Any experience with Frontline on chickens with mites?

[LaLady]

All seven of my chickens have been showing signs of some sort of mite problem, though I have never seem or felt the bugs around. They have feather loss (bare butts, bare neck) as well as half broken feathers on their backs. I thought they were pecking on each other (though I never saw them do it), but they have been wearing "pinless peepers" for a month and the bald patches are getting worse on some of the hens. I have no roosters. They have been having these problems since mid winter. I'd like to get their feathers to grow in before next winter, or they'll freeze to death!

So I'm guessing it's some kind of mite, though I can't see the buggers. I read about feather mites, and I think that might be it. I've tried all the regular stuff -- DE, sevin dust, etc. and it hasn't had any effect. They eat a healthier diet than I do, tons of protein and nutrients. They have lots of room and are otherwise healthy. They aren't molting. They take dust baths in DE all the time.

So now it's time for the big guns, chemically speaking, I think..

I just bought a lot of Frontline Plus for my other animals.. I buy the Large Dog size and measure out the correct dosage for my cats and dogs. I read about a Frontline spray which is approved for chickens.. has anyone used it? Has anyone tried to use the regular Frontline (for cats and dogs, in the little tubes) for chickens? I'd love to make use of what I already have, if I can. But I don't know the dosage. And regular Frontline is slightly different from Frontline Plus.

 

[Ayem Cemani]

Mary..... I did not wish to be rude, but your forcing my hand here. I did not ask you for your opinions on the use of Frontline itself, and would be grateful if you would please refrain from expressing them. Espeacialy as you seem to have no experience of Frontline on Chickens at all !...... I simply asked if anyone has had experience of using Frontline Spray ?. If not, an answer is not requierd, thankyou.

I do have experience of Frontline spot on and Permethrins spray when used on my Chickens. The Permethrins made the chickens lathargic and they went off their food for around a week. The Frontline had no detremental effect but did prevent mites from attacking them, in fact the mites went away totaly. You claim the chemical remains in the Chicken for life, that may or may not be so. However it seems to have no detremtal effect either to the Chicken, the Chicken's eggs nor myself or my Wife. So we will continue using Frontline in one form or another as it is a tried, tested and proven means of mite control.

I would still be gratefull to hear from anyone who has used Frontline Spray on Chickens Vs the Spot on ?.

 

[aart]

Mary..... I did not wish to be rude, but your forcing my hand here. I did not ask you for your opinions on the use of Frontline itself, and would be grateful if you would please refrain from expressing them. Espeacialy as you seem to have no experience of Frontline on Chickens at all !...... I simply asked if anyone has had experience of using Frontline Spray ?. If not, an answer is not requierd, thankyou.

I do have experience of Frontline spot on and Permethrins spray when used on my Chickens. The Permethrins made the chickens lathargic and they went off their food for around a week. The Frontline had no detremental effect but did prevent mites from attacking them, in fact the mites went away totaly. You claim the chemical remains in the Chicken for life, that may or may not be so. However it seems to have no detremtal effect either to the Chicken, the Chicken's eggs nor myself or my Wife. So we will continue using Frontline in one form or another as it is a tried, tested and proven means of mite control.

I would still be gratefull to hear from anyone who has used Frontline Spray on Chickens Vs the Spot on ?.

This is a public discussion forum....anyone can chime in at any time to share their knowledge and express their opinions.

The lifetime residue has been cited via testing by

Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank​

...go to farad.org to learn more.
Long term and short term detrimental effects of chemicals in food animals is not always visual.
Why your birds reacted negatively to premethrins could be for many reasons,
application error would be my first guess as many have used it with no ill effects.

I suggest you start a new thread titled "Frontline Spray Vs the Spot on" to get the specific info you seek.
You can state in your thread that you only want comment regarding the titled info.....but there's no guarantee that is all you'll get.

 

[casportpony]

. Most such products have withholding periods of 3-4 months for meat and are not approved for use on dairy cows. Unfortunately little is known about the target-animal safety of such pour-ons.

• Never use on rabbits, particularly on young one, which seem to be particularly sensitive to fipronil.

• Never use on chickens and other poultry: they are much more sensitive to fipronil than mammals. However ducks and other aquatic birds tolerate fipronil better.

• Unless prescribed by a veterinary doctor, never use on dogs or cats products for livestock that are not explicitly approved for such use. There is a high risk of overdosing or of adverse drug reactions due toingredients that are not tolerated by pets or are even toxic to them.

Another fipronil link:
http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fipronil

-Kathy

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/fiptech.html

 

[casportpony]

PO is per os, by mouth, not sure why anyone would give frontline orally... This last link says nothing about topical/dermal application in chickens. I tend to not want to use chemicals on my chickens at all however I've had a severe northern fowl mite problem in my main coop and everything besides frontline has failed so far, permethrin and pyrethrin sprays, bathing in dawn, permethrin dust, DE, wood ash, neem oil, all applied in 3-5 day intervals for 2 weeks, etc and these mites have still persisted and killed birds very quickly. I've had 3 in chicken ICU, they've literally been on deaths door, gave them each a final bath and applied 2 drops of frontline (2 have been roosters so no risk of chemicals being in the eggs)one on back between wibgs and other above the vent, but bam, no more mites on these birds and they made full recovery.

If someone accidentally applied too much topically, it's possible that a chicken could ingest too much from preening, It's also possible that it could be absorbed thru the skin.

You say your permethrin spray hasn't worked, but did you mix it correctly? The mixing directions are quite confusing, so maybe you used too diluted a solution?

What I read about pyrethrin sprays is that they don't have the residual effect of permethrin, so probably not worth using them.

DE doesn't work, period.

Wood ash won't treat mites.

Bathing with Dawn doesn't work, and probably not a good idea to bath birds that are critically ill.

-Kathy

 

[Brindlebtch]

Bumpity

 

[okcarla]

It probably wouldn't be a good idea. You might want to google search it some, but I did and found this article:

http://www.ansci.umn.edu/poultry/resources/alerts-pesticide-past.htm

But, then again, the more I searched, the more I found other people using it. Even a poultry chat room where a person said their vet recommended frontline and ivermectin to control parasites.

I've got a mite problem too in a few of my pens & need to dust with DE more often I suppose.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

I had to get the spray for my ferrets, and you do like one spray per pound? I'd have to look b/c I dont use it in the winter, but I assume that you could do the same for chickens by weight.

Be careful, I hear that the concentrated dose for the dogs could possibly kill cats if over dosed...


Im not sure if it would get rid of mites, but I dust my birds and give them a drop of Cattle Ivermectin as directed by my vet..one drop on the skin for the small and in the mouth for the larger.
Think I can find some info....

http://www.bioportfolio.com/search/chicken_mite_ivermectin.html

http://www.geocities.com/chickenfarmerjoyce/diseaseinfo.html

SELENA18 SELENA18 is offline
Senior Member

FROM: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3938&page=2

The Ivermectin can be given both orally OR drop on.

Drop on would be the easiest in my opinion as ivermectin is an oil based product and would float if put in water, so intake by the chickens would be dubious.

If you are going to put drops on the dosage is as supplied by Sandy - copied below

Quote:
Dosage directions>

Ivermectin for beef or sheep
Worms and external parasites
Sml bird – 4 drops
Med bird – 6 drops
Lge bird – 8 drops

OR if you are going to give the meds orally mix with water as below.

Quote:
10ml per gallon water

OR not mixed with water - given straight from the bottle at the below dose

Quote:
¼ cc can be given orally – large bird
Up to 7 drops for a bantam
Does not treat tapeworms or flukes

Have a look at this great Ivomec website - I'm sure this will clarify your queries.

I'm going out to get myself some soon as it does most internal & external parasites. How easy it that.

http://www.shilala.com/ivomec.html

 

[jnjross]

hmmm

frontline never did much for my cats, so i dunno.
for mites i used permthrein 10% (spelling) 1.5oz to 1gal spray.

de and permthien dust did nothing for them either. just the spray

 

[MRW]

Wow , I bought that stuff months ago but haven't had to use it yet, but I thought it was supposed to be put on the back of their necks like a dog or cat?