Ectoparasites are organisms that live and feed outside the body of an animal. This animal is called the ‘host’. Common ectoparasites you may have heard of include ticks, fleas, lice and mites.
Contrary to popular misconception, poultry birds (chicken and turkeys) are also hosts to some ectoparasites such as fow ticks, fowl mites and poultry lice. Rodents carry parasites and may be the ones to infect poultry birds. Here are some common symptoms of ectoparasites in poultry.
- Irritable itching, pecking and feather loss.
When ectoparasites have fixed themselves on chickens, skin irritation occurs, which then leads to persistent pecking and scratching. After a while, the feathers begin to fall off, and the skin is mottled by red, angry spots. If the itching persists, skin is broken and other harmful bacteria and fungi can infect the bird, leading to a severe sickness and worse, death.
The ectoparasite that mostly causes feather loss because it feeds on the feathers is poultry lice. However, poultry lice cannot feed on humans as it feeds on poultry species only. Birds infected with poultry lice are constantly agitated and unhealthy looking. The presence of other ectoparasites such as mites can also cause itching on the skin of poultry farmers.
- Blood loss
Blood loss is otherwise referred to as anemia. Mites are ectoparasites that cause blood loss in poultry birds. Blood loss is only experienced when there’s an infestation of mites. An infestation may occur because of the ability of mites to grow quickly from eggs to adult. Anemia caused by fowl mites causes the birds’ combs to go from being red to a pale pink. Younger birds are more quickly affected than the adult ones.
- Stunted growth
Infected poultries will experience a decrease in birds’ feeding and appetite. This then leads to reduced growth, declining egg production or eggshell quality, and sometimes reduced male fertility.
Poultry ectoparasite treatment often involves insecticides and disinfectants of not just the poultry birds themselves, but also the poultry coop. Some ectoparasites such as chicken mites do not live on skin or feathers, but spend the daytime in the dark and damp areas of the coop. They only come out at night to attach themselves to the birds and feed off them. Thus, it is important to also douse the crevices and corners of the poultry in disinfectant and insecticides, to completely kill off ectoparasites, bacteria, and fungus.
To maintain the best hygienic environment for your poultry birds, it is important to disinfect both the poultry environment and poultry equipment with a mild yet powerful disinfectant like KillerBoss. This disinfectant is produced from organic ingredients that do not pose a threat to the health of the birds or the poultry farmers. KillerBoss typically has a waiting period of 24 hours after use.