UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



DEPARTMENT BULLETIN NO. 1228 



Washington, D. C. T January 23, 1924 



RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH MISCELLANEOUS SUBSTANCES AGAINST 



THE CHICKEN MITE. 1 



By W. M. Davidson, Entomologist, Insecticide and Fungicide Board. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



The chicken mite 1 



Kinds of tests made, and methods of estimat- 

 ing the results 1 



Page. 



Dusts 4 



Paints 6 



Sprays 6 



Summary 9 



Miscellaneous treatments 2 I Recommendations 10 



INTRODUCTION. 



In connection with the enforcement of the insecticide act of 1910 

 a large number of proprietary insecticides and the ingredients enter- 

 ing into their composition have been tested against the chicken mite. 

 A brief summary of these experiments forms the basis of this bulletin. 

 The work was done at the Insecticide and Fungicide Board's testing 

 laboratory at Vienna, Va., which is under the supervision of Dr. A. L. 

 Quaintance, of the Bureau of Entomology, and under the direct 

 charge of W. S. Abbott. 



THE CHICKEN MITE. 2 



All the tests hereinafter recorded were made against the common 

 red mite of the chicken (Dermanyssus gallinae Redi) . The mite feeds 

 by sucking the blood of the chickens, attacking them at night while 

 they are roosting. It passes the day under roosts and in crevices else- 

 where in the chicken house. Occasionally a few mites are found on 

 the fowls during the day, and sitting hens are liable to attack both 

 day and night. The mite is active m all but the coldest periods of 

 the year and reproduces with great prolificacy. It will live for at least 

 three months without food. 



KINDS OF TESTS MADE, AND METHODS OF ESTIMATING THE RESULTS. 



A few tests were made against the mites infesting sitting hens and 

 the nest boxes occupied by them, but the great majority were con- 

 ducted against mites inhabiting chicken houses, coops, roosts, and 

 nest boxes used by laying hens only. 



\Dermanyssus gallinae Redi. 



2 For an account of the control of the chicken mite the reader is referred to Farmers' Bulletin 801, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Mites and Lice on Poultry, by F. C Bishopp and H. P. Wood, and 

 for an account of the bionomics of the chicken mite to Department Bulletin 553, United States Department 

 of Agriculture j The Chicken Mite: Its Life History and Habits, by H. P. Wood, 



71833°-24— Bull. 1228 



