How can you rid young chickens of a flea infestation?
Try dusting with Sevin garden dust. Your young chickens probably have lice, instead of fleas--but the treatment is the same. Treat them soon or the chickens will likely die from the infestation.
If you have a hard time treating them, let them do it themselves. Make or find a large, flat box (like the bottom 2 inches of a refrigerator box) and fill it with dusting powder (available in any pet store that sells small furry animals like chinchilla) and mix the dusting powder with Sevin or Buhach (my favorite). Leave it out for the chickens to dust in - and they will! You won't believe how much they love this! If you do this routinely (once every six weeks or so) you and the chickens will be pleased with the results.
Do chickens hatch with lice? or do they only catch them when they go outside into a bigger pen?
No, nothing is in the egg, but if they hatch under a hen that has lice or mites, they are on the chicks at once, and very hard on them, as they feast on blood. If they are incubator chicks, and put in a place that has not been cleaned properly after birds with lice or mites have been there, they will be fair game as soon as they are where the former birds lived. Inspect all the birds regularly and treat only if necessary, but do it quickly, if you find the critters! CJR
By John deSaavedra (Johnde) on Friday, April 16, 1999 - 01:48 pm:
By Liza on Wednesday, June 9, 1999 - 01:44 pm:
By Emryan on Tuesday, July 24, 2001 - 10:49 pm:
By Cjeanr on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 12:28 am: