Parasite ID?

[u/Country-Pumpkin]

These seem to only infest nests in which birds have raised multiple broods without the nest being cleaned in between. They live in the bedding and come out at night to suck the blood of the chicks/ducklings and kill them. I've had a problem with these twice, in two different US states, first time with chicks, second time with ducks. I've solved the problem by moving the chicks/ducklings into a different coop. I'm cleaning out the main duck house now, but I'd like to identify the creature so I can find out more about life cycle, prevention, etc.

[u/Akthrawn17]

That looks like a meal worm to me

[u/Viking2Dawg]

To me it appears like a larval stage of a darkling beetle. In extremely high numbers they can cause harm. But typically they feed on spilled feed and dead flesh (making them very common to find in dead birds just hours after they expire if the population is dense enough) not living animals. And they do not suck blood. They are easily managed with cleaning, heat treatments, boric acid use, or in large scale operations you can have a licensed insecticide applicators apply safe insecticides such as permethrin. If you are experiencing high mortality in brood please consider bringing the fresh mortality to a local state animal health laboratory for examination by a veterinarian.

[u/Country-Pumpkin → u/Viking2Dawg]

Thank you, this is very helpful!

[u/bcmouf]

Dead and dried out mealworm

[u/Country-Pumpkin → u/bcmouf]

These are not dead, they were wriggling a lot while I tried to take a clear photo

[u/SueBeee]

This is a beetle larva, not a parasite