Is Dish Soap Safe For Chickens?

[ChickyBangBang]

I'm one of those people that don't like using majorly harsh chemicals any more than necessary. If I can't soak my hand in it and be okay - generally I stay away from it. I *have* decided to go with Sweet PDZ and DE though - because of all the high recommendations here on the board and in my community.

That being said - the only thing I use to kill flies, boxelder bugs, mosquitoes, gnats, fleas, slugs and even bees - is dawn dish soap diluted in water in a spray bottle. I use that stuff like it's going out of style and it works on anything and everything I've tried it on.

I used Google - but found nothing regarding chickens and dish soap. Is it harmful to the chickens? I spray it around the yard all the time and obviously their coop is going to be in our yard so it will come in contact with them all the time. So I need to know if it's safe.

I'm not going to be bathing our chickens in this stuff - and they're certainly not going to be dipped in vats of it.heh

thanks

 

[ozark hen]

so how long have you been using this in the yard with the chickens free ranging I assume? If all year long and you haven't seen any problems I would just use my good common sense and continue

 

[ChickyBangBang]

We don't have any chickens We are brand new to this and have never had chickens in our yard. They are due to hatch October 18-20th and will be outside in the coop around the end of December. I don't spray with this in the winter months because the flies are very scarce during this season.

We don't have any chickens, free-ranging or otherwise in our yard...otherwise I'd probably know from experience if it is harmful to them. Sadly, I'm a newbie so I don't know yet. I'd rather find out from others instead of using it without any knowledge and killing my chickens.

 

[hillbillyfarmer]

Just keep in mind that your chickens will be eating most of the bugs you just listed so I would use it with caution or switch to using traps for those bugs. I'm not really sure if its safe for them or not.

 

[JackE]

I'd say, if you start tasting soap in the eggs, cut back on the soap usage.
Jack

 

[ChickyBangBang]

I'd say, if you start tasting soap in the eggs, cut back on the soap usage.
Jack

LOL even though this makes perfect sense I still laughed hysterically for whatever reason, because now you have me imagining eating an egg and burping out a soap bubble.

Thank you for the info everyone!! I guess I'll not spray at all at first and see if the chickens eat most of them on their own. I guess I didn't realize how many different bugs they eat. Maybe they'll replace my soap altogether (in the yard anyway, I don't plan on scrubbing dishes with a henbutt)...although...it probably would be nice, as not to scratch the dishes with the abrasiveness of a sponge.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Eating dish soap will probably give your chickens diarrhea, but I doubt that it will kill them.

Dawn is used in all those seabird rescues, and they would not do that if the dawn were toxic to birds.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

can I use this to bathe my chickens?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Soap or detergent of any kind strips the natural oils from a chickens feathers and leaves your birds exposed to the elements. Just because it is used to dissolve petroleum based crude oil on the feathers of sea ducks that have been rescued from an oil spill in no way means that Dawn is safe to bathe a chicken in. Don't believe the BS that you see on the boob tube.

However Dawn is recommended by Monsanto as an amendment to add to Roundup to help dissolve the oily or waxy coating on grass and weeds so that Roundup can get to work quicker.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Soap or detergent of any kind strips the natural oils from a chickens feathers and leaves your birds exposed to the elements. Just because it is used to dissolve petroleum based crude oil on the feathers of sea ducks that have been rescued from an oil spill in no way means that Dawn is safe to bathe a chicken in. Don't believe the BS that you see on the boob tube.

However Dawn is recommended by Monsanto as an amendment to add to Roundup to help dissolve the oily or waxy coating on grass and weeds so that Roundup can get to work quicker.

I am trying to get rid of lice... it is actually on farm chic.