Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[megacakes]

Head lice? A nightmare. In the end, I used Front line spray on the kids. It was the only thing that worked, and I figured they are protected against ticks and heartworm now, too.

 

[sjturner79]

We haven't had a case here since primary school. They used to get a plait in their hair and then misted with tea tree oil. To this day my kids cannot tolerate the smell of tea tree . In the ' good ol days ' mum used to douse us with kerosine. ( lucky we didn't have an open fire ).

Kerosene is also the only way I have successfully deloused a chook. But it was 20 years ago now so there might be better methods

 

[Steampunked]

Kerosene is also the only way I have successfully deloused a chook. But it was 20 years ago now so there might be better methods

I am unsuccessfully trying not to make a BBQ joke.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I did.  It has a moderate mammal LD50 for oral, is much safer topically.  I'm more concerned about its actions on fish, as we're within 100 meters of a creek, and it seems complete death to them.  People who use Rotenone over a lifetime have a 2.5 times greater chance of getting Parkinson's (from 1 in 500 in the general pop to 2.5 in 500), though the studies didn't take into account people who used it occasionally on a non-commercial flock.  They were unable to get participants who didn't use many types of pesticide as well as the Rotenone, but the researchers seemed reasonable with saying Rotenone is the worst of the ones they had.  It's just that everyone they talked to used tonnes of chemicals because they were the kind of folks who bombed everything.

I know I seem cavalier, but I work bare-handed with lead, which is pretty gross stuff - I spray on a liquid 'glove' which dries on my fingers to protect them, and need to shower with a chemical soap to remove the contaminants.  I put bandaids over the cuts I get to reduce blood contact, and can't eat or go to the toilet until I've showered.  People who work full time in this way (I just do it as a hobby) need to get a lead test every six months.  My partner works with liquid plastics - he went to a conference once, where someone pointed out that the only children born to the factory workers there were female - no one was able to sire a son, due to the Y chromosome not recovering so well from genetic fault.

I can well understand this being too much risk for others.  I'll be limited to whatever the store has, they may not have Pestene, I'm not sure.

(Sorry for the long response, this kind of stuff interests me!)

Not at all, it interests me too. Now call me heartless but I'm not really concerned about the chickens getting Parkinson's disease. My main concern is that once you dust the chickens and they flap around you are inevetibly going to inhale some of the stuff. I did dust mine in the coop one night and the next day the powder was clearly visible on the glass windows and my lips were numb followed by a headache. Rotenone has been used as a garden pesticide since the 50's and there are possible links between it's use and the increase in Parkinson's sufferes. The horse has already bolted , for the past generation but I wouldn't be too suprised if it is recalled later on down the track. Most pet stores carry pyrethrum sprays, might not be in the poultry section but you will find it in the ornamental bird section.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Kerosene is also the only way I have successfully deloused a chook. But it was 20 years ago now so there might be better methods

Ah I don't think I would be eating the eggs or meat from those birds. Yes there are several products on the market. There is a new generation insecticide called spinosad. It's a byproduct of rum distilling. Unlike pyrethrum based products the bugs don't seem to build immunity to it. The good thing is it's organic !

 

[Sidhe13]

Well it is midday Day 19, I can see that the air cells have grown some and after looking at some more candling photos on the net, I reckon I will just have to go with nature. I think the air cells should be big enough...they're just not as big as I would have imagined they would be at this stage from looking at pictures people drew. I don't want to disturb the eggs any more though. So I have upped the humidity and we are officially in lockdown!

I made myself a light-box candler last night. It allowed me to feel confident culling 2 more eggs. I ziplocked them and broke them open...one infertile, as suspected, and the other an early quitter (an eye and some pink stuff attached). Hooray for correct judgement! The shells of the 4 eggs I have culled are a lighter colour from a friend. The eggs from my chooks are a bit darker and even with the new and improved candler, I am still not sure enough to risk culling. So I will leave them alone. If I culled a viable chick I would be devastated...I would rather clean up a rotten mess than do that. I have given all the eggs a good sniff too and none of them smell rank, so here's hoping!

Now we wait....

 

[appps]

Headlice are very difficult to get under control and compare closely to chicken lice in that , if you don't treat repeatedly , every 10 days the eggs hatch out and you are back to square 1.

I hope those days are behind us now the kids are all in high school but after one time using the shampoo and it doing squat I did some googling and discovered the conditioner method. Works a treat and wasn't really that big a deal once you got the hang of it, even with long haired girls. . And the icing on the cake was it's not toxic like those shampoos. Pity you can't comb chickens with it lol. Was great, even the eggs combed out fairly well.

 

[K Spot]

Brahmas - has anyone in here had them before?

 

[Steampunked]

Other odd question - has anyone else here used Frontline on chickens for exoparasites? I came across others using it, and just recalled that when I had chooks a couple of years ago (before a 'fox' got them out of a locked box) I ended up using it during a period I couldn't get anything else. Apparently some folks use the spray - I just used a drop from the same stuff I gave my chooks.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Other odd question - has anyone else here used Frontline on chickens for exoparasites?  I came across others using it, and just recalled that when I had chooks a couple of years ago (before a 'fox' got them out of a locked box) I ended up using it during a period I couldn't get anything else.  Apparently some folks use the spray - I just used a drop from the same stuff I gave my chooks.

From what I can gather, frontline plus has 2 ingredients. The first is methoprene which is an analog, it interferes with the insects life cycle. But it doesn't target mites or lice. The other is Fipronil and can be very dangerous to chickens. Many people use things on their chickens without even thinking about the consequences and then there are the witholding periods.

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