Pesticides in the yard??

[New2TheCoop]

Hey everybody, I have a question about pesticides in the yard. I'm sure it's not advisable to use it, but I live in south Louisiana, on six acres, with miles of woods on two sides and a bayou on the other. We've had less than 10 nights of freezing all winter, the bugs, the mosquitoes, the fleas, the ticks are all starting to pop up. If you don't use pesticides then what do you use? And if I do use it, how long should I keep them locked up? Any advice will help...

 

[Mahonri]

You mean your chickens aren't killing and eating all of your bugs? LOL

If I had to spray, I wouldn't let my chickens out around the pesticide for at least 10 days or until there was a real good rain.

 

[Mattemma]

I used BT donut dunks for skeeters,and just picked ticks off the dogs. In your case I might spray from the inside and head out to the border one time,and then hopefully just needing to spray the border every so often.Hopefully you have a way to restrict the chickens for a few days while the pesticide risk to them decreases.

 

[New2TheCoop]

My chickens are in a 8x16 run for most of the time, they can only free range when I'm home. I'm in a rural area of south Louisiana, we have foxes, raccoons, opossums, snakes, more stray dogs than you can shake a stick at, and that's just things that I see on a regular basis. Free ranging isn't really an option.

Ill treat the yard this weekend and keep them locked up for a while I guess.

 

[Me & Jack]

Your local ag extension agent might be able to tell you what pesticides can be used around livestock and when it is safe to allow them near treated areas.

 

[twentynine]

Yes! I live in the same area, Gonzales. Chickens eat all the crickets, hoppers, creepy crawlys, but they don't even make a dent in the moisquito population.

What do I do?

Twice or three time a week I spray the coop area, inside and out with one of the fly repelant products I use for my horses. Dumor, Pirhana, whatever, I am careful to keep the spray away from food and water.