Fire Safety Encyclopedia

How to get ticks out of the chicken coop. Chicken mite is a small pest that can lead to large losses. Treatment and treatment of premises, video

Good afternoon, readers and subscribers of our chicken site. Today we will show you what ticks look like in chickens, how to deal with dermanissiasis and explain preventive measures. Poultry farming is the livestock sector that, despite various economic ups and downs, has been increasing its production capacity over the past decade.

This is especially true for both the industrial sector of the industry and private households.

Red chicken mites Dermanyssus gallinae are causing outbreaks of dermanissiosis in poultry, which is now widespread, regardless of region.

There is an increase in susceptibility to various infectious etiologies.

More than 30 species of birds, including synanthropic ones, are susceptible to dermanissiosis.

What ticks look like in chickens

The first pair of limbs serves as a sensory organ. The oral apparatus is of a piercing-sucking type, chelicerae are rather long, skeletal-like. The size of the male is smaller than that of the female; its chelicerae are shorter, but more massive.

Males

The body of males is elongated in comparison with the body of females. The length of hungry tick individuals averaged 0.6–0.85 mm, although individuals were also identified whose size in the hungry state exceeded 1 mm, the color was yellowish. The length of the ticks after saturation with blood was more than 1 mm, the color was red, almost brown.

Depending on the amount of blood consumed, the female lays 3-20 eggs in one egg-laying, on average 17-24 hours after the first blood consumption. The eggs are glued to the substrate with a special adhesive.

Their arrangement is solitary, the eggs are small in size and covered with a thin shell. Usually the female goes through about ten gonotrophic cycles. After 2-3 days, sedentary larvae hatch from them, each of which has three pairs of limbs.

The development of the tick during this period is carried out at the expense of the embryonic yolk. Protonymph already has four pairs of limbs and feeds on the host's blood. Within 48 hours, molt occurs and the protonymph transforms into a nymph. Further - one more molt and, at favorable temperature and humidity, on the eighth day, the female tick is able to lay eggs physiologically.

The chicken tick has no eyes. The cuticle is soft, the dorsal and ventral scutes are absent. The overwhelming majority of the studied individuals of chicken ticks had a lumpy, folded structure. The location of the genital opening is between the first and second pairs of limbs. In females, the genital opening looked like a transverse slit, while its shape in males was in the form of a crescent.

In some literary sources, there are reports of the fact of the death of ticks at temperatures below 5 ° C, although as a result of in vitro experiments this was not confirmed.

Diagnosis

In the case of staying in a contaminated poultry house, the attendants showed manifestations of itching, rashes on the skin, in some cases, an increase in temperature. With prolonged contact of personnel with an invasive onset, ticks can feed on their blood, usually feeding on the skin of the hands, neck, and shoulders.

In the case of a low intensity of invasion, at first glance, the colonies of ticks may not be visually visible, in which case it is necessary to place the wet tissue in the invisible nooks of the technological equipment in the poultry house. After removing it, if there are mites in the house, they can be contemplated on the fabric.

Treatment of chickens from ticks

For a more effective control of the tick population, it is desirable use acaricides from different groups in a complex, systematically carrying out their rotation to prevent the emergence of resistant races of Dermanyssus gallinae.

Prevention

Preventive measures include:

In households, ticks are rare in laying hens and broilers. breeders carefully monitor chickens, pullets, etc.
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Chicken mite - male and female

Chicken mites are easy to spot with the naked eye. If you see that the egg production of your layers has sharply decreased, it is worth inspecting each bird and the hen house itself.

To do this, take a white piece of paper and walk with it where there are any cracks, irregularities. If small gray dots remain on the paper, these are ticks. In a warm and dry chicken house, they can be active, and you will see them move. In winter, they move, for example, near the heat of a light bulb.

Control methods

So, if you have already found ticks on your layers and in the chicken coop, you should immediately take measures to get rid of them.

But this is only the beginning, because the main work needs to be done in the room itself.

So, first, it is important to clear the chicken house of all the dirt and temporarily move the birds to another location. The surest solution to get rid of mites is heat treatment.

Also, for prevention, from time to time, the premises of chickens can be sprayed with diesel fuel, and the walls and floor can be lubricated with white lime.

You can also treat the room with a special preparation - ecoflees, but it is not enough for a long time, and it is advisable to repeat the procedure after 15 days. By the way, it is possible to spray it with the bird itself. It is good to treat chickens with sevin powder or feverfew.

There is another very effective way to fight - ash. In this case, the method is very simple, since the chickens themselves will take preventive baths. To do this, place a trough with a mixture of ash and sand in equal proportions on the walking area or in the aviary. Just make sure that the mixture is dry and not exposed to rain.

How to determine the presence of a chicken mite?

When a chicken tick is found, the question arises of how to get rid of it. First of all, you need to urgently save the bird by greasing the bite sites with oil: the gamasid tick will die in a few days. Then the wounds should be treated with a disinfectant and healing ointment.

Methods for getting rid of chicken mites

It is possible to remove chicken ticks, which are dangerous not only to birds, but also to humans, by processing such places:

An effective remedy for chicken ticks can be as follows: powders "Sevin" (no more than 15 grams per individual), "Pyrethrum" (based on chamomile flowers) and "Ekoflees" - a new generation drug. A high result (about 9 weeks of protection) shows the effect of a spray with EC permethrin, which should be applied to poultry and chicken coops.

Ash and sand against chicken mites

An effective measure against chicken mites is to place a basin with an ash-sand mixture in equal proportions in the poultry yard. The mixture layer should be about 20 cm or more. Chickens flounder with pleasure in such a healing bath. It is only important to control that the contents of the cans, which should be regularly renewed, do not get wet under the influence of precipitation. It is also worth remembering that birds can be carriers of ticks, so do not allow pigeons and sparrows to be placed under the roof of the chicken coop.

Do not use preparations containing a chlorinated hydrocarbon, as there is an accumulation of active substances in meat and eggs.

Plants against chicken mites

Preventive measures

Feverfew from a tick

Once a farmer friend called me and told me that young chickens, which had just begun to lay, began to worry and lose weight, egg production dropped to almost zero. Some chickens and cockerels constantly wheeze and shake their heads.

Arriving at the poultry farm, I put on a robe, gloves and disposable shoe covers, wrapped a clean cloth around my head so that I could only breathe and see.

It was painful to look at the chickens: thin, frozen, with anemic-pale combs and earrings, they wandered around the courtyard exhaustedly or stood crouching.

More than once in the warm season, especially after prolonged rains, I had to observe this.

Going into the aviary, I picked up the nearest corydalis and carefully examined the skin under the wings, in the neck and cloaca. Everywhere there was the same picture: dark spots scattered on the skin between the feathers, like large grains of sand adhered to.

With tweezers, I carefully transferred several dark "grains of sand" to a sheet torn from a notebook. Through a magnifying glass, against a background of white paper, mites of an elongated-oval shape, about 1 mm in size, were clearly visible. The smaller ones had a yellowish color, the larger ones - from reddish to dark red and even purple - so they were pumped by chicken blood.

Another tick can settle in the ears of a bird, also causing inflammation. Therefore, the bird sometimes shakes its head when it is affected by a chicken tick.

Chicken tick (also called bird or red bird tick) drinks blood, injects poisonous saliva and can spread any infection that is dangerous for both birds and humans.

In case you find a tick, the chicken coop must be treated from the inside: the floor, walls, perches and nests. First, it will be necessary to very thoroughly clean the house of droppings, litter, cobwebs - from any dirt. Feeders and drinkers also need to be freed from feed and water residues.

Then with boiling water, or even better with the flame of a blowtorch or a gas burner, process the floor, walls, all cracks, as well as perches.

The bird itself must be treated with feverfew.... This is a powder against insects, completely harmless to humans and poultry. Feverfew is sold in medical and veterinary pharmacies.

If feverfew is not found, you can use other drugs that are also harmless to poultry: 7% sevin powder or ecoflees aerosol preparation. They are sprayed with chickens affected by ticks. And the feathers of the bird are carefully sprinkled with pyrethrum or sevin powder. If you use sevin, remember: no more than 15 g of powder should fall on one head. Such processing - both of the poultry house and the chickens themselves - will need to be carried out twice with an interval of 10-15 days.

If you want to get rid of ticks for good, check them often.

In addition, in the warm season, it is advisable to spray the chicken coop from the inside with diesel fuel or used engine oil. Such processing is carried out 2-3 times over the summer. Some odorous plants repel the tick well: leaves of mint, parsley, celery, onion and garlic feathers. Potato or tomato tops spread out on the floor of the house also helps.

If your chickens suddenly become reluctant to enter the chicken coop in the evening, or have stopped using nesting places, this is a sure sign that they have ticks.

If your chickens have ticks, you will probably notice that they are more likely to clean their plumage and pinch the feathers under the wings and around the anus. On closer inspection, you can see tiny red or black specks near the anus, and when you look at the chicken coop, you will find red streaks of blood or black grains on the perch that you feel when you run your hand over the surface.

Ways to deal with ticks

There are several chemical solutions and preparations on the market to combat ticks, but most of them have not been tested on chickens, so experienced owners do not advise using them immediately. It is best to try a comprehensive natural treatment first.

Spray the coop and perches for several days in a row with the following mixture: 2 cups of water, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid. This mixture will help kill the mites. Shake well before use, so it exfoliates. Treatment of the chicken coop should be carried out at least 1-2 times a week for several weeks in parallel with the treatment of chickens. This 100% natural homemade spray will help get rid of mites in your chicken coop

You can spray a layer of diatomaceous earth on the floor of the chicken coop and nesting area, and rub the mixture onto the surface of the perches. The processing is repeated as necessary.

Wormwood (Artemisia) is another effective natural remedy for tick control. Tie bunches of wormwood to perches, spread sachets over nesting sites, or hang cut plants throughout the coop. This is a great remedy that you can always use to repel ticks.

Garlic Juice Combined with Plant Essential Oils - Proven Against Ticks

To cure chickens, spray them with a garlic juice spray. Poultry scientists in the UK have discovered that this product can kill 100% of all ticks in 24 hours. It can be used to treat birds and as a prophylactic agent.

To make this natural spray, you need:

  • 300 ml of water
  • 30 ml garlic juice
  • 1 teaspoon (total) of any combination of these essential oils - bay leaf, cinnamon, clove, coriander, lavender, mint and / or cumin.

Mix all the ingredients well in a spray bottle and spray the chickens with this product twice a week for prophylaxis, or every other day for 2-3 weeks in case of a tick infestation. Pay particular attention to the areas around the anus and under the fenders. After spraying, it is also recommended to treat the chickens with diatomaceous earth, rubbing the powder into the skin and plumage. When doing this, be careful not to get dust in their eyes or lungs. Treating chickens and treating a chicken coop at the same time will help completely get rid of ticks.

If the chicken has ticks on its legs, then the scales will not be smooth, but raised up

If you notice such signs, spray the chicken paws with a solution of garlic juice, and then lubricate them with natural petroleum jelly (or its analogues with natural additives). Such treatment will help not only scare away, but also destroy ticks - they will die from suffocation.

Iron-rich foods can help treat tick-infested chickens

Regular examination of chickens reveals signs of infection at an early stage

The best prevention for most disease-related problems is to be examined frequently and to know what a healthy and sick animal should look like.

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