The most common bloodsucking parasites on the planet are fleas. Chicken bloodsuckers multiply with lightning speed, have an amazing survival rate and are among the smallest members of this order. To get rid of them is very difficult, given their specificity and microscopic size, it is much harder than removing fleas from a dog or cat. However, thanks to modern means and the experience of generations, this task is not impossible.
Signs of presence and habitat of parasites
Ordinary fleas have a flattened body on the sides, while the bird body has an even flatter body for easy movement among feathers and bird fluff. In addition, they have a stronger shell that protects the insect during combing from claws or chicken beak.
Thanks to this form and a strong shell, it is very difficult to crush a chicken flea, even if you can catch it. They live on the body of the bird and rarely leave their habitats, because the natural temperature of the bird's body is comfortable for them - about +40 ° C.
Finding them is not so easy, because the insects are really very small. When too many of them get divorced, the fleas leave on unprotected exposed skin around the eyes, near the beak, on the paws. At the same time, they look like tiny brownish growths that can form into larger formations similar to moles. 
Visually detecting that chickens are infected with this parasite is most often possible at later stages, when the extent of the lesion is already quite high. However, they can be suspected by the behavior of chickens. The bite of a chicken flea is quite sensitive, since the parasite does not emit an anesthetic, and its oral apparatus does not have a proboscis.
We advise you to read about how to remove fleas from chickens.
The insect gnaws thin chicken skin with the help of its jaws, and the bird at the same time:
- behaves restlessly and nervously;
- constantly scratching with claws and beak;
- carries fewer eggs;
- eats a lot and still loses weight and loses weight.
Humans and other mammals can bite fleas with rare exceptions, and even if they manage to cope with skin that is thicker than in chickens. In any case, such a donor is not to their taste, and the body temperature is not suitable for their habitation, so the chicken flea leaves such an object very soon, if it accidentally encounters it. 
Important! Suspecting flea infection, the inhabitants of the coop should be subjected to visual inspection, lifting feathers and carefully looking at the skin. The most "delicious" places for insects are thin skin of the eyelids, comb and skin around the beak with closely spaced blood capillaries.
Without proper treatment, the chicken can die from exhaustion or anemia. Despite the fact that insects are very attached to "their" bird, they do not multiply on its body.
It will be useful for you to read about how to get rid of ticks, worms, lice and feathers in chickens.
The female pushes daily from 3 to 6 eggs out of her body with force, additionally giving them an impulse with the help of long and strong hind legs, “splashing” them in such a way over rather long distances.
Eggs fall into the nests, on the floor, on items of equipment of the chicken coop - everywhere where only the flea-mother is able to throw them. Worm larvae hatch out of eggs, feeding on refined organic matter, dry blood particles from the excrement of adult individuals, droppings of chickens. 
A few weeks later, they pupate and patiently wait for their donor - a bird that lingers in one place for quite a long time. In this sense, bird nests serve as such a place and turn into a real breeding ground when it is time to hatch eggs.
Read more about how to make an aviary, cage, feeder, nest, perch for poultry.
From the heat, hordes of young parasites are taken out, who inhabit and eat with pleasure the hen. An adult flea lives quite a long time: from several months to a year, it can travel on a migratory donor bird and lay eggs all in new places.
Did you know? The only species of bird flea called Glaciopsyllus antarcticus is capable of residing in birds living in the harsh conditions of Antarctica. For all other insect science known, such conditions are destructive.
The bird living in the natural environment has the opportunity to leave the nest-infested nest, clean the feathers with dust or use the “services” of the ants. Inhabitants of closed coops do not have the opportunity to resort to such measures and need help, especially since they get infected much faster and are more intense, especially if:
- due attention is not paid to cleaning the coop and its ventilation;
- long litter does not change;
- nests are neglected;
- periodic disinfection of the premises and equipment is not carried out;
- the hen house is constantly hot and humid.
Familiarize yourself with the choices and uses of fermentation litter for chickens.
Harm caused
Infection with bird fleas of a chicken coop entails the risk of serious infectious diseases of poultry and domestic animals, as well as humans. 
In addition to the epidemiological risk, this disaster threatens the economic damage to the owner of the chicken coop.
Important! Equally chicken fleas are dangerous for both poultry and decorative birds: parrots, canaries, and other pets can also become victims of this dangerous parasite.
For bird
For birds, blood-sucking insects carry the greatest danger. Chickens become nervous and restless, often itch, combing the skin to wounds, in addition to being inflicted by parasites, tear out feathers, stop eating and die from anemia and / or exhaustion without the necessary treatment.
We recommend reading about how to choose the right chicken coop when buying, how to make a chicken coop from a greenhouse, how to build a chicken coop for the winter, how to equip it, how to make ventilation and lighting in the chicken coop, and also how best to heat the chicken coop in winter.
In addition to these troubles, chicken fleas can carry pathogens of dangerous diseases:
- brucellosis;
- salmonellosis;
- trypanosomiasis;
- encephalitis;
- and even the plague.
Most blood-sucking insects are also carriers of worms, and poor chickens eaten by fleas outside, receive additional parasites inside.
Did you know? Fleas placed in a jar can freely jump out of it, since the height of their jump reaches 30 cm. However, if the jar is closed for only 3-4 days, the insects will “forget how” to jump and will not be able to leave the tank after opening it. Moreover, the same restriction will be received by their offspring, which initially will not be able to jump high.
For man
Chicken fleas do not carry a direct threat to humans, because they are not able to bite through human skin, nor does the temperature of the habitat (body) suit them: in birds, as we know, it is much higher.
But this does not mean that you can not be afraid of fleas. Capable of carrying diseases that are dangerous not only for birds, but also for other living things, bloodsuckers infect their donors with them. An infected bird can easily pass them on to the owner, members of his family, and all consumers of the products of the given farm.
Worm infestation will come for sure, it is only a matter of time, so it is advisable for people to conduct prophylactic anthelmintic therapy, if such unpleasant inhabitants like chicken fleas have chosen the coop. 
Control measures
If the parasites "made happy" your chicken coop and its inhabitants with their presence, they need to be removed: the bird is treated and treated, since it is not able to get rid of them on its own, the premises should be cleansed of unwanted presence.
Did you know? In ancient times, fleas, as indeed now, were rather close "neighbors on the planet" for humanity. People fought with them with the help of special traps, eased their sufferings by scratching with chopsticks, began to wear silk underwear not only because it looked beautiful, but also because insects could not be kept on slippery fabric.
Treatment of chickens for parasites is a rather long and laborious process. You can use both folk remedies and achievements of the modern chemical industry. 
For the treatment of a bird, it is necessary to treat its skin with flea drops or special powder. Drops, as is the case with cats and dogs, are applied to withers. The drug is preferably rubbed into the skin at the site of application.
It is absorbed, spread by the bloodstream through the body of a bird, and the fleas biting it die. Powder should be applied to the surface of the chicken body, excluding the head, and as much as possible rub it into the skin.
Important! Eggs that chickens carry during the period of the medicine cannot be eaten, because the preparation penetrates the yolk. Serious poisoning is unlikely to occur, but side effects in the form of nausea and digestive disorders may occur.
After getting rid of fleas from chickens, it is necessary to process the chicken coop. It is not necessary to clean it before it and, moreover, it is impossible to remove anything from it on the compost pile, because the larvae there, waiting for sparrows or pigeons, will lead to re-infection. All pests must be destroyed right in the hen house.
Video: treatment of chickens and chicken coops from parasites For this, the room is processed entirely, including perches, where the largest concentration of bloodsuckers, feeders and drinkers, nests, all surfaces, including a layer of waste on the floor. If it is too large and compressed, the garbage should be loosened with a shovel or chopper.
The treated room is left for several hours to completely destroy the insects, after which the chicken coop is carefully removed and washed. It is not always possible to destroy all blood suckers at one time, especially those whom the treatment found at the pupal stage. After a couple of weeks, they can go out, and then re-treatment is required.
Did you know? The ancient "second-hand" was called the "flea market" precisely because of the abundance of parasites who lived in worn clothing offered for sale.
Folk remedies
Chicken fleas began to visit chicken coops long before the advent of the chemical industry, and old-fashioned methods of breeding parasites, as well as infection prevention, have survived. 
It should be noted that the chickens themselves are able to resist the colonization of the surface of their skin by undesirable inhabitants by taking sand or dust baths.
If for some reason your pets do not have free range, where they can relieve their sufferings on their own, put a tank filled with sand mixed with ashes in their hen house.
Excellent in the fight against parasites have recommended themselves such plants as: 
Their sharp smell deters many parasites, including fleas. Not like them and the smell of potato tops.
Broths of these plants are sprayed on the premises of the chicken coop with a spray gun in the presence of chickens, the procedure is repeated from time to time until the complete destruction of insects. At the same time, branches of flea-repellent plants are abundantly located in the hen house to enhance the effect.
Did you know? Flea circus has been a popular fun for several centuries. The owners forced the "artists" to transport carts, swing on a miniature swing, fight. However, this does not mean that fleas can be trained: the owners of such fun used exclusively conditioned reflexes imparted by insects.
Some poultry farmers recommend processing walls or part of them with vinegar or kerosene: bloodsuckers also do not like these smells and avoid them. 
Also essential are the essential oils of the plants listed above, which can be used to treat the surface, as well as the population, taking castor or burdock oil as a basis and adding a few drops of peppermint, lavender or geranium essential oil to it.
Popular methods are good because:
- do not harm the bird;
- no need to transfer chickens from the premises;
- have proven to be an effective means to be used these days, when powerful chemicals exist.
The minus of popular methods lies in their laboriousness and length of time.
Purchased funds
Owners of small chicken coops can afford to fight parasites by popular methods, especially if there is time and opportunity for this. Farm and industrial farms with decent livestock are forced to resort to chemical preparations, of which there are many. Below is an overview of some of them. 
Important! When treating poultry, you should carefully follow the recommendations on dosage and apply the drug strictly on the withers: a place to which the bird cannot reach its beak and get food poisoning.
Flea control involves two steps:
- Processing livestock.
- Processing room.
You will need drops from fleas, acquired in a veterinary pharmacy: 
They are convenient in that they are applied to the skin of the withers, where the preparation is absorbed and spread throughout the body of the treated substance. His blood becomes poisonous to the parasites that feed on it, and they die.
Read more about what are the pros and cons of chickens in the cages, do you need a rooster to carry the eggs, how to determine the age of the hen, how much the chicken lives, what to do if the chickens do not carry well and peck eggs.
In the same way, solutions for spraying and applying to withers work:
- "Butox" - it is diluted in a proportion of 1 ml (ampoule) to 4 liters of water and applied to the back of the bird's head with a rag or spray;
Important! Necessary when using these drugs follow closely so that the tool does not get the bird into the respiratory tract, the alimentary canal and eyes
deltamethrin powder - it treats all birds, excluding the head (10-15 g), and for ease of spraying, you can purchase special equipment - a dust sprayer.
Before the chemical treatment, the chicken coop is freed from livestock, which temporarily settles in another room. During processing, the tool must penetrate into all corners and crevices, penetrate all surfaces and impregnate a layer of waste on the floor.
Used drugs based on:
- chlorophos;
- karbofos;
- organochlorine compounds;
- or pyrethroids (synthetic insecticides).
You can buy ready-made aerosols, for example, "Tsifoks", "Kukaracha", "Get". In the fight with chicken fleas, Raptor and Reid have proven somewhat worse, and they are also quite expensive.
Important! Safety precautions should be carefully observed, as most chemicals are toxic not only for fleas and poultry, but also for humans and other mammals.
Preventive measures
In the fight against fleas and other avian parasites, an integrated approach is important, as well as preventive measures:
- regular cleaning of the premises, by means of which even the parasites accidentally flown on migratory birds are constantly removed and do not have the opportunity to multiply and occupy living space;
- airing the room in order to avoid stagnant and putrefactive processes - an ideal environment for various pathogens and parasites;
- laying out in the hen-house branches of tansy and wormwood, the smell of which scares off bloodsuckers.
As you know, the best treatment is prevention. It is much cheaper and less troublesome to take measures to prevent blood-sucking insects in the chicken coop than to carry out a set of measures for their breeding. 
