Predation of livestock ticks by chickens as a tick-control method in a resource-poor urban environment
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Date
Authors
Dreyer, K.
Fourie, L.J.
Kok, D.J.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Published by the Agricultural Research Council, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute
Abstract
The possible use of chickens as predators of livestock ticks was studied. Chickens were allowed to
scavenge for 3 h among tick-infested cattle in a typical township backyard during the milking period.
Boophilus decoloratus, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi and Otobius
megnini were recovered from the crops and gizzards at necropsy. The numbers of ticks ingested
ranged from 0-128, with an average of 28,81 (± 8,42) per chicken. This study has confirmed that
chickens are natural predators of livestock ticks and that chickens can be used as part of an integrated
tick control plan in urban cattle-management systems in resource-poor communities in South
Africa.
Description
The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi.
Adobe Acrobat X Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.
Keywords
Veterinary medicine, Cattle, Chickens, Control, Livestock, Tick-control methods, Ticks
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Dreyer, K, Fourie, LJ & Kok, DJ 1997, 'Predation of livestock ticks by chickens as a tick-control method in a resource-poor urban environment’. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 273-276.