Although the chicken mite is similar in appearance to the northern fowl mite, Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Canestrini and Fanzago), their life cycles differ in that the chicken mite does not spend its entire life on the host. Chicken mites lay eggs where they hide, in areas such as cracks, crevices, and litter. Females lay eggs in clutches of four to eight, generally laying around 30 eggs in their lifetime (Chauve 1998). After hatching, the six-legged larvae are sluggish, and molt after one day. The eight-legged protonymph feeds and molts to an eight-legged deutonymph, which then feeds and molts to an adult. The entire cycle can be completed in as few as seven days (Fig. 4). Removing the host from an area will not eliminate the mites. The deutonymph and adult are known to resist desiccation and live as long as eight months without feeding (Chauve 1998).