Methoxychlor in Eggs and Chicken Tissues1

Abstract

Both laying hens and growing chicks were fed 2, 4, 8, 10,100, and 1,000 p.p.m. of methoxychlor in their daily diet, the hens for 85 days and the chicks for 56 days, without adverse effect on egg production, feed utilization, maintenance of body weight, or mortality. The insecticide was not detectable ill the eggs at the lower feeding levels, but was readily found at the 100 and 1,000 p.p.m. diets from the eighth day onward. It could no longer be detected in the eggs 14 and 28 days, respectively, after hens on the 100 and 1,000 p.p.m. diets were returned Lo the control diet. Methoxychlor appeared in the fat and skin at the lower feeding levels and in the heart, gizzard, leg, liver, and breast, as well, at the higher diet levels. Cessation of feeding of methoxychlor resulted in a relatively rapid decline of the insecticide in all tissues except the skin and fat. In these two tissues the level dropped to less than 0.05 p.p.m. after 63 days.