Banned Pesticides and Backyard Chickens - Please Advise.

[desertchook]

We live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates where we have recently started our backyard chicken flock with 4 hens. Our garden is maintained by our landlord who periodically sprays our garden with pesticides.

Yesterday, I noticed he was spraying our grass with Durspan (made by Dow Chemical). Durspan is a powerful neurotoxin that has been banned for domestic use in most of the world due to the risks it poses to children, pets, livestock, and pregnant women. Apparently it is not banned in the UAE. According to Dow Chemical's website, people and animals should not access the sprayed areas for at least 24 hours. However, our chicken coop was right in the middle of the garden when the spraying took place.

Obviously, we have demanded that the landlord never spray Durspan in or around our house ever again.

So - apart for my obvious concern for the hen's health, I am also concerned about the health of the eggs that my hens are laying. Can anyone offer advice on whether we should avoid eating the eggs? If so, for how long? Any insights are welcome. Thank you.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Yikes. You ask excellent questions...

I honestly have no idea. :/

I hope someone can come along and assist... Maybe @dawg53 ?

MrsB

 

[Eggcessive]

I remember using Dursban granules back 15-20 years ago, when it was commonly used in yards to treat for grubs, fleas, and flies, I think. I didn't have chickens then, but my dogs and cats never had a problem from them. Nowadays I don't use any type of pesticide or herbicide on my land that contains chickens, since they are very sensitive to them. I would probably toss the eggs for 30 days, and there's not much that you can do about them already being exposed, but I would try to make sure they don't treat near your chickens again. Chlorpyrifos, which is an organophosphate insecticide is the generic name for Dursban.

 

[mg15]

We live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates where we have recently started our backyard chicken flock with 4 hens. Our garden is maintained by our landlord who periodically sprays our garden with pesticides.

Yesterday, I noticed he was spraying our grass with Durspan (made by Dow Chemical). Durspan is a powerful neurotoxin that has been banned for domestic use in most of the world due to the risks it poses to children, pets, livestock, and pregnant women. Apparently it is not banned in the UAE. According to Dow Chemical's website, people and animals should not access the sprayed areas for at least 24 hours. However, our chicken coop was right in the middle of the garden when the spraying took place.

Obviously, we have demanded that the landlord never spray Durspan in or around our house ever again.

So - apart for my obvious concern for the hen's health, I am also concerned about the health of the eggs that my hens are laying. Can anyone offer advice on whether we should avoid eating the eggs? If so, for how long? Any insights are welcome. Thank you.

Hi,
Try this site http://farad.org/ Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank. I asked them about a chemical and they did call me back.

 

[mg15]

I ran the Chlorpyrifos and Dursban through the site FARAD for chickens and it did come up with 0 Approval for use in chickens.