Hen flea
The hen flea is a tiny dark brown flea that lives on chickens and other animals. It is only about 2 millimetres long, half the size of a cat flea. Once a female bites in, she stays stuck in the same spot for the rest of her life.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Hen flea compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It has no wings, but its strong back legs can throw it up to 23 times its own body length.
Its legs have backward-pointing spines, so it does not fall off even when an animal scratches.
On chickens it likes to sit on bare skin near the eyes, the comb and the wattle.
The males keep walking around, but the females stay in one place.
It has one of the shortest lives of all fleas.
Most asked questions about Hen flea
?Can hen fleas live on people?
Sometimes they bite people, but they mostly live on chickens and other animals.
?How big is a hen flea?
It is about 2 millimetres long, half the size of a cat flea.
?Why is it called the sticktight flea?
Because the female bites into the skin and stays stuck there for the rest of her life.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Echidnophaga gallinacea
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Pulicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Siphonaptera > Pulicidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Sticktight flea
Where the facts come from
- Echidnophaga gallinacea (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Erik Streb. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Common earwig
Silverfish
Chigoe flea
Giant earwig
Grannom
Firebrat
Odorous house ant
Smoky brown cockroach
Confused flour beetle
Red flour beetle
Australian cockroach
Spitting spider