All kinds of lice and fleas parasitize all types of animals, including birds. Imagine what torments geese and ducks, rooks and starlings have to endure during long spring and autumn flights! Domestic chickens are also susceptible to infestation by these insects.
Chicken is a strategic object
Chicken meat and eggs are dietary products, they are included in their diet by most of the world's population. In our country, more and more poultry farms are being built, chickens are bred on farms and on private households. For the poultry industry to be effective, proper attention must be paid to poultry health. In addition to full-fledged high-calorie feeding with the addition of essential vitamins and microelements to the diet, there must be adequate conditions for keeping chickens in order to protect them from infectious diseases and parasite infestation, which must be controlled continuously.
Bird down and feathers are used as a by-product of poultry farming. Waste products are also used for the manufacture of meat and bone meal. Poultry manure is also a valuable organic fertilizer.
Chicken louse
Unlike their counterparts living in the wild, poultry does not have to fight for its existence - it does not face death from hunger and cold or death from the claws of a predator. However, chickens, like any other living creature, are at risk of disease, they can be attacked by parasites, such as helminths, lice and fleas.
In total, about 40 species of lice parasitizing the body of a chicken are known. The disease they cause is called mallophagosis - after the name of the parasites belonging to the Mallophaga order.
Chicken louse is a fairly widespread parasitic insect that lives under the skin - subcutaneous lice, or in the feathers of chickens (chewing lice and feather eaters). The course of the disease is associated with increased anxiety. Chickens, as a rule, touch their feathers for a long time in search of parasites and often peck them out along with the feathers. As a result, bare areas appear on the neck and in the area of the cloaca. Adult chickens lose weight, reduce egg production. Young animals grow poorly, chicks that are infected may die if the necessary measures are not taken in time.
How to fight
Modern veterinary remedies allow infected chickens to completely get rid of parasites and heal, restoring health and productivity. Of the drugs, the most effective are insecticides, which are used in ointments, processed solutions and sprays.
Treatment is carried out by spraying poultry with a 2% water emulsion of low toxicity oxamate or 0.25% emulsion of stomazan in the form of sprays. In parallel with floor maintenance, ash-sand baths with the addition of insecticides should be installed, and they should also be added to the litter.
