Permethrin Poisoning??

I'm new to chickens but I can share two things with you regarding your little hen. One is that I work at a veterinary clinic and we have a parrot in the lobby. We are only allowed to spray one particular kind of product in our lobby to clean. I was cleaning one day and the doctor almost had a coronary because I was using a regular household cleaner (Windex) near the cage, not even on it. He said that birds are very sensitive to aerosols and cleaners even in a pump spray bottle. And I KNOW that we've had cats react horribly to pyrethrin based products. They (cats) can have severe neurological events.

The other thing is that I recently bought a different type of mosquito repellent. I'd always used Cutter's in the past but I was miserable so I bought some hardcover 3M repellent and it works very very well but I suspect that it made one of my more affectionate pullets sick. She was behaving pretty much like you are describing. I should not have held her or stroked her after using the repellent because I think that she preened afterwards and may have ingested some or may have even just inhaled some.

The next day she really didn't want to be with the other pullets, she didn't want to forage. She would just tuck herself away under some brush or in the coop all alone. I was really worried about her, she was about 11 or 12 weeks old at the time. She came out of it but she lost weight. You could tell by looking at her plus I weigh the chicks once a week and keep track of their progress and they usually gain about 3.5 oz a week. She only gained 1 oz that week and I suspect she had lost some weight and then gained some of it back.

Putting all of these pieces together I wouldn't be surprised if your little hen had a reaction to the yard product. What do you use it for? I've taken to using Nolo Bait for crickets and BT for soft bodied chewing bugs. It's not as immediate as some of the other products but I think my pets are safer for it.

Good luck to you. Someone here recommended Pedialyte. That sounds like a good idea. Couldn't hurt anyways.

Can anyone out there instruct me on how to spray my chickens with Permetrin? I found mites on them so we sprayed the coop with it and dusted the birds with DE. That was 3 weeks ago. The sparying and dusting worked pretty good. I checked them tonight and some of the buggers are back but not nearly as bad, so I want to give them a spray of Permethrin to keep them under control but don't know where to start. Should I just spray the vent area?

Hello Ellie Mae,

We gave our chickens a light dusting with powder containing permethrin and two of our birds died. They were young and healthy and we think they got it in their mouths by preening. Possibly yours have done the same? We took our birds to the vet and we were given critical care formula, but it might have been too late to help them. Maybe a visit to the vet would be helpful? It might put your mind at rest. We are now using food grade DE and not the dust with permethrin. This seems to be working well. We hope your birds will be OK.

I keep a dusting bin in the coop filled with wood ash and DE to keep them mite/lice free. You can put this into panty hose and make a little powder puff to dust each bird under their wings, around the vent and work it underneath the feathers (stay away from their head, eyes, beak). You could always add a little poultry dust to this mix if you felt it was a bad infestation. Coop & nest boxes should always be cleaned out too, then dusted well with this mix. Need to dust birds a second time, usually in six to seven days to get additional pests that may have hatched since the first dusting.

for dusting birds u have to pay attention to the percentage of the chemical in the powder , or in the spray... for reptiles we used to use acritin bu twould mix with conrflour (corn starch, not corn meal, the white powdery stuff) to get teh proper percentage, and then dust lightly with duster thingy... or in a nylon stocking.... it is very easy to overdose animals with these chemicals. the best thing would have been to wash her off as much as possible but it seems that she ingested it also... if not dead, then she may come out of it, if it didt affect her permanently.

the percentage of a chemical is what is important in sprays and mixtures: injectables are higher percentage then oral doses; sprays are usually higher then powders... i found the amounts in hebrew : people here use acritin 20 as a spray that u mix, or a powder. for reptiles use less

http://www.biovac.co.il/product.php?id=113&rv=1

press on the american flag for english... this is the stuff we use.

and if i remember correctly, we also got some chickens that reacted not well to too much dusting... but it could also be conincidence...
the other thing is, after treating any animal the best thing to do is keep it busy eating or running or moving so that it is less likely to preen/lick/rub itself until some of the chemical has dried/fallen off/sunk in ... that is a rule for dogs, cats, goats, horses, birds (doesnt work on reptiles too much)... and children!! after u put cream/meds/anti mosquito stuff on them... keep their hands busy and they dont touch the meds...

btw, to the vet assistant, the only cleaner we ever used was chlorine bleach/clorox in a plant shpritzer thingy... and once a week something else antifungal. u can use vinegar and water on glass to shine and clean scale; we always did as much as possible in the way of pest controls and cleaning by using low impact stuff... you'd be surprised what can be used that doesnt harm cats (usually very sensitive) and reptlies (ditto)...