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. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
The chicken mite 1 
Kinds of tests made, and methods of estimat- 
ing the results 1 
Miscellaneous treatments 2 
Page. 
Dusts 4 
Paints 6 
Sprays 6 
Summary 9 
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 hrief 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. 3 
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 in all but the coldest periods of 
the year and reproduces with great prolificacy. It will live lor 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. 
* 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, bv 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, The Chicken Mite: Its Life History and Habits, by H. P. Wood. 
71833 # -24-Bull. 1328 
