# Stick tight fleas- pics added



## seminole wind

I'm posting because there's so little information out there specifically about chickens and these stick tight fleas. They are chicken oriented, but will settle for any warm body. So I ordered my dog Frontline. So far I've found 2 on me, and they do stick hard!

Most of my chickens are in pens so I can't imagine how this spread or where it came from. they like the folds above the eye on a chicken so they look like they have eyeliner on. 2 of my chickens had gotten so bad that their "poof" got darker and looked dirty before I realized what they had. They are very hard to see and distinguish from a speck of dirt. 

I wonder how I'm going to treat the sand pens? The coop will be emptied and sprayed. But what about the sand? 

So far I have used Vaseline or triple abx ointment on their faces to smother them which works well and won't hurt their eyes. I have used Frontline, Poultry dust (permethrin), horse spray (permethrin) and ivermectin drops. I think the problem is decreasing but it's slow. Now my 10 week olds have them and one had a dirty looking poof, so they all got powdered today. AND YES they do jump like fleas.

It sounds like there's a cycle that needs to be broken by treating the birds and the surroundings. They eggs drop off from the flea to the ground and 14 days later you have a flea that jumps back on a warm body.

What actually alerted me to the stick tight fleas is that one of my Polish hens who's usually plump and lively was looking pale and listless. I took a closer look and she had them around her eyes. They must have caused anemia. 

Since a chicken could not have brought them here, I wonder what did. Birds? Rodents? I've had my chickens for 10 years and this is the first time I've had this problem.


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## Maryellen

Can you try pure neem.oil. mixed with olive oil (neem.oil stings a bit so cutting it with olive oil works). It's a natural insecticide and I've had great results using it. Most Asian food stores carry it and I think Amazon too


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## dawg53

Stick tight flea infestations can begin through contact with wild birds.
The female stick tight fleas stay attached for 2-3 weeks. The females lays eggs that fall to the ground that hatch into larva that feed on organic matter.
Within 2-4 weeks the larva pupate. The lifecycle is completed in 1-2 months.
They are more prevalent in cooler months.
Here's a link with treatments at the bottom of the page (like what you're currently doing.)
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/fleas

Good info: Breaking the fleas lifecycle...Dawn dish detergent. You have to repeat lawn treatment to kill each successive egg hatch until they are all wiped out. Here's a link:
https://www.hunker.com/13406499/lawn-treatments-for-fleas-using-dawn-dish-detergent


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## seminole wind

Thanks , Dawg. I was not correct about the lifecycle so I deleted my numbers. 
I bought 64 ounces of yard but killer that attaches to the hose. So hopefully I can reduce numbers in the soil.

Neem oil sounds good but these things are right around the eye and I have to use something that is safe for their eyes.


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## dawg53

I have a few of these type sprayers...el cheapo's lol.


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## seminole wind

LOL. I have 2 somewhat like that. But I love the yard spray ones that connect on to a hose. I also have one of those car wash things that you fill with soap. I use it for Virkon.


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## chickenqueen

Dawn dish liquid won't kill everything.just what you spray and it would also feed your lawn,if you had one.When I used Dawn on the flea infested dog,they were dropping off dead when all I did was pour some on his back.I use it on my garden to try to spare the pollinators,lady bugs and praying mantis.Like Dawg,I have a cheapo sprayer to do the dirty work.You fill it up and go on a mission of destruction.Also,one gallon of distilled vinegar, a cup of salt and a couple of drops of Dawn to make it stick makes a non-toxic weedkiller.


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## seminole wind

Dawn is said to be good but I prefer to bring out the big guns with a problem like this. Tonight is Vaseline night. Better to schmear up their eyes when they don't need to see.

Can anyone recommend a regular shampoo that can be safe in their eyes? It's just not possible to shampoo their heads and face without washing over their eyes.


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## chickenqueen

Baby shampoo.You could even buy travel bottles to save space.It wouldn't burn the eyes but shampooing too much can dry out their feathers/skin.


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## seminole wind

Good thinking. I'll wait for a warm day.


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## seminole wind

First, 2 of my 12 week Polish. I can't tell you how fast this happens going from a few fleas to an infestation. Then I notice them in the head feathers and had to cut feathers to treat. Fingers crossed.


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## seminole wind

I spent this afternoon treating the bad ones. Ointment and Permethrin powder.


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## dawg53

I'd get either 250ml ivermectin pour on for cattle or Advantage ll for a small dog. Since the fleas suck blood, let them suck poison. They'd still have to be plucked off though after they're dead. Two or three drops on bare skin on the back of the neck should do the trick. The ivermectin pour on is quicker absorbing through skin into the bloodstream than the Advantage, but either will do.


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## seminole wind

I did that- Ivermectin pour on. What seems to be recommended is something I didn't think you could use. But you can. Malathion. I get conflicting amounts to use from 1.5 teaspoons per gallon, one tsp per liter, 1 ounce per gallon , 1 Tbls per gallon.......... 
I'm thinking of starting with a tsp per liter. 

I cannot believe how quickly this became an epidemic. I remember checking everyone with a flashlight maybe a month or so ago, and only a few chickens had a few. The next thing I know is one actually gets anemic that gets my attention, and it seems like overnight it gets bad like those pictures. I'm out there with my chickens for over an hour a day. 

Seems this situation wears a chicken down pretty quick. They get anemic pretty quick, and do a lot of head shaking and scratching which stresses them bad. The chickens with the poofs like Polish and silkies also get them on their scalp. 

Hannah - Polish was the first one to become anemic and listless. She got ointment on her face, poultry powder, and frontline. Within a few days she cleared up really well and must have scratched the dead bugs off because they were gone.

Seems the thing that kills them the best is ointment to smother them.


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## seminole wind

Advantage 11. $27.99 for 2 doses for dogs 4-10 pounds. I would need $391.00 to treat 28 chickens weighing 4 pounds.

For xtra large dogs over 55 pounds, 4 pack $44.99. One dose divided by 4 pounds= about 14 chickens per dog dose. So I could treat 28 chickens once for $22.50. Still pricey but do-able.


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## seminole wind

Frontline 44 pounds for $33 for 3 pack. A few dollars less than $33 for treating 28 -4 pound chickens.


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## chickenqueen

Bathe them in Dawn dish soap one time only.It will kill the fleas and make them drop off(much cheaper than chemicals and safer).


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## seminole wind

Thanks, CQ. How do I keep the soap out of their eyes when shampooing their head? Dawn would be great. Or how bout No more tears baby shampoo?

I thought I could go out yesterday and spray all of the pens, the coop, clean the coop of everything first, etc. However, the coop took a real long time, DUH!. I also mixed up a bottle of Malathion. I figure I could spray them, then use a q-tip for their faces. The ointment works great especially really close to the eyes. But the next day, their faces are caked with dirt, LOL. More cleaning. I'm not sure if I should use Malathion on the 12 week old babies.


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## dawg53

seminolewind said:


> I'm not sure if I should use Malathion on the 12 week old babies.


I wouldnt.


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## seminole wind

Okay, I won't. I bought some baby shampoo because from all the ointment on everyone's faces and the dirt, they all look like Pigpen. I guess I'll do the babies with the Vaseline.


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## chickenqueen

The Dawn will probably burn their eyes a little but it beats being sucked dry by the parasites and I'm sure the Dawn will get them off the chickens.The only downside would it may strip the oil from their feathers so I would do it on a one time only basis to get the fleas off and go from there.One good thing about the cold weather,all our bugs are gone until May.


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## seminole wind

I bought a large bottle of Johnson's baby shampoo. I read a tip on using a sponge rather than washing or rinsing with running water. I have a nice soft sea sponge to use.

as soon as we get a warm spell.


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## chickenqueen

Good luck!!!I hope you get rid of them.


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## seminole wind

I'm not sure I'll ever be rid of them unless I move to the cold. I have to wait for a warmer day to wash their heads. They all have dirty faces. I check their eyes for dirt.


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## casportpony

seminolewind said:


> I'm not sure I'll ever be rid of them unless I move to the cold. I have to wait for a warmer day to wash their heads. They all have dirty faces. I check their eyes for dirt.


I found a couple of mine with them, and what did the trick for me was making up a super concentrated permethrin. I think I used 1 part 10% concentrate to 3 parts water, then applied drops to them. Poof, in two days all dropped off.

Tried ivermectin on one before I tried the permethrin and it did nothing.

This is what I used. $8 at Tractor Supply.


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## seminole wind

I have Permethrin spray. It's part of the rotation.


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## seminole wind

How would you treat the youngsters for this flea problem? They are 10+ weeks old. I have an assortment of stuff. Ointment, Permethrin powder and spray, malathion, yard spray and baby shampoo. Also Ivomec pour on drops.


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## chickenqueen

Do you know what feast on fleas?Guineas!!!They can live with the chickens and they are lean,mean bug eating machines.When I had them,I didn't have a flea or tick problem.When they were gone,the bugs came back with a vengeance,I'm going to get some this year, just don't tell Dale.As bad as the ticks were last year,I'm sure he'll understand but.....


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## seminole wind

It would be a great idea, but I don't know how many of my chickens would tolerate being groomed by a guinea around the eyes.


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## casportpony

seminolewind said:


> How would you treat the youngsters for this flea problem? They are 10+ weeks old. I have an assortment of stuff. Ointment, Permethrin powder and spray, malathion, yard spray and baby shampoo. Also Ivomec pour on drops.


The powder didn't work very well when I tried it, so I switched to the 10% concentrate mixed it 1 part concentrate, 3 parts water, then place drops on the fleas and they fall off in 2-3 days.


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## seminole wind

okay I could try a fluid mix.


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## chickenqueen

I still say bathe them one time in regular Dawn dish soap.It will get the fleas off but won't keep them off so then apply Permectrin or another pesticide.The Dawn has no toxic properties so you don't have to worry about toxicity but it will get the fleas off.It will probably burn their eyes but it's temporary and the fleas will be off of them,which is the main goal.I've never used it on a chicken but I used it on my dog and as soon as I started squirting the Dawn on his back,the fleas dropped off dead in the tub.It was the darnedest thing to see but true.Maybe you can make a dip out of it and dip them?As long as I keep the rodents away,I don't have a chicken bug problem but you all down south have year long problems with superbugs where as we get a break from Oct-Apr/May.I had a LB roo that was infested and it was only him.He got anemic and despite taking him to the vet,he still died.I didn't know chickens got bugs and rodents could introduce them.A lesson I learned the hard way and Big Boy paid for my ignorance with his life.Now I check random birds often for bugs.How cold is it down there?May be too cold to bathe them,though.


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## dawg53

Well actually, any dish detergent will kill fleas. Dawn IS probably the best though. They even show it on TV used to remove oil from wild birds caught in an oil spill. We use Dawn as well.
However with stick tight fleas, as the name applies, you still have to pluck them off the birds even after they are dead. Their heads with bloodsucking parts are stuck under the skin, much like a tick. A real pain in the neck to spend time plucking the suckers off our feathered friends.
Regular fleas either fall off or rinsed off when bathing birds or dogs, not stick tight fleas.
I guess one good thing about stick tight fleas, they are not known to carry any diseases like other types of fleas.
If I remember correctly, it was fleas that spread the bubonic plague throughout Europe in the Dark Ages.


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## seminole wind

Yup. Dawn I think is okay because I had a cockatiel once that landed in my soapy dish pan and I called the 1-800 number and they said it was okay. After the weekend, it should get warm enough to wash heads. 

My first victim had been treated and managed to preen all the dead ones off. If you saw what some had, there is no way in hell I could pick them all off. What a mess! I'm still waiting for it to be warm enough to use liquid chemical instead of powder.


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## seminole wind

10 days ago I treated all the chickens with Malathion and a swab to apply to their head and face. I come back 10 days later and the infestation is worse. Meanwhile the first 4 chickens I treated with frontline and sevin appear to be good. The first hen never got reinfested, but her room mate still has some. 
It seems sevin powder worked better than poultry powder. I should keep a list of who gets what.

The black and mostly dark headed chickens do not appear to have any problems. The whit and buff heads do. I have one white headed polish roo that was put in with 2 houdans after they were treated and never got any from his frontline treated room mates.. 

So I got 6 pounds of sevin coming. And I have one more treatment of frontline for them.

This has been like a Sci if nightmare. There is such a small amount of articles and posts about treating this problem and what works and really does.

I may have to try DE, ACV, and garlic and a rain dance as a last resort.


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## Maryellen

The sevin dust should work better then the DE. But with the DE if you rub it on the fleas it should slice them up good


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## dawg53

Why buy DE when 95% of Sevin dust is DE. 
5% is carbaryl, the active chemical that kills pests.
https://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=19022002


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## seminole wind

I was joking about the DE and other.
I gave everyone 0.25 ml of Frontline. Today they will all get the horse spray, a bit more concentrated. It contains permethrin and something else that kills bugs. 

It still appears that my first victim is still clean. Her roommate the blind girl has some. The 5 silkies and 5 polish in one pen seem to have it the worst. 
The 5 polish who are almost 16 weeks get quite a few treatments and inspections and even after that are friendly and want to hang out with me. They are very sweet. I don't think I've ever had a whole group be so friendly and love to have me around.


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## chickenqueen

Buy Permectrin II(sp?).It has a 30 day residual and can't be shaken off like the powders.You can treat their environment,too.I will never do the powders again.Did you ever get rid of the rodents?They have fleas,too, and might be the source.


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## seminole wind

I mixed up the fly spray which is permethrin and some other chemical. It's near impossible to pick of so many. I may have to give some silkies and polish crew cuts to get at the masses. I cannot believe how bad this got even while being treated with various insecticides. The only one left is Sevin. Someone on yahoo somewhere said they got rid of them treating everything with Sevin. I'm waiting for the 6 pounds I ordered. Heck I can't even tell if those clumps are dead or alive. I do find one or two on me each time. They do jump. How gross!


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## chickenqueen

Did you get rid of the rodents?Rat fleas cause the Bubonic Plague,among other things.I even changed where the feeders are to discourage them from moving in and place poison in the fall.Every time I've had bug problems it was because of rats.


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## seminole wind

I'm sure rats deposit vermin. But my bait disappears on occasion and right now I smell a dead rat somewhere. My 4 bait stations are working, and there's no other food available at night.

I did a check yesterday a day after Frontline. I saw some live fleas but they were running around on the feathers. So I sprayed them all with horse spray, 2 chemicals with residual. The horse spray contains Permethrin, Pyrethrins, and Piperonyl Butoxide. 

The malathion really disappointed me. They were all swabbed and 10 days later it did not look like there was any reduction at all. 

I should get the Sevin today. I'm also looking into Home Defense for yards since I am UBER happy with home defense for homes.


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## dawg53

I'm surprised the malathion didnt work.


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## seminole wind

It was disappointing. I got Sevin in the mail today. But I want to see if the horse spray works. I should get the sevin granules next time that get watered in.


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## chickenqueen

Don't bombard them with a bunch of chemicals at once.It's a fine line between enough and too much.Remember they are poisons and are absorbed by the chickens through the skin.Too much could be toxic.


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## seminole wind

yea. I'll be waiting 10 days prior to putting sevin on them. I am past panic mode and moving into "what works" mode. I worry about toxicity too. 

Yea Dawg, Malathion was disappointing. But maybe it works better on bugs that eat something like leaves.


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## chickenqueen

I hope you find something that works.That pic of the hen with the fleas on her face haunts me.There's not too much worse than bugs crawling on you and biting.


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## seminole wind

Yea, I have some times where I feel creepy crawly. The horse spray seems to be working. Their scalps look cleaner and head shaking has gone down to a minimum. 

It's really odd how the first victim was noticed by being weak, anemic and head shaking. That was almost 2 months ago. Since then she's been completely clean. I just don't understand how she got clean and stayed that way. Even her room mate has had some. Just very weird. And my rooster who got rid of them and has remained bug free. Different pen.


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## seminole wind

So one of my white silkie roos who has been a flea magnet got a crew cut today, and a head wash and a blow dry. I think he's cleared up pretty good. No one has clusters anymore. I think the horse spray works well. Some got sprinkled with Sevin today and I did one pen ground with sevin as well.


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## dawg53

seminolewind said:


> So one of my white silkie roos who has been a flea magnet got a crew cut today, and a head wash and a blow dry. I think he's cleared up pretty good. No one has clusters anymore. I think the horse spray works well. Some got sprinkled with Sevin today and I did one pen ground with sevin as well.


I remember Chickenzoo dealing with stick tight fleas after moving to Keystone Heights. 
I lost her email address darn it, havnt talked to her in years.


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## seminole wind

well it's a 2 prong approach. The fleas attach themselves to the host, the female lays eggs that drop off onto the ground, the eggs hatch and grow into fleas and jump on a chicken. The cycle takes 1-2 months. 

It's funny that they say you can remove them with tweezers. It's near impossible. There's usually too many and they aren't really big enough to grab easily. I tried a few times and after 5 minutes ended up with 2 in my glass of water! It seems the chickens do a much better job at grooming them off. 

Dawg, did you ever visit her and see her setup?


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## dawg53

seminolewind said:


> well it's a 2 prong approach. The fleas attach themselves to the host, the female lays eggs that drop off onto the ground, the eggs hatch and grow into fleas and jump on a chicken. The cycle takes 1-2 months.
> 
> It's funny that they say you can remove them with tweezers. It's near impossible. There's usually too many and they aren't really big enough to grab easily. I tried a few times and after 5 minutes ended up with 2 in my glass of water! It seems the chickens do a much better job at grooming them off.
> 
> Dawg, did you ever visit her and see her setup?


Yes, I saw her set up when she lived in Middleburg on 2 acres before she and her husband moved to Keystone Heights on 16 acres.
Her property in Middleburg was packed with all kinds of animals yet very well organized with enough roaming room for the larger animals and plenty of pens and shelters for her birds.
I was amazed at her set up and it was simple maintenance and cleanup the way she had everything organized.
I havnt been to their property in Keystone Heights.


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## chickenqueen

Get a couple of guineas and they'll eat the fleas and other bugs.They are amazing insect control and can live with the chickens peacefully.


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## seminole wind

Please! No more birds for me at this time. 

I will pick a day where I can treat all the birds and their ground the same day. Then do it monthly. 
This area would be impossible to do with powder or granules that need to be watered in. So I ordered a few bottles of the kind that attach to the end of the hose.


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## chickenqueen

Good luck with the hose!!!I hope you get 'em!!!


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## seminole wind

I emptied out that small coop. It had a wire floor with plywood and a tarp and shavings on top. Now the floor in there is back to just hardware cloth, and hosed the whole thing with some insecticide. 

Still waiting for more spray to do the whole area back there. Everyone looks pretty good.


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## chickenqueen

Good!!!I know the aggravation and grief of bug infested chickens.I hope you get 'em!!!


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## seminole wind

I got a flea on me last week. It was on my forearm and couldn't have been there more than a few minutes. I scratched my arm red trying to scrape it off with my fingernail. These things make lice or mites like a piece of cake to get rid of.


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## chickenqueen

I'm glad we don't have them.How many kinds of fleas are in your neck of the woods?


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## seminole wind

People here complain , but my dogs actually brought fleas home from a vet stay. Prior to that we had no problem. All it took to kill them all was Home Defense and Frontline.


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## seminole wind

Looks like the Sevin has cleared out whatever was left (in my silkie/Polish pen) . I dusted everyone last night and will be spraying the yard. Even my white silkie roo I call the "magnet" looks good. I hope that eventually I can get this down to maintenance schedule.


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## chickenqueen

Good job!!!


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## seminole wind

I made a chart of what i've done so far. I got to find a way to post it.


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## seminole wind

This is missing some cleanings and wormings but I was focusing on fleas.


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## seminole wind

My 4 silkie roos are excellent! My 5 silkies and 5 polish are excellent! My princess (polish) not so good. My Houdans were fair and their buddy the polish roo has none! Hannah is good, blind girl was fair. 

Everyone got a horse spray treatment today. I still have 6 big girls to do. And ground spraying.


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## seminole wind

I had 5 birds in 2 pens that were infested again. It happens so fast! I took each one and q-tipped their faces and sprayed their bodies with Adam's Flea spray. I actually sprayed one live one on my arm and it died instantly! As I'm applying the spray, fleas are jumping and abandoning ship!!! Onto me!!!! Oh ick! I sprayed my clothes, arms and neck. It's so gross. I think when it gets warm I'll dip them instead.

I get in the house, take my clothes off immediately and into the washer, and get into the shower. 

I cleaned and sprayed their pens today.
I can't believe my Polish and silkies are still clean! I sprayed their pen too.


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## Maryellen

No way they came back that fast??? .
Can you move the chickens to a different area and treat the ground? Or does that not work?
Id be screaming and jumping lol if they landed on me


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## seminole wind

I am treating the ground in and outside the pens. I have to wait til dark so everyone is off the ground. I also treat the busy places outside the pens.

They do not like black chickens at all. I find a few on the combs of brown chickens and buffs. They love Polish and crested chickens with some white. I only find them on the face and scalp. The face and around the eyes is hard because I don't want to touch their eyes.

I was really skeeved when they were jumping on me but it had to be done.


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## Maryellen

I wonder why they avoid black chickens.


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## seminole wind

I don't know. Kinda weird. I have 4 true blacks that never had any, one dark blue JG has none, browns are clean. The solid buffs get a few and my dark red had alot on her face. Go figure.


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## chickenqueen

That sucks!!!You need something to repel them like peppermint growing all over.I wonder where they came from and why are they back.


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## seminole wind

I think it's a matter of breaking the cycle. Spraying the chickens to kill the adults and spraying the ground to kill the juvies and the larvae . I just have to stick to a program for a few months (?) and then maintenance. 

I don't understand as well that some got clean and some did not. I can't believe I've been fighting this since November!

I bought this industrial strength stuff that's even used for termites. I had to lengthen the hose and get a metered sprayer for it. I'm ready to go once everyone goes to bed and doesn't walk on it while it's wet.


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## seminole wind

I got the whole area sprayed last night! In the dark! But it's all finally done . 
The lifecycle of the flea takes a month.


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## chickenqueen

Where did they come from?Every time I see/hear about external parasites,I think rats.They have always been the source of parasites for me.


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