Some biological studies on the effect of soft ticks on chickens in egypt

The present investigation deatt with the effect of different stages of fowl ticks (Argas persicus) on bodyweight, food consumption, blood picture and some chemical constituentu of the blood in male Hubbard chickens. Forthis purpose seventy, four weeks-old, male Hubbard chickens were obtained from the Egyptian pultry organi-zation. These chickens were divided into seven groups of ten chickens for each and kept for four weeks. Onegroup was kept as control. The second and third groups were infested with larval stage, for the 2nd group 10larvae per each chicken and 20 larvae for each in the Jrd group. The larvae were placed under the wing in theaxillae. Each chicken was placed in a special jar con- tains wood shavings untill all the larvae became atta-ched. The fourth and fifth experimental groups were infested with nymphs, 5 nymph per chicken for the 4thgroup and 10 for that of the 5th group. The nymphs were put in a feeding capsule under the wing and fixedwith plaster. Each chicken was placed in cloth sac tightly