Keeping your backyard flock happy and healthy is a top priority, and that includes protecting them from pesky pests like fleas, lice, and mites. In this guide, we'll explore natural, effective ways to treat and prevent these common parasites, ensuring your chickens thrive in a safe, pest-free coop.
As a backyard chicken keeper, one of the most common challenges you'll face is dealing with pests like fleas, lice, and mites. These tiny intruders can cause serious issues for your flock, but don't worry—there are natural and effective ways to treat and prevent infestations, keeping your coop a safe and healthy haven for your feathered friends.
The Challenge of External Chicken Parasites
External parasites can greatly affect the health and happiness of your flock. Fleas, lice, and mites not only cause irritation but can also lead to serious health issues if left untreated.
Health Risks: Parasites feed on the blood of your chickens, leading to discomfort and potentially weakened immune systems if the infestation isn't addressed promptly.
Reduced Egg Production: Stress from an infestation can lead to a significant drop in egg production, as your chickens' energy is diverted from laying eggs to dealing with the pests.
Weight Loss: Chronic stress from a heavy infestation can suppress your chickens' appetite, causing weight loss as they struggle to cope with the irritation and discomfort.
Feather Loss and Skin Irritation: Lice and mites can cause severe skin irritation, leading to constant pecking. This can result in open wounds, making your chickens even more vulnerable to infection.
Difficulty in Eradication: Once these parasites have taken hold, they can be tough to get rid of. They multiply quickly, so persistence is key to complete eradication.
Identifying Chicken Fleas, Lice, and Mites
Understanding the signs of an infestation is crucial for effective treatment and prevention. Here’s how to identify the different parasites that can plague your flock:
Chicken Fleas: Three common flea species affect chickens: the European chicken flea, the Western chicken flea, and the stick-tight flea. Regardless of type, adult fleas are reddish-brown and flat. You’ll often find them around the comb, wattles, and vent area, or under the wings during molt. Signs of a flea infestation include irritation, excessive scratching, feather loss, and scabs or wounds on the skin.
Chicken Lice: These straw-colored, flat insects are typically found under the wings, around the neck, or near the vent. Chicken lice feed on organic debris and blood, laying eggs at the base of feathers. Infested chickens will show signs similar to those with fleas, including irritation, excessive scratching, and feather loss.
Chicken Mites: Red mites and northern fowl mites are tiny, blood-sucking insects that are hard to spot. They range from grey-white to reddish-brown, often appearing as small, moving specks. Mites feed on your chickens at night and hide in the coop during the day. Signs of a mite infestation include restlessness, feather loss, pale combs and wattles, and scabs or crusts on the skin, especially around the vent.
Natural Treatments for Chicken Fleas, Lice, and Mites
Using natural methods to treat these parasites not only protects your chickens but also aligns with a more wholesome and sustainable way of living. Here are some gentle, effective solutions to keep your flock pest-free:
Diatomaceous Earth (DE): This natural powder works by puncturing the exoskeletons of parasites, causing them to dehydrate and die. Be sure to use food-grade DE and wear a mask when applying it. Sprinkle DE generously in the coop, focusing on cracks and crevices. Lightly dust your chickens, avoiding their eyes and nostrils, to target areas where parasites are likely to hide.
Dust Bath: Chickens love dust baths, and they’re an excellent way to prevent and treat infestations. Create a dust bath using dry soil, sand, wood ash, and diatomaceous earth. You can also add dried lavender, mint, eucalyptus, or neem leaves for added protection. Place the bath in a sheltered area where it won’t get wet, and your chickens will naturally keep pests at bay.
Fill your dust bath with:
- 2 Parts Dry Soil or Dry Dirt
- 1 Part Sand
- 1 Part Wood Ash
- 1 Part Diatomaceous Earth
- Optional: add dried lavender, mint, eucalyptus, or neem leaves to the mixture.
Wear a mask and mix the dusting materials thoroughly to ensure an even distribution of ingredients. Aim for a consistency that is loose and easily penetrable by the chickens' feathers.
Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV): Adding garlic and ACV to your chickens’ water and feed can help prevent infestations by making their environment less attractive to parasites. Crush one clove of garlic per quart of water and add one tablespoon of ACV per gallon. You can also mix garlic powder into their feed.
That said, these methods may have limited efficacy, especially when used alone, if you already have an infestation.
To use you can place crushed garlic, 1 clove per quart, and some apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon per gallon, in their drinking water. Additionally, you could add some garlic powder to their dry feed at one teaspoon per pound of feed.
Essential Oils: Certain essential oils, like tea tree, lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and neem, are known for their insect-repelling properties. Dilute a few drops of essential oil with water or carrier oil and apply it to your chickens’ feathers, focusing on problem areas. You can also add these oils to your dust bath or use them in a spray to treat the coop and surrounding areas.
Other Chicken Care Posts to Check Out:
- 10 Brilliant Tips for Keeping Chickens Cool this Summer
- How to Keep Chickens Warm in Winter Weather
- How to Care for Baby Chicks
If you found this guide on natural solutions for chicken fleas, lice, and mites helpful, I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments below! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for more inspiration! With grace, let’s keep our flocks healthy and thriving together.
Kate says
Do you mean 3 cloves of garlic or three whole garlic plants for the mite spray? Ps thank you for your site. Life saver!
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Kate! The whole plant. 3 cloves won’t be near strong enough. Hope that helps!
Angela Behnke says
I’m wondering about my week old chicks that I picked up from the feed store. They seem to be very itchy and one yellow one seems to have something black at the back of the neck. Could they have come with an infestation? I’ve never had chickens so this is all new to me. Would these cures be safe for babies?
Danielle McCoy says
I wouldn't think so, but I suppose anything is possible? I'd gather they're fine, the treatments would be safe. You could sprinkle some diatomaceous earth in their brooder when you refresh their bedding to help repel them.
M says
Hi there, I have a flea infestation in my coop. Whenever I go in there to treat the chickens, I end up getting fleas in my own house. How can I prevent bringing them home? They are due for more treatment but now I'm scared to go near the coop. I've found fleas in my bed which is really starting to freak me out.
Danielle McCoy says
Hi! Chicken fleas and the fleas we are typically used to aren't synonymous, so if you have fleas inside, it's doubtful that it's actually from your coop... though, anything is possible. Do you have other pets? It's more likely that the fleas in your home are coming from them. Regardless, I would recommend treating any pets you have in your home, cleaning your bedding thoroughly in hot water, take off your clothes and wash them when you get back from the coop (in case they are, in fact, from the coop, though I still highly doubt this), vacuuming carpets and furniture really well (including mattresses) and sprinkling borax on the carpet.
Bicky says
Derus dust and eucalyptus oil 50/50 painted on the scales legs every 3 days until you see a charge works well to.
I also put derus first in my dust bath mixture. I also followed this with the vaseline and ground cumin or dipping their feet in oil to soften scales and drown the mite.
Derus dust can be found in the garden section, is used also in the garden to deter mites and the such.
I tried garlic in their water... but I think it reduced their drinking...I did not repeat this.
I also hung sprigs of wormwood around the co-op and chopped up in their dust baths. Also rubbed the leaves along their roosting branches with fresh sprigs (smely stiff it is). Coulis prov add a bit into your garlic blend mentioned in his arrival to add some extra punch.
Planting wormwood and rosemary in the chock yard makes it all accessible and on hand, chooks don't seem to attack it if it's big enough. I grew mine in a pot then put the pot in they yard, eventually I planted it.
In regards to sticky bite fleas, I moved to a place that after the first big rain I had such an infestation in my coops that within 2 weeks, I got back from holidays and couldn't see the combs of any of my hens or rooster!
I got a brand of dog tick and flee (tick being the important selection here) and gave each crook one drop between the wings, they all came off but I repeated the process every 3 months to get on top of the population. After 3 doses I stopped and gave not seem it back thank goodness...I could now eat my eggs again. Ongoing I prevented naturally and did not see them again. I disliked using the chemical but I want going to loose any more of my beautiful Australorps to them!
I found out later that the sticky bite flees and other mites was the reason there where so many coops at my rental and one of the reasons why the family eventually bought another property and built again!
Elizabeth Phakade says
Thank you so much
Maureen Davenport says
Hi, could you help me when I make up a dust bath. When you say 2 parts dust, 1 part wood, 1 part sand, 1/2 part D earth, my problem is how exact do I have to be? Can you give me a better way to measure. Thanks, I enjoyed your site!
Danielle McCoy says
It depends on how big your dust bath is, it doesn't have to be exact, just a general rule of measurement. If you have 2 pounds of dust, you'd put in roughly a pound of wood, a pound of sand and a half pound of DE. Hope that helps :).
Csilla Apt says
what is the vent ?
Danielle McCoy says
The hole at the back/bottom of the chicken where the egg (as well as poo) comes out.
Grana says
Is it healthy to feed chickens peeled, cooked potatoes, corn, sunflower seeds, carrots, pumpkin and other garden produce. As well as providing laying mash.
Danielle McCoy says
Yes, all of those things can be safely fed to chickens as long as you're feeding them as treats in moderation.
Ange says
Hi, for the garlic spray, could ground garlic powder be used instead of a garlic plant? If so, what amounts? Thanks
Danielle McCoy says
the powder won't infuse very well.
Christina says
Hi D Mc Coy, love your knowledge & your helping back-yarders😊. can you please suggest a DIY mix which doesn’t require water or anything liquid please. Fresh garlic or any wet that’s from herbs is fine. Any ideas please.
Am doing deep litter with pure pine shavings & as long as I had DE food grade powder, it was good. But now I see heaps of tiny black jumping mites coop 😱. NZ climate is crazy cold & I don’t want add on moist from diy.
I did bath my 2 hens that were more effected, but I don’t see point, if I didn’t clear the chop infestation.
Will I be able to maintain deep litter method with a regular DIY?
If not I’ll be clearing coop tomorrow & end the deep litter method in coop. But any ideas please.
Tanq in advance,
God bless
Danielle McCoy says
I would clean the coop out and sprinkle fresh diatomaceous earth for sure... you could use a version of the suped up dust bath and add some wood ash to the D.E as well as some dried herbs (I'd suggest lavender) and even some garlic powder. Sulfur is another natural remedy you could add to the mix if you want to. There are synthetic powders that can be used as well, but I'm not sure what you have available there.
As for using the deep litter method, you can try, but I might suggest forgoing it for a bit until you get the fleas under control and cleaning the coop out regularly for a while before trying it again.
Lauren says
Hi, I live south east of Melbourne, (incase knowing the area helps) and I can't go into the coup without fleas landing on me, but they don't seem to be really coming from the chickens, which are treated, but in their house.
I do spray the heck out of it, (with natural sprays) the laying boxes, and we clean it out weekly.
Danielle McCoy says
Be sure to remove all the litter, clean it out well top to bottom, then replace the litter with clean litter and sprinkle in plenty of agricultural lime and diatomaceous earth as well and continue to treat the chickens.