Permethrin spray

[Wickedchicken6]

Well, you CANNOT see all mites. Some varieties are microscopic. Of course, you already said you could see the ones you were treating for.. so maybe a dumb comment.

I pick up each bird at roost time and part their feathers, when I have two people. I always mess up and have a little extra run off though. If I didn't have 2 people I would probably part the feathers with the nozzle and give a quick squirt as close as possible. A cruddy trigger on the bottle slows me down..

I have never used dust because I don't like breathing crud, and I never needed it before I leaned about the permethrin which is very affordable, safe, easy to use, convenient, and requires no withdrawal time for eggs when used as directed. So I can't comment about the ones they sale here.

Glad to hear you're getting it knocked down.

That's true...I'm sure there's ones I can't see. My cuckoo marans had a very irritated underside last year from something I couldn't see. The skin was red and angry and I treated him with Carbaryl. Whatever it was...it sent it packing. So no, not a dumb comment at all.

Ok, so you part the feathers. I purchased a pump handheld sprayer and a large pump garden sprayer last year. I think the handheld might be the one...I do all the treating by myself.

I don't like breathing crud either! And I'm not a great fan of having to crack out the hazmat gear. The first time I dusted, I did it outside with the wind blowing it away to the side of me...didn't think I needed a mask. I did not feel great afterwards. But now I suit up in a hoodie that's tied tight around my face, a good quality face mask and either vinyl gloves or the shoulder length cattle palpitating gloves and I feel fine afterwards. I think this is the powder is the stuff I used to put on our cats and dogs and carry them around as a kid....lol.

We'll see how I make out...lol.

 

[Ravynscroft]

when you spray and the hen has a fluffy butt...how does it reach the skin? I seem to have a hard time envisioning this...

Wicked, I use one similar to this...

Best sprayer ever... no worries about fluffy butts, the nozzle gets right down to skin easy...

Plus, the spray jet is adjustable from fine mist to a stream and all in between... great for getting wide areas like the floor and walls and fine tuning it to stream into cracks...

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Wicked, I use one similar to this...

View attachment 1061290

Best sprayer ever... no worries about fluffy butts, the nozzle gets right down to skin easy...

Plus, the spray jet is adjustable from fine mist to a stream and all in between... great for getting wide areas like the floor and walls and fine tuning it to stream into cracks...

Ravyn! Thank you for posting that pic. That sprayer looks very close to the one I bought.

So fluffy butts are no match, eh? I'm going to get mine out...and get that permethrin purchased. I'm sitting here reading and figuring out the logistics of moving into the seed grainery for the hens. It's had rat activity...so I should probably hit it at least twice with permethrin to knock down live bugs first and follow up to catch any eggs when they hatch? The interior is studding on unfinished plywood walls. It's basically a large wooden grainery with interior wooden compartments.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ravyn! Thank you for posting that pic. That sprayer looks very close to the one I bought.

So fluffy butts are no match, eh? I'm going to get mine out...and get that permethrin purchased. I'm sitting here reading and figuring out the logistics of moving into the seed grainery for the hens. It's had rat activity...so I should probably hit it at least twice with permethrin to knock down live bugs first and follow up to catch any eggs when they hatch? The interior is studding on unfinished plywood walls. It's basically a large wooden grainery with interior wooden compartments.

Wicked!!!


Wow, the grainery sounds freakin' awesome!! And yes, I would hit it a couple times first... or a few, lol... and try to plug any rat holes really well... just to discourage them coming back... nasty things, they don't just live in tunnels 'round here, but in our friggin' trees too!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Wicked!!!


Wow, the grainery sounds freakin' awesome!! And yes, I would hit it a couple times first... or a few, lol... and try to plug any rat holes really well... just to discourage them coming back... nasty things, they don't just live in tunnels 'round here, but in our friggin' trees too!

Lol..as bad as this sounds (we didn't do this) it's sitting there with a couple feet of grain in the bottom. The rats are simply being opportunistic. It got sided with metal before it got cleaned out, effectively removing the access holes to empty it.

It's on cement...just a couple holes in the wood have to be secured after the grain is gone.

Maybe there's still rats in there, (haven't looked) but all the rats we had last year have disappeared. Haven't seen one rat since early spring. I have a bad feeling something more sinister has moved in and cleaned them out. (weasel, fisher etc.)
No chicken deaths...yet.

I will hit the building multiple times...and then paint prior to moving hens in.

In your trees? Roof rats?

 

[Ravynscroft]

Lol..as bad as this sounds (we didn't do this) it's sitting there with a couple feet of grain in the bottom. The rats are simply being opportunistic. It got sided with metal before it got cleaned out, effectively removing the access holes to empty it.

It's on cement...just a couple holes in the wood have to be secured after the grain is gone.

Maybe there's still rats in there, (haven't looked) but all the rats we had last year have disappeared. Haven't seen one rat since early spring. I have a bad feeling something more sinister has moved in and cleaned them out. (weasel, fisher etc.)
No chicken deaths...yet.

I will hit the building multiple times...and then paint prior to moving hens in.

In your trees? Roof rats?

Gonna be a job to clean out, but sounds awesome still... glad your rats are gone, but definitely keep your eyes out for what cleared them out... owls maybe?

Yep, in the trees... tree rats... field rats... nasty, nasty buggers...

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Gonna be a job to clean out, but sounds awesome still... glad your rats are gone, but definitely keep your eyes out for what cleared them out... owls maybe?

Yep, in the trees... tree rats... field rats... nasty, nasty buggers...

That would be awful!!! Rats in trees...

Hate rats. Rats = excrement & mites

 

[Ravynscroft]

That would be awful!!! Rats in trees...

Hate rats. Rats = excrement & mites View attachment 1061315

And fleas...

 

[aart]

Ok, so you part the feathers. I purchased a pump handheld sprayer and a large pump garden sprayer last year. I think the handheld might be the one...I do all the treating by myself.

Boy, I sure do miss the 'view all images in the thread' function!
I've probably posted this image in this thread already.

I use the smaller one handed sprayer.....
...no extra hands here either, it works pretty darn good.
I do all treating after dark wearing a headlight.
It's hard to get it up onto the skin, I hold them under one arm kind of head down and wiggle the sprayer head under the feathers and give a squirt on each side just above vent, hoping it hits skins and runs down along it.....do get some run off onto floor...and some mis-hits I'm sure, thus having to retreat. I also tried to spray while they were on the roost, and facing the 'right' way to access rear ends, some of them held still enough to part feathers and hit skin with spray. Big Woody cockbird I laid down on his back on the floor, he's docile when handled at night(good thing cause he's huge), and was able to use other hand to part feathers. None of this is fun, and it's much harder to do single-handedly.

 

[GardenTillers44]

Great thread....thanks for all the information. Unfortunately my wife and I are using the info mined from all of you to treat the poultry lice we just discovered tonight on two of our flock. Classic symptoms and nits just below the vent. This is the first parasite issue we have had (that we know about!) in two years of raising chickens. Just goes to show you have to be constantly diligent. We have been extra busy the last three months off the farm and have been a little lax in our biosecurity and regular checks of the birds. We have a resident flock of crows that have taken to sharing the 4000 sq. ft. electrified open yard we use to range our flock. I need to address that somehow, as something like this may be how the lice got into the flock (we haven't added any new birds for over a year). Any suggestions for cutting down on wild birds mingling with the flock? We will be restricting any food options for the chickens to a closed run from now on. In the meantime, tomorrow will be the first in a series of delousing treatments on the whole flock using Permethrin 10 and refreshing the dust baths.