Chickens, Insecticide Screening for Control of Chicken Lice, 1977

Chickens naturally or artificially infested with the chicken body louse, Menacanthus stramineus (Nitzsch), were treated with acetone, athanol, or water solutions of technical or finer grade experimental compounds. Material (40 ml of solution) was applied to the infested chickens with an artist’s airbrush modified to give a coarse spray at a pressure of 40 psi. The applications were made while the chickens were suspended by the legs with a soft cotton rope and rotated to assure complete and adequate coverage. Treated chickens were confined separately in cage-layer cells for a 28-day posttreatment observation period. Animals treated similarly were placed in adjacent cells, but those treated with different materials or concentrations were separated by one cell. Any reinfestation that occurred was limited to lice hatching from viable eggs present on the test animals at time of treatment. Pretreatment louse populations were estimated by counting the motile forms found in 10 partings of feathers; 2 each at the vent, breast, back, neck, and wings.