Hi Everyone,
I agree that Frontline Spray is very effective against mites, HOWEVER, I would not recommend using it in chickens. I am a veterinarian. Years ago I had a client who was also a personal friend. She brought her flock in to see me at the clinic, and the mites were so bad that the birds were pale from anemia. I initially told her how happy I'd been with the effect of Frontline Spray on mites when I worked at a wildlife rescue clinic. Every pigeon/dove had mites, and one spray took care of them almost immediately. She asked me if there was any risk, since these birds were her daughter's lifeline right then -- he had set up the coop and bought her the chickens 2 years ago, and he had recently died in a car accident. This was a situation where NO risk was acceptable. Not knowing the sensitivity of chickens specifically, as opposed to thousands of problem-free doses on wild pigeons and other species, I called Merial, the manufacturer of Frontline Spray. When a member of the public calls and asks these questions, they just tell you not to use it if it's not been cleared for that species. They can't afford the liability if the untested recommendation doesn't work out. But when another veterinarian calls, they put their veterinarian on the phone and there's often a long conversation about old research and common usage. Well, the bottom line was that there's a lot of non-published research on Frontline Spray on a large number of different bird species. Most birds it's quite safe on, even at high doses. And there are some that it's quite poisonous on. But chickens are in the middle ground. The therapeutic range is quite narrow in many chickens (which means that the dose it takes to kill or harm the bird is only slightly higher than the dose it takes to kill the mites). The veterinarian from Merial said that many people use Frontline Spray on chickens with no obvious problems, but that many others end up with dead birds. He STRONGLY recommended not using it on birds that you care about, just in case your birds are more sensitive than others.
I use the injectable ivermectin (made for cattle) in my birds, but I give it orally. (Please note: I am not making a medication recommendation. Since none of you are my clients, I cannot legally prescribe to your birds without a doctor/patient/client relationship. I am only sharing with you what I give my own birds. What I do is off label (non-FDA approved) usage. There is no established withdrawal time on meat or eggs for ivermectin in chickens. I hate all this legal stuff, but it's the world we live in.) The dose range is huge, with most references citing 0.2 - 0.4 mg/kg, but Gail Damerow (The Chicken Health Handbook) recommends giving 0.25 ml (2.5 mg) to large birds, which is a much higher (and I assume safe, unless there's a typo) dose. But I've always wanted to use the pour-on solution instead. Ki4got, does it ever cause any irritation to the skin?? If you've checked the area for irritation once daily for at least a week after application on a large number of birds, I'd love to know about it so I can switch on my own birds. If there's a risk of skin irritation, then I'll stick with the oral route, which is easy.
--April
