#chickensitter

Pet Chicken Health

A decent and clean chicken coop is essential for the health of a chicken. Hen Fleas are a major health concern for many farmers and home owners: once infected the chickens will become restless and show agitation by jumping and belting out occasionally even though nothing seems to be wrong. This discomfort will make a hen so stressed that she may actually break her eggs.

Fleas are often found inside the chicken’s house, or sometimes in open ground (common with free ranging chickens). The owner may treat his birds with flea dusting powder (also removes mites that may be under the scales on chickens feet) in an attempt to control the infestation. A regular routine inspection of the chicken house and of your chickens is very important.

External parasites can be transmitted by wild birds (migratory and indigenous), contact with another infected chickens and even rodents. As a result, implementing rules and regulations to inspect and to keep the chicken house clean will most likely guarantee a healthy and itch-free flock.

Every time I clean the coop (quarterly per year) I also put a layer of delousing powder on top of the bedding to help protect against mites and fleas. This will not harm the chickens if they eat some of it. The powder actually acts as a dewormer if ingested by the chickens. I would just try to be sure they do not ingest an abundance of it.  

If delousing powder is not doing the trick and you notice the scales on the chickens feet are a slight red/pink color (irritated looking) and old remedy is to coat their feet in Vaseline at least 2 times per day. What this does is it traps and suffocated the mites that are under the scales on the chickens feet. After a few days of treatment you will not the color restored on their feet and you will no longer need to do this.