Does anyone grow pennyroyal for the mites and lice????

[effie]

I was reading in one of my chicken books that you can put pennyroyal in the coop and nesting boxes to keep the mites and lice out. It is in the mint family. If so ,I am going to plant some around my new coop to have for inside. It comes back every year and I guess proliferates greatly! I also read that chewing tobbacco is good to use a little in the nesting boxes with your other nesting materials and if they happen to eat some of it that it would help with worms as well... any thoughts or anyone use any of these things......I like the sound of the pennyroyal instead of a bunch of chemical treatment. I am a newbie here and this may have already been posted somewhere else...if so, excuse the noob

 

[wingsofglory]

The pennyroyal sounds good.

In movies, prisoners eat tobacco when they want to go to the hospital - it makes them very very sick. I don't think I'd put tobacco in there.

 

[effie]

I thought the pennyroyal sounded good too. As far as the tobacco my husband would say "It's the movies honey". LOL I read this stuff in an FFA book on how to raise chickens--found it interesting--god knows tobacco has probably as much or more poison than seven dust....it does kill people everyday....but who knows.......they were talking about the ol long cut levi garrett type chewing tobacco. Might turn my rooster into a bowlegged cowboy swaggering type cockerel!!!

 

[pinkwindsong]

mor eand more people are going back to the basics, and herbal for alot of things, penny royal around the house is a great idea and it makes a great tea too..
)O(
Pink

 

[Elite Silkies]

Penny royal sounds interesting, I will have to check into growing some. Back in the old days, farmers use to use tobacco to worm their horses. Not sure if it would work on chickens or not.

 

[char259]

I found this on wikipedia:

Pennyroyal essential oil is extremely concentrated. It should not ever be taken internally because it is highly toxic; even in small doses, the poison can lead to death. The metabolite menthofuran is thought to be the major toxic agent. Complications have been reported from attempts to use the oil for self-induced abortion. The oil can be used for aromatherapy, a bath additive and as an insect repellent. There are numerous studies that show pennyroyal's toxicity to humans and animals.[2][3][4][5]

Since the U.S. Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in October 1994, all manufactured forms of pennyroyal in the United States have carried a warning label against its use by pregnant women. This substance is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[6]

Pennyroyal oil should not be used as a natural flea repellent due to its toxicity to pets, even at extremely low levels.

 

[effie]

that is interesting --but there is also a big difference between the oil and the plant-my info came from an agricultural education book for the FFA that was published in 2007-it states

Pennyroyal is the smallest of the mint group and has a pleasant and noticeable aroma. It gets its scientific name,mentha pulegium, from pulex,the latin word for FLEA. The romans naturalist Pliny the elder records that romans used it against fleas. Pennyroyal makes another excellant addition to nesting materail that will keep your chickens free of lice and mites.

It then went on to talkabout using tobacco leaf stems in with your nesting materails to eliminate mites and lice. it also stated that a nice handful of chewing tobacco serves the same purpose and says it won't hurt your birds to eat it. Tobacco has a long history as a medicinal for many ills of humans and animals. Nicotine is a powerful poison,making tobacco an effective parasite control-the leaves could even be boiled and was used to cure mange in dogs..

I am always happier to use something natural than all the poisons we buy and use.....

 

[Elite Silkies]

I think if we planted it around the coops without planting too close so the birds can eat it, it would be great to keep mites and lice from getting into the coops.

 

[PegramPoultryProprietor]

I have to say that I have been using DE (Diatomaceous Earth) to prevent mites or lice since I first put chickens in the coop and I have never had either. I sprinkle it around the edges of the walls and put some in the favorite dusting places. Very cheap, very natural, very effective; you can buy it at the COOP in Tennessee; it’s packaged for use as a wormer on most all livestock. I think I paid $25 for a 50# bag. That’s about 3 year’s worth of dusting. Oh yes, and I have never had worms either.

 

[eggrarian]

I have spearmint, bee balm, oregano, motherwort, anise hyssop, basil, lemon balm, thyme, and catnip all growing in places to which the chickens have access. Those are all members of the mint family and the chickens have never been especially interested in any of them, so I would think they would ignore pennyroyal, too. My coop is a tobacco-free workplace, so not sure about that one in the nest boxes. I'm guessing if they ate it they would pass some of the nicotine through in the eggs, though, so it could be a very effective way to get customers hooked and coming back for more. My chickens have a dust bath that should help control mites, at least I have never noticed that any of them had a problem. I put wood ashes, DE, peat, and sand in there in whatever combination I have on hand.