Poultry & Garden Dust - safe for run??

[Jessie502]

Hi all, I'm freaking out a little bit. My hens have lice and we noticed when one of my hens was missing vent feathers.

My husband got this yesterday and we dusted our hens with a mix of this and DE (Small amount of this) then applied a small amount directly to their vent feathers, then dusted the coop and run with the remainder of the dust (about a 230 square foot area) but I saw them pecking food that spilled and meal worms off the ground thats treated with the dust. Will they be ok to eat food coated in it??

 

[AltonaAcres]

Ummmm, it's not great for them to digest. Permethrin is a pretty strong chemical. I once tried to fill a dust bathing hole with it, but had to cover it with boards after my chickens started pecking it. Even though they ate some, they were fine, but a lot could be an issue. There should be warnings on the back of the can that you should read. DE is totally fine though. Some people feed it to their cats to get rid of intestinal worms.

 

[christwodog]

I've used that stuff for three years with no issues - and I'm sure they have ingested some at one point or another.

 

[Eggcessive]

Permethrin dust is very safe for chickens. DE will not kill lice, and can be bad for their breathing and eyes. A better version for treating the coop is permethrin 10 concentrate. A pint is about $8 dollars, quart $17 at TSC and feed stores, and is mixed with water in a bottle sprayer or garden sprayer 1 1/14 ml per gallon of water. It can be used directly on the chickens in warmer weather.