The control of Alphitobius is another challenge for our sector. They are commonly found in poultry litter and in the poultry farm environment. Birds can become infected with pathogens by ingesting contaminated beetles.
Therefore, the removal of the litter as far as possible from the house is mandatory. In a broiler house, the infestation of darkling beetles can be massive (up to 1,000 insects per square meter of litter).
When the chickens go to the slaughterhouse, and the house cools down, dark beetles climb up the walls of the ship, hiding and eliminating the insulating material between the panels that form the walls. Here they hide and stay until the poultry house is ready for the next flock to enter. Then, they go down to the bedding and infest it again. For this reason, and if the problem is already present on the farm, we must wait for the last chicken to come out of the house and before it cools down, spray the appropriate insecticide on the walls and floor (so that as many of them as possible die in his escape). Also, the litter should be removed as far away from the farm as possible.
If the problem has not yet entered the house, we must have an exhaustive control of the bedding material that arrives at our farm.