Fleas

Overview

Fleas are tiny, wingless insects of the order Siphonaptera that are an external parasite of backyard or free range poultry flocks. There are over 2,000 different species of fleas worldwide, causing a source of annoyance, blood loss, pain, skin inflammation, self mutilation, and sometimes death to their hosts. Fleas can also act as a vector for disease-causing pathogens. The most common fleas that infest chickens are the Sticktight flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea) and the European chicken flea (Ceratophyllus gallinae). Both species of fleas are found in subtropical and tropical areas worldwide and are also known to have an extremely wide host range, including many species of mammals and birds. It is most commonly found in poultry, dogs, cats, rabbits, insects, rodents, and sometimes horses and even humans.

Adult fleas are visible to the naked eye, and are found on the skin around the eyes, comb, face, and wattles of chickens, where they feed on their blood. Immature stages of fleas live and grow within the soil and bedding within the chicken's environment where they feed on the feces and organic material until adults. The entire life cycle of a flea is about 1-2 months. High amounts of fleas can accumulate in chicken flocks, and especially on sickly, old, or younger birds. In a survey conducted on backyard flocks in southern California (between June and September 2015), sticktight fleas were found on 20% of the 20 different properties. Some birds were found with hundreds of fleas attached to their comb, wattles, and around the eyes.

Bedbugs Vs Red Poultry Mites Vs Sticktight Fleas

	Bedbug	Red poultry mite	Sticktight Flea
Adult Appearance
Size	4-12 mm (0.15-0.47 in)	1-1.5 mm (0.04-0.06 in)	1.5-4 mm (0.06-0.16 in)
Color	Reddish brown	Gray to black	Dark brown
Turns red	Yes	Yes	No
Wings	No	No	No
Body type	Oval and flat	Oval	Flat
Speed	Quick-moving	Slow moving	Slow moving
Visible to the naked eye	Yes	Yes	Yes
Feeds on	Blood	Blood	Blood
Where they are found	Hide in crevices, cracks, behind floorboards, in walls, and behind wall outlets during the day, feed on chickens at night	Hide in crevices and cracks during the day, feed on chickens at night	Bare skin on the head - comb, wattles, near eyes
Transmission	Contaminated equipment	Wild birds, rodents, wildlife, dogs, cats, humans, contaminated equipment	Turkeys, wildlife, wild birds, dogs, cats, horses, pigs, people, soil, litter
Where eggs are laid	Tiny, microscopic whitish, sticky eggs that adhere to surfaces in secluded areas	Lays their eggs in their hiding spots	Lay their eggs around the eyes anad wattles of chickens, causing nodules. Once the flea larvae hatch, they drop off the chicken to live in the soil for 2 weeks.
Average Life cycle	4 weeks	2 weeks	1-2 months
How you can tell	Look around the premises for the presence of bugs	Look for them at night on the birds	Visible during the daytime, found in clusters on unfeathered areas, such as the bird's eyes, comb, and wattles.
Temperature	Temperate regions	Warm weather	Warm and humid weather
Clinical signs	Excessive feather loss, vent irritation, lesions on breasts and legs, anemia, reduced egg production	Restlessness at night, dermatitis, anemia, may cause chickens to alter where they roost at night.	dark brown spots face, anemia, restlessness, swollen eyelids, crusted lesions, ulcerations, blindness
Zoonotic	Yes	Yes	Yes
Carry diseases	Yes	Yes	No