What do chicken ticks look like? - briefly
Chicken ticks are small, oval arachnids about 1–2 mm long when unfed, reddish‑brown with a smooth, scutum‑covered dorsal surface, expanding up to 5 mm after feeding. Engorged individuals turn pale or whitish and appear as soft, balloon‑like masses on the bird’s skin or in the coop litter.
What do chicken ticks look like? - in detail
Chicken ticks are small arachnids that attach to poultry. Adults range from 2 mm to 5 mm in length, expanding to about 10 mm when engorged with blood. Their bodies are oval, dorsally flattened, and covered with a smooth, leathery exoskeleton that may appear reddish‑brown, gray, or dark brown depending on species and feeding stage.
Key visual characteristics include:
- Scutum: a hard shield on the dorsal surface, often lighter in color than the surrounding cuticle.
- Legs: eight legs, each bearing short, fine hairs; legs are relatively long compared to body size, giving the tick a slightly spindly silhouette.
- Mouthparts: a protruding, beak‑like hypostome used for piercing skin; visible from a lateral view as a small, pointed structure.
- Eyes: a pair of simple eyes (ocelli) situated near the front of the dorsal surface; they appear as tiny dark spots.
- Festoons: small, rectangular plates along the posterior edge of the body, visible as a series of tiny, overlapping segments.
When fully fed, the tick’s abdomen swells dramatically, becoming soft and pale, while the scutum remains unchanged. The engorged form may appear translucent, allowing the underlying blood to be faintly seen through the cuticle. In contrast, unfed nymphs are much smaller (about 1 mm) and exhibit a lighter, almost ivory coloration with less defined scutal markings.
These morphological details enable reliable identification of chicken ticks in the field and differentiate them from other ectoparasites that may infest poultry.