HELP! My husband is wanting to treat our yard but our chickens are free range!

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Jkuhn12790

Chirping
Jul 14, 2022
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Please Help! I've done so much research about keeping flies, mosquitoes, and other annoying buggy pests out of our yard. My husband used to always treat our yard (before chickens) to the point where we would step outside and not a single mosquito or fly or other bugs would even be around. While it was nice not being attacked at swatting away pests, I always hated it because we have a kiddo and a dog. And although the spray he used said it was okay after so long for kids and pets, I do NOT trust it for my free ranging chickens. I've asked around to different social media groups, and most people mention either lime, or permethrin, or pyrethrin sprays. The issue I have with those last two is that it is not safe around cats, and we have a little guy that hangs around full time, and then also there is a stray cat issue in my area and my yard tends to be the go-to for them even though we do our best to shoo them away. While they do get annoying, I do not want to hurt them. Does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of these most annoying flies as well as treating for mosquitoes? He isn't wanting to do anything that we have to put on individual chickens but rather a more "convenient" yard spray he can just go out and spray and be done. I know it isn't this simple but even if I can do a natural spray remedy that I can spray around the run and our patio area (where the flies are mostly hanging out) and then I can spray around the yard to tame down the mosquito issue, I think I can convince him not to spray.
If anyone has used permethrin/pyrethrin sprays and has cats, did you just keep the cats away for a certain amount of time before letting them back around?? I am desperate!
 
You can use the permethrin spray as long as you aren't spraying it on your cat it should be just fine.
Just keep the cat off of it for an hour.
 
What is your location? It can affect the kind of advice we're able to give you.

Unfortunately, "easy, convenient, and effective" can translate as "toxic and lethal to the bugs, but also to chickens and pets. And children. And also honey bees. "Convenient" bug sprays almost all mean a death sentence to indispensible bees without which we will eventually have no food. This goes for permethrin and spinosad insecticides which are very effective against insects and perfectly safe for chickens.

About the only insect control that is safe for all concerned is prevention. Keeping pet and chicken poop picked up controls flies. Eliminating stagnant water sources can greatly reduce or eliminate mosquitoes. This latter strtegy is most effective if you can convince neighbors to also eliminate stagnant water where mosquitoes breed.

A very effective product for eliminating mosquito larvae in water containers and fish and duck ponds is Mosquito Dunks. It's a larvacide that is shaped like small donuts and floats, each treating ten square feet of water surface.
 
azygous said:
What is your location? It can affect the kind of advice we're able to give you.

Unfortunately, "easy, convenient, and effective" can translate as "toxic and lethal to the bugs, but also to chickens and pets. And children. And also honey bees. "Convenient" bug sprays almost all mean a death sentence to indispensible bees without which we will eventually have no food. This goes for permethrin and spinosad insecticides which are very effective against insects and perfectly safe for chickens.

About the only insect control that is safe for all concerned is prevention. Keeping pet and chicken poop picked up controls flies. Eliminating stagnant water sources can greatly reduce or eliminate mosquitoes. This latter strtegy is most effective if you can convince neighbors to also eliminate stagnant water where mosquitoes breed.

A very effective product for eliminating mosquito larvae in water containers and fish and duck ponds is Mosquito Dunks. It's a larvacide that is shaped like small donuts and floats, each treating ten square feet of water surface.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for all of this. This is exactly what I was trying to tell him. That convenience is not always SAFE! I apologize for not stating my location, ( I am still trying to figure this whole site out lol). I am in Central Indiana, USA.
I have heard of those mosquito dunks. The only stagnant water source we have is a pool but of course I have a water container for our chickens water source (basic plastic waterer found at stores). I am sure to dump, clean, and refill with fresh water everyday because I want to avoid algae, which gets terrible here in Indy during the summer. I keep anything else that could even hold find water in it (bowls, cups, containers, anything that could catch water) out of our yard because I hate mosquitoes. So I guess I need to find out if those dunks can be used in our pool and the chicken water (which I am assuming would not be safe in their drinking water) :-/
 
Kiki said:
You can use the permethrin spray as long as you aren't spraying it on your cat it should be just fine.
Just keep the cat off of it for an hour.
Click to expand...
OH! I thought the cat couldn't even be around it, like if I sprayed in our barn (which is where she has made herself at home), that she then couldn't even be in there anymore. So as long as I am not spraying her, and I allow time for it to settle (even overnight), then she should be okay?
Have you used this spray, and if so, when do you spray it (morning after they are up, or at night before they go to bed)? Would I spray in my yard and keep the chickens put up in their run, wait an hour, then let them out and spray the run and coop and keep them out of it until bedtime?
 
Jkuhn12790 said:
OH! I thought the cat couldn't even be around it, like if I sprayed in our barn (which is where she has made herself at home), that she then couldn't even be in there anymore. So as long as I am not spraying her, and I allow time for it to settle (even overnight), then she should be okay?
Have you used this spray, and if so, when do you spray it (morning after they are up, or at night before they go to bed)? Would I spray in my yard and keep the chickens put up in their run, wait an hour, then let them out and spray the run and coop and keep them out of it until bedtime?
Click to expand...
Yes. She should be fine as long as you aren't spraying her.

You can spray your chickens with permethrin so there's no reason to remove them while you're spraying.
 

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