Pest control

[EricaSnow]

Hi everyone first time chicken mama here. We're battling swarms of mosquitoes & fleas right now & someone at TS recommended spraying permethrin in the yard to help reduce the droves. Our girls are free range so my question is this: will the grass, etc, be safe for them to munch on after the spray has dried? I know its safe for topical use as well as to spray in the coop (once its dried) but I don't want to hurt my girls. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, PLEASE don't jump down my throat for asking, I haven't even opened the bottle yet but want to make the yard as comfortable for them as possible. Thanks in advance ❤

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC!
Well, first of all, no one here is going to jump down your throat or be nasty about asking a question. This forum is NOT Facebook.
With that out of the way, according to the manufacturers literature, permethrin is safe for use around livestock when sprayed at Ultra Low Volume (ULV). Follow the label directions carefully, let the product dry and I would also limit the chicken's exposure to the area to 1/2 a day instead of the full day.
Do you have any standing bodies of water around the chicken setup? You need to address that as that is a mosquito breeding habitat. With chickens, drier is nearly always better.

 

[cmom]

I use permethrin.

 

[aldarita]

I try to avoid chemicals as much as possible (for me, my husband and the flock). I live in the country and there are several ponds around our property therefore it is very hard to control mosquitoes in my chicken yards. I have a product that I have been using for several years, it is called "mosquito magician" It is a mixture of natural oils that repel insects. I am not going to tell you that it is the final solution, but it does deter some of them somehow. I place small containers with the solution in cotton balls in the coops. My coops have fans (very hot over here) so all this helps to make it better for the flock. It smells like Italian salad because it has garlic oil, my girls don't mind it and neither do I.