BACKGROUND The poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae is recognized worldwide as the most important bloodsucking ectoparasite in layer and breeder flocks. In bloodsucking ectoparasites, ferritins (FERs), the iron‐storage proteins, play a pivotal role in dealing with the challenge of large amounts of released iron during the digestion of blood meal. However, no information is available concerning FERs of D. gallinae. The aim of the present study was to investigate the characteristics, functions and the vaccine efficacy of FERs in D. gallinae. RESULTS Two heavy‐chain FERs of D. gallinae were identified and characterized. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Dg‐FER1 may be a secretory FER and Dg‐FER2 an intracellular one. RNAi results demonstrated that Dg‐fers play key roles in mite survival, successful reproduction and blood digestion. Immunization with rDg‐FER1 or rDg‐FER2 successfully induced chickens to produce high levels of antigen‐specific IgY, resulting in a significant increase in mite mortality (by 58.67% on Day 5) and decreases in oviposition (by 42.15%) and fecundity (by 68.97%) in the rDg‐FER1 group, and a 13.73% increase in mite mortality and a 20.89% decrease in fecundity in the rDg‐FER1 group. The overall immunization efficacy of rDg‐FER1 was 93.51%. CONCLUSION Two Dg‐FERs are crucial to the survival, reproduction and blood digestion of D. gallinae. This study has provided preliminary evidence demonstrating the potential of rDg‐FER1 as a vaccine antigen for D. gallinae. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry Two Dg‐FERs genes were crucial to the survival, reproduction and blood digestion of D. gallinae. The immunization trails support the secretory Dg‐FER1 for development of vaccines to control D. gallinae.