Backyard Poultry Forum

On doing my routine worming and dipping before sale I found my main roo covered in tick, not on his face, but in even amounts all over his body, say probably all up I scratched out about thirty.And popped em and got rather sick the next day.
He wasn't sick, I just noticed he seemed to be a little bit agitated which is why I decided to do all of the chooks and not only the ones for sale for lice.
I found a couple of louce ( I was expecting more ) and the ticks in the breeding pen, I had about 4 pens in action.
I inspected the roost and was rather shocked to find rather a lot of blood had been dripped on it.
So luckily I caught that in time.
I have been here for around eight years now, this is the first outbreak I have had.
Probably wouldn't have thought to mention it except for the fact that my friend rang for advice today, she had one chook down and the lot of hers were covered in the same.
Just curious if it is only in our district or are other people having the same trouble ? It is very dry around here.

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

One of the signs of poultry tick is blood on the perch.

The common theory around here is that tick can't live in steel sheds, thats wrong, they can.

But they arn't that hard to get rid of.
You need a hose and a jet stream nossle, clean the whole shed with this, including wood and joins in steel,do the lot. Then wait till it dries and spray with a can of surface spray.
Clean the floor of course and spread with lime, cover with fresh straw if available.
Every now and then, go out at night and check up high.
Poultry tick are soft bodied,and nocternal, and climb high so they can jump on their victims.
It is easier to see them on chooks when the chooks are wet, scrape them off sideways, don't squeeze them out. Or dabb them with a bit of metho on a cotton bud.

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Different Ticks.. Information

Ticks - Argas persicus
Note:
1. The oval shape of the tick
2. The scutum is lacking in the family ARGASIDAE
3. The mouth parts are ventral on the body
4. The cuticle has a leathery texture

The soft tick of poultry, dorsal and ventral views
Reference: http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/index.html

Pictures of ticks can be seen at this site


Tick - Amblyomma americanum

"The Lone Star Tick"
Males and Females
Note the ornate scutum with a central white mark on the female and the long mouth parts (the 2nd palpal segment is elongated). The eyes are on the lateral margin of the scutum.

It is widely distributed in the southern states east of the Rocky Mountains and in parts of Central and South America. The tick is most prevalent in spring and summer
Reference: http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/index.html

A.americanum adults prefer large mammals like cattle, deer, horses and dogs
Immature stages usually attack birds and small mammals but may also be found on large mammals
Lone star ticks are frequently found on the ears, dewlap, escutcheon, and axillary and inguinal regions of livestock
Reference: Veterinary Clinical Parasitology by Margaret W Sloss , Russell L Kemp and Anne M Zajac


Identification of a tick ...........


Ticks are the only members of the order Acarina that can be recognized without a microscope.

The most easily seen features are the spiracular plates (or stigmatal plates) which surround the external openings of the respiratory system. These plates are well developed and large.

They are located just outside the bases of the third and fourth pairs of legs.

Ticks feed only on the blood of vertebrates, making them one of the least favorite visitors in our homes. Hard ticks and soft ticks are the two major groups that are pests.

Hard ticks have the capitulum (where the head and mouthparts are located) exposed and easily visible from the top. The upper side of their body also bears a distinctly sclerotized shield or scutum.

This structure covers most of the upper body surface in the male tick, but is restricted to a much smaller area (immediately behind the capitulum) in the female.

When a female becomes completely engorged with blood, her abdomen increases to many times its normal dimensions and the scutum will then appear to be extremely small in relation to the body size. Male ticks do not become so large when engorged.

In soft ticks, the body has a rather non-descript sac-like shape. The front portion of the body extends forward, above and beyond the base of the capitulum, so that the capitulum is concealed when the tick is viewed from above.

Soft ticks of not have a scutum on the upper side of the body, and the exoskeleton is rather leathery in texture with a distinctly roughened surface.


Life cycle of a tick and Other information about Ticks

http://www.pestproducts.com/ticks1.htm# ... d%20Habits

Common Fowl Tick
Argas radiatus Raillet
This tick, known also as the chicken tick and the "blue bug," is a soft tick common in poultry houses in the southern and southwestern United States. It may injure or even kill chickens, and may attack humans. It can be controlled in chicken houses and bird-roosting areas by application of properly labeled insecticides such as Permethrin-10 concentrate or Permethrin Dust.
Relapsing Fever Tick Ornithodorus turicata

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Sandy

Thanks Sandy.

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Kazlee - did you have any photos? - I would really like to see them if you do!!

Cheers

Haze

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Keeping chickens out of battery cages - one egg at a time!

Blackhen normally takes my photos and she has been really hard to grabb hold of lately.
I found one photo on the net and am about to look at the link Sandy posted to make sure it's the same thing," I'll be back"

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Yeah well, didn't have much luck there,

I will try and explain what they look like Witchjnr,

The mothers look a bit like light bluey dough,unflated ,
( like the air has been let out of them ). They have red legs, a bit like a spider or crab, except the legs are shorter. They are eggshaped and flat, about the size of a baby pea.

They turn black when dead and have white legs.
And a dent runs down their back.and you can't seem to see their heads,
they look a bit like large passionfruit seeds.
Hope you can make a bit of sense pout of that.

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Nice description! Thanks - I was just really curious as I never realized that chickens could get ticks... Another thing to be on the look out for!

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Keeping chickens out of battery cages - one egg at a time!

Ticks
http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ticks.htm

(sorry Kaz.. didn't realize that link has been removed by the organisation)

How to remove a tick

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/genera ... moval.html

What diseases do ticks transmit

http://www.bsu.edu/physiology/article/0 ... 73,00.html

click to see bigger pictures

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Sandy

The woman that rang me the other day was told it was stick flea, it wasn't.
I've been saying for years that we have at least three types of tick around here, of course no one believed me.
The snakes get a brown tick which doesn't seem to effect them, the chooks get the poultry tick/fever tick which doesn't seem to effect them either, though after I crushed them between my fingers I ended with a raging fever and a backache I would put in the same catogory as labour pains, But that could be a coinsidence. and also a tiny black, shiney tick , (which I thought was stick flea )which seems to paralise the chook, I had it out the farm, and will be keeping a lookout for now on in town.
We only really ended up with this problem of poultry tick when the white cockatoos started eating the pine cones above the chook pen which had the tick.
Galahs roost in the gum trees above another pen, but no probs so far.

_________________
The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Thank's for that Sandy,
The hard part about this is that nearly all the info on ticks comes from the USA.
None of those ticks look like poultry tick,and the ones I had seemed to bury their heads right under the skin, but when I had another look at the dead ones, they didnt have an obvious head anyway.
The closest ones would be pictures five and seven, if you remove the head on the last one, you could call it a dead poultry tick.
And if you evened up the legs and turned it light blue on no five, you would be close.
This is rather frustrating.but thank's for your help.

_________________
The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.

Here are some more .. maybe its one of these...













Just click to see a larger picture

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Sandy

Wow they are so creepy - would regular dusting stop this?

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Keeping chickens out of battery cages - one egg at a time!

They have a similar life cycle to mites and should be treated in the same way.

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Sandy

Hi again, the colour is about right in the top one.
And the second last one is about the right shape.
I'm wondering if the Aussie museum has a list of our species,
I will give it a search

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The majestic Campine.
Should be classed as a game bird.