Possible treatment for Mites and Lice??

[Bloomin' Chickens]

I recently had a problem with Mites and Lice in my flock brought in by some new birds. Someone mentioned using the Frontline Spray so I was doing some research on it before I use it. I found the following article on a breeders website about how to use Frontline on chickens.

Mites and Lice in Poultry
At some point in time, everyone who raises poultry will find they have some kind of unwanted pest living on their fowl. This is especially true of the crested breeds. Because these birds have very feathered heads it makes them a target for mites and lice. We try to check our birds weekly because the sooner you catch them, the easier they are to get rid of.
To check your bird, pick it up and look at the feathers. Spread the feathers apart and look at the bases of the shafts and also the skin. Look for tiny insects crawling along the skin and on the feather. These may be black, reddish, or cream colored. Also pay attention to the down at the base of the feather shaft. Look for egg sacs, that are white or cream colored, attached in clusters to the shaft of the feather. When we find any of these signs, it's time to treat the birds.
There are several different products available to treat mites and lice, however, we use just one product here. Frontline Spray is what we have found to work wonders. When explaining this product to people, they often times confuse it with the little tubes of spot on that is used as a once a month flea treatment for dogs or cats. While made by the same company, it has a different dosage of the active ingredient and should not be used. What you want is the spray bottle that has the trigger sprayer top on it. It comes in various sizes, with 250ml probably being the most common. While it is a little expensive, to us, it is well worth the cost.
This product has not been tested and approved by the company for use on poultry used for table eggs or meat. Therefore, the use of Frontline Spray described below is only for informational purposes when dealing with show birds whose eggs or meat is not consumed by people.
There are two methods of applying the spray to the bird. One that is used by some breeders I have talked to is to spray the bird with a mist from the bottle. They will adjust the nozzle and spray them with a pump or two of the trigger, just enough to wet the surface of the feather. I have found another method that works better for us in all but the extreme infestation cases that occasionally pop up because you missed somebody during a mite check. What we do it to take an eye dropper bottle like a contact re-wetting drop bottle and use this. The dropper part of the bottle will pull out from the body, then just squeeze the trigger on the Frontline a couple times, directing the stream into the dropper bottle to fill it.
I will take this dropper bottle and place one drop in the crest, one under each wing, and one on near the vent either on the abdomen or tail bone. Spread the feathers apart and get the drop of liquid right onto the skin. If you find this too dificult, then you can use a cotton swab saturated with the liquid and apply it right to the skin in the same spots.
While we have not had any cases of scaly leg mites, we have been told that misting the legs or rubbing them with a soaked cotton ball of frontiline will quickly end leg mite issues also.

Online

 

[Karrie13]

Interesting! I will have to give this a try. After the county fair last year, we took some ducks and about a month later I found lice on the chickens. It wasn't a bad infestation, but enough that I used 7-dust and dusted all the birds on the place. The fair is the only place I thought of that they could have come from.

 

[Bloomin' Chickens]

I thought this sounded better then the dusting for a couple reasons. First off, because the few birds were in the coop with the rest of my flock I had to dust them all. Some of them aren't very cooperative. Plus I felt funny about all the Poultry Dust floating in the air. I didn't think it was good for me to breath let alone the birds. Also, really messy. I will probably dust the coop again at the end of the week and do the Frontline on the birds.

 

[BamaSilkies]

Does the frontline spray have the same ingredients as frontline plus? If it does I would not use on my hens. Frontline plus and frontline top spot can cause birth defects if used on female dogs. I worked for a breeder for 10 yrs and I know that this is true. It is ok to use on males it doesnt effect their reproductive organs. We used Advantage on the female dogs. I think Adams flea spray is okay to use. I use DE to prevent but I have Sevin dust food grade on hand for an out break.

 

[Bloomin' Chickens]

I posted on this subject back in December and I thought I would send an update. The Frontline worked great. No more signs of mites or lice. I also liked the fact that I didn't have to capture my aggressive rooster to apply the spray. I just stood back and over a couple days gave him a squirt in the different spots that the bugs might be. I made sure I was close enough to avoid his eyes and face, plus close enough for the strength of the sprayer to penetrate his feathers a little. I use powder in their bedding, but after I dusted the coop the last time my chickens started to sneeze and wheeze. My roosters had a problem crowing for a couple weeks. Who knows for sure but it seems like the dust was irritating to their respiratory system.

 

[janinepeters]

Hi Bloomin, I hope you are still subscribed to this thread. I want to try frontline spray but have a few questions. This most recent time when you used it, did you also use some kind of dust in the coop, or did you use just the spray on the birds?

Also, does it need to be sprayed diffusely over vent and under wings, or does a little spritz in each of those areas suffice? I am familiar with the form of frontline that you put between the shoulder blades of a cat -- the stuff then distributes itself throughout the animal's skin. Is it the same deal with the spray, or do you need to be sure to hit the mites directly with the spray? If anyone else knows the answer, please respond. Thanks!