of these before!
The thread was useful in the talks about DE, seven and Vaseline... I'm just a little concerned about the frontline or the ivermectin... Frontline for dogs? ivermectin for horses? I have both but not sure how to apply it to the birds... also my question would be if we have a pretty big chicken run and big coops that are all dirt floor based & they eat off the floor half the time... Wouldn't Dusting the floors with seven or any other flea killing chemical would be harmful if ingested? How in The world you get this under control?
Plus I always used DE in my coops all the time in the dirt and where they dust bath but obviously it's not helping!!! Taking all suggestions!!!!

 

[lrachel]

I tried the frontline, one drop at the base of the skull, up under the feathers. The fleas on the birds disappeared within a day. Then over a week or so, I might see a few on the birds, but soon all were gone as none who got on a chicken lived to reproduce. I only needed to do the one drop, one time (except for one hen I retreated a week later). That was at least 4-5 months ago.
thanks for this lead., as I had tried everything. The predatory mites I got at a local insectory might have worked (as they did wipe out a really heavy infestation of cat/dog fleas elsewhere on my proberty) but I think the diatomaceious earth I had used (which didn't help my situation) probably did kill the mites. They are not cheap, but they are totally natural (the mites eat the flea larvae in the soil). Good luck all.

 

[lrachel]

I used Frontline for cats. Good luck (I live 15 miles inland from the so cal coast).
OH! also, I found out that the ground squirrels who infest this area carry the sticktights. The ground squirrels come in to eat my chicken food, so I very reluctantly poisoned them.

 

[FaerieChicken]

I am sorry to bring up an old 5 year concern, but I am about to get 6 free chickens to add to my flock that have these nasty buggars! They are free of course and the poster on Craigslist made it very clear that the chickens have sticktight fleas, but due to being near thier due date of havin twins cannot treat the chickens. I want to make sure that I do not contaminate my flock, I am confident that I can treat these young girls, 1/2 of which are just about 1 year old and the other 1/2 are just newly laying hatched in spring! I will make sure they are on the opposite side of the yard, and keep them in a seperate enclosure and treat with either the Adams or Frontline with q-tip to their nasty little critters and maybe even smother them with the vaseline too to make sure they die, die, DIE! I will be sure to do all of this while the are in the cage in the car before they get to the house/property!

I want to know though, how long would it possibly take to get rid of them if I am attempting to get rid of them in a clean fresh environment, like starting over from scratch!

I really want to help these young girls out and want to ensure the safety of my girls at the same time!

TIA

 

[FaerieChicken]

I got some awesome great news!!!

I had a plan of attack, last Thursday, I went to the home where the chickens have the infestation, and treated them onsite. I knew that if I keep the bugs contained in that environment while applying the first treatment, it would assist in the prevention of spreading it into my flock. I placed a shower curtain into the SUV sprinkled with DE. I had the collapsable wire kennel with straw sprinkled with both DE and Sevin dust (garden and poultry safe) on top of the shower curtain. When we arrived to the home, we placed the cage on the DE/Sevin dust pre-sprinkled ground and got to work treating 1 chicken at a time with the Adams flea and tick spray for dogs and cats, vaseline and dusted each chickens neck and breast feathers with Sevin dust and placed into the cage. Those little bugs HATED us, they were jumping(? not sure if they are the same as other fleas?) but they were going up our arms/chest/shirt, so I was also spraying us down and powdering us as well, we looked like powdered doughnuts ;D We then did a misting with the Adams flea and tick spray all over the wire cage for any chance of bugs crawling on it, once all chickens were treated and in the cage. We then carried all the chickens into the SUV, and washed up our selves outside with warm soapy water. When we got home with them, we sprinkled the ground with the DE and Sevin, placed the cage down on the ground for the night, as we did this all at dusk when they were going to roost anyhow, to help with the ease of stress! then the next day, checked on them, enlarged thier enclosure, changed the straw, cleaned the wire cage and re-dusted everything with a light misting of the area. Gave the girls a break from treating, and let them just relax in thier new environment. They did great! On Saturday Morning, we did the treatment again, one by one, Adams to the head, slathered with vaseline, and dusted feathers- although, none of the bugs were moving at this time I didn't want to risk that some may still be alive. On Sunday, I started cleaning off bugs that were still stuck on, clinging for dear life- er or death rether, as most bugs had fallen off the chickens, there were a couple of girls who had had the worst infestation that still had bugs imbedded into their skin. They came off quite easily and were lifeless, I couldn't get all, but have been working on them little by little.

I have one concern for one of the girls, as when we were first treating her I noted the extreme paleness of her comb and wattles, even her face was very pale looking, although she was very alert and active it still concerned me. She didn't have the bugs as much as a couple of the others, but I still think she is anemic because of them. She is a Welsummer and is about 1 year old. She has some gnarley spurs too. I have a supplement in thier water, it has probiotics and electrolytes, it is an egg boost supplement. Can I give them Molasses or rasins or something to boos thier iron to help resolve the blood loss?

 

[Newchickiemamma]

I've used diatomaceous earth successfully for dog and cat fleas. Have been told it's effective with ants, too. Those fleas on your birds are REALLY creeping me out! I'd never heard of "sticktight" fleas so I did some research. We don't have them in the Northern U.S., so I guess that's why I'd never seen/heard of them. On a youth poultry site, the recommendation was to mix Sevin with petroleum jelly and apply it on the face. Said the petroleum jelly smothers them. I had heard that Sevin was being pulled off the market, too, but I bought a large bag of it last summer from a Sebo's Do-It Center hardware store, so maybe it's still available. By the way, on that website, it also said that when the larvae hatch, they drop to the ground and live in the soil for two weeks. If those hens have been in the coop/run with your others, you'll probably need to treat the soil, too.

Hi, I believe my chickens have sticktight fleas and I live in northeastern Pennsylvania, like the poconos area. You stated that we do not have them in the northern US, can you give me some more information on that? How far north are you referring to? I’m trying to figure out where my chickens got these fleas from.