How long after Elector PSP is it safe to free-range?

[jBabychickn]

Hi there friends —
How long would you wait to let the birds out for free-range after spraying the chicken yard with Elector PSP?

I’ll be using it as a preventative premise spray more than anything; I’m not treating any of my chickens themselves. This is my 1st experience with Elector, but I’d like to start including it in my twice-yearly deep cleaning maintenance schedule. — I’m also very curious if it keeps the fly population down as well since the package says it works on those little buggers.

Anyone else regularly use Elector PSP as a premise spray?
— My concerns focus on the ground coverage… I mean, my girls will be out there pecking around in it all day as they always like to do, but will it really be safe for them to be eating the grasses that I just treated with Spinosad?

Thanks so much; I do appreciate all of you that respond to my worries… I really do!!!
~ Johnna

 

[LaFleche]

I don't live in the U.S., but I never ever would spray my whole premises with it as it is very toxic for aquatic organisms and such.

There is no need to kill every living insect to make it 'safe' for your chicken, on the contrary, chicken love to eat insects, even flies.

 

[jBabychickn]

I don't live in the U.S., but I never ever would spray my whole premises with it as it is very toxic for aquatic organisms and such.

There is no need to kill every living insect to make it 'safe' for your chicken, on the contrary, chicken love to eat insects, even flies.

I do live in the US unfortunately, and I’m in a closely knit neighborhood, so I have to keep the flies down or my neighbors could report me to the city and I could lose my chickens. Plus, Spinosad is a bacterium that’s safe for chickens and humans, but regardless I do wonder how much they could forage on when their chicken yard is sprayed with it.

 

[LaFleche]

How many chickens do you have?

Daily scooping up their poop and generally keeping the run/yard dry can help to reduce smell, flies and parasites.

As I don't use Spinosad I don't have own experiences to share, sorry.

 

[jBabychickn]

How many chickens do you have?

Daily scooping up their poop and generally keeping the run/yard dry can help to reduce smell, flies and parasites.

As I don't use Spinosad I don't have own experiences to share, sorry.

I have 9 Silkies in a backyard setting; I scoop poop daily. Use first Saturday Lime and Zeolite coop refresher in my routine maintenance. However, summertime here in the south can be crazy for fly populations regardless, I suppose. Add chickens that poop constantly, ya gonna have flies hanging around… All I’m trying to do is maintain a happy backyard setting so that I can keep my babies

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Have you tried fly catcher bags (you can find them at Home Depot (and stores like that) or online. They work really well, and you wouldn't have to worry about your birds ingesting too much because it isn't a spray. Many of them smell bad, so you would want to place them as far away from "people areas" as possible.

This particular brand is said not to stink:
https://theranchflytrap.com/

I used a brand from Home Depot - it smelled awful when I walked past it (and within about a 6ft radius), but it knocked my fly problem out in a couple days! If I have to use it again I would place it in a different area - it literally draws the flies to it. I'll never go another summer without these things (pics are from other BYC members who swear by these traps).

As LaFleche said, it's probably not ideal to kill every single organism in your yard. It may cause an imbalance and lead to other problems.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Have you tried fly catcher bags (you can find them at Home Depot (and stores like that) or online. They work really well, and you wouldn't have to worry about your birds ingesting too much because it isn't a spray. Many of them smell bad, so you would want to place them as far away from "people areas" as possible.

This particular brand is said not to stink:
https://theranchflytrap.com/

I used a brand from Home Depot - it smelled awful when I walked past it (and within about a 6ft radius), but it knocked my fly problem out in a couple days! If I have to use it again I would place it in a different area - it literally draws the flies to it. I'll never go another summer without these things (pics are from other BYC members who swear by these traps).
View attachment 3615618
View attachment 3615619

As LaFleche said, it's probably not ideal to kill every single organism in your yard. It may cause an imbalance and lead to other problems.

Also, Elector is SOOOO expensive!! I would only use it if you have an active mite/lice infestation and only on the coop and birds. Spraying your whole yard with it regularly seems like such a waste of money and product.

 

[jBabychickn]

Have you tried fly catcher bags (you can find them at Home Depot (and stores like that) or online. They work really well, and you wouldn't have to worry about your birds ingesting too much because it isn't a spray. Many of them smell bad, so you would want to place them as far away from "people areas" as possible.

This particular brand is said not to stink:
https://theranchflytrap.com/

I used a brand from Home Depot - it smelled awful when I walked past it (and within about a 6ft radius), but it knocked my fly problem out in a couple days! If I have to use it again I would place it in a different area - it literally draws the flies to it. I'll never go another summer without these things (pics are from other BYC members who swear by these traps).
View attachment 3615618
View attachment 3615619

As LaFleche said, it's probably not ideal to kill every single organism in your yard. It may cause an imbalance and lead to other problems.

Thank you! I could give those a another try.
I used them before, but the stink was too strong and carried over to the neighbors.

I had this suggestion from another tho… They said they didn’t use the stinky attractant and instead put a piece of chicken poo inside and that worked just the same, without the stink, so I’ll prolly try it again in that manner.

I also thought about the green netting kind with the bottom trays, where you can put whatever attractant you want in it. I heard those do work well too.

 

[jBabychickn]

Also, Elector is SOOOO expensive!! I would only use it if you have an active mite/lice infestation and only on the coop and birds. Spraying your whole yard with it regularly seems like such a waste of money and product.

So true! — I had already bought some to have on hand…thats when I read the label of how it’s good for fly prevention as a premise spray and thought why not give it a go to keep the population down while preventing possible mite/lice infestations.

Here’s the thing —
Backyard chicken-keeping is much different than keeping them on a farm. (I had no idea until I starting living it.. lol) We had 11 acres before with chickens. Now, we’re living directly in the city of Lexington, KY. And, I swear, the chickens have more indirect and direct contact with wildlife here than out on the farm! Wildlife Animals here have no where to go and are forced to live here right along side us and all these houses. — I’d never think to use Elector as a preventive for mites/lice out on the farm. And, for flies, I used those really huge fly strips. I’d string them along the roof of the coop and wherever they’d hang out. Never thought about the flies again…

But, in the Backyard?:
Due to the environment of our close knit Urban neighborhood —
I constantly have wildbirds/wildlife in & out of our yard & chicken yard. The neighbors all have bird feeders, so its impossible to keep the wildbirds away.

Prevention is absolute key for me, or it’s just a matter of time before my birds get infested from all the contact they have with Cardinals, Bluejays, Robins, Crows, Squirrels, and Rabbits during the day. The Squirrels & Bunnies literally hang out with them during the day now; The chickens used to run them off, but apparently they are all friends now. Plus, I’m pretty sure there’s a family of Bunnies somewhere under my back porch. !!

Then, at night, from my backyard cameras, we’re regularly visited by Racoons as well as Opossums. They come through every night to take a look even though I have everything meticulously locked up; we use treadle feeders, metal cans/buckets, no feed gets thrown on the grown, etc… I empty their outside water station as well so there’s no available water either. But, they come through here regardless. I’m sure it’s part of their “route” through the neighborhood as they do their nightly routine of foraging.

At least on the farm, they had their “own turf” away from the chicken yards, out in the wooded areas or down at the creeks or ponds, etc. Coming up to the farmhouse always meant danger for them, so it was an occasional occurrence. Here, in the city, we are all literally living on top of each other. I’ve learned a lot about backyard chicken-keeping this past year in the city, that’s for sure…

So yeah, I worry quite a bit about infestations occurring. My only proven effective tool in this fight is prevention and I believe Spinosad is one of the safer options available.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Well.... ya gotta do what ya gotta do, I suppose! I definitely don't envy that situation.