Survey of Ectoparasites in Chickens in Benue State of Nigeria
The aim of this research was to obtain some baseline data on ecto parasites of local chickens in Benue State, Nigeria. A cross sectional study on the prevalence of ecto parasites in chickens was conducted in Gboko Area of Benue State between January and December, 2015. A total of 294 local chickens were examined and 414 (69.70% were infested with ectoparasites. Four groups of ectoparasites (lice, flea, ticks and mites) were found infesting chickens in this study. The most frequent species of parasites seen was Menopon gallinae (21.38% followed by Cnemidocoptes mutans (18.18% Menacanthus stramineus (13.13% Cnemidocoptes gallinae (11.45% Echidnophaga gallinacea (6.40% Lipeurus caponis (9.26% Argas persicus (4.71% and Dermanyssus gallinae (3.20% Results also indicated that 64.31% of the chickens were infested with mixed ectoparasites. Being young increased the probability of infestation by ectoparssites by a factor of 3.59 (p 0.001) Female chickens were 33.53 (p 0.001) times more likely to be positive for ectoparasites than male. This may be associated with inadequate husbandry systems, poor hygiene practice, inadequate control and preventive measures among others. In conclusion, there is a high prevalence of ecto parasites in free range local chickens in Benue State.