Diluting 10% Permethrin?

[BWchicken]

Not sure if it makes a difference in treatment, but my chickens are all bantams: ten 9-month old pullets, and one 13-month old rooster.

I've checked my chickens, and haven't seen lice or mites, but they are all losing weight. I haven't seen any worms either, but I may worm them if lice/mite treatment doesn't help them. The reason I suspect lice/mites is we have a sparrow problem lately. We put chicken wire around the whole run, even the top, to keep the sparrows out, but can you believe they actually go through the chicken wire and into the run and coop. I never thought they could fit through the chicken wire holes, but they do. Anyway, I suspect they've brought mites or lice to my chickens because of the weight loss, and some of them look kinda scraggly. So I want to clean out and spray the coop with Permethrin (I'm going to use Poultry Dust on the chickens). I bought 'Permethrin-10 Livestock and Premise Spray' (Gordon's is the brand) at TSC. It's 10% Permethrin and approved for use in poultry and poultry houses. I have a few questions though, if anyone can help.

1. Mixing directions (for poultry houses) say for lice and mites, use 6.7 oz per gallon water, but I've read some people here on BYC use less than 1 oz per gallon. I want to be safe but effective, can anyone clarify this for me?

2. Can I spray directly on their roost where they put their feet?

3. It says to spray when the chickens are not present, so how long until they can return to the coop, the label doesn't say?

4. The sparrows poop in the run and inside the coop, can that transmit worms?

5. Any other tips or ideas anyone may have for me?


Thanks!

 

[jeffro29]

I mix about 2 oz to a 3 gallon backpack sprayer. I let everyone out so they can free range for the day, open the coops up and clean them out. I spray everything ie; roosts, nest boxes, walls and top. I let it dry add more shavings and they are good to go. We have six different coops not counting bantams so it takes a good day or so to do them all but I dont have any problems. I also spray the runs with a bleach and water solution helps with flys and the smell. I dont have any problems with any other birds in the coops. Jeff

 

[dawg53]

Your chickens can get worms from the droppings of the sparrows as well as fowl pox. FYI- Fowl pox is normally carried by mosquitos but can be transmitted by other birds. You wont see worms in their poop unless they have an infestation. If you decide to worm them,use wazine17 first to get rid of roundworms. Follow the directions on the bottle. Throw away their eggs in the trash for 2 weeks. I strongly recommend that after the second week you reworm them with valbazen. The reason is that other birds deposit tapeworm eggs in their poop and it's possible your chickens could pick them up too. You can buy valbazen at jefferslivestock.com if you cant find it at a feed store or TSC. Valbazen kills tapeworms and a host of other worms. Give one half cc/ml to each standard size chicken....one quarter cc/ml to small chickens. The easiest way is to put the liquid on a piece of bread and give it to each chicken individually,they gobble it up. Again throw the eggs in the garbage for 2 weeks. I use sevin dust for lice/mites on the chickens and everywhere else and have had no issues after the second dusting 10 days later. (about a year ago)