The Old Folks Home

[drumstick diva]

they do come from mums - as far as I have been told. Marigolds do have a nice stink going for them.

 

[drumstick diva]

Extreme 'white glove-it is', can be a sickness is some people - thanks goodness I Don't have to worry about that. Someone borrowed tube feeding equipment from me for an upcoming litter ( dogs) and I told her how to use the COLD sterilizing product. She didn't pay any attention. She went overboard and boiled them completely warped out of shape.

 

[Bunnylady]

Marigolds are death on nematodes, but how effective seems to depend on the variety.

 

[drumstick diva]

too bad Jenner didn't know that chemical could cause breasts to grow, would have saved $$$$ and pain involved.

 

[Alaskan]

@ronott1

Please hold my hand and use very tiny words.... Truly... I HAVE had poultry for my entire life.. But I am an organic freak, and this is my first outbreak... I am almost at the point of never eating my own eggs again!

(Last night I kept thinking that I was coughing funny, and I kept wondering if the toxin had ended up in my lungs.... Yes, I am, freaking. I never use anything in my gardens or with my animals.... Never. Not true.. I didn't have an issue with using frontline in dogs.)

OK.. It turns out that some of my older hens have a pretty heavy poultry lice egg load (I checked.. That is what we have.. I have seen no evidence of other external parasites... Only the poultry lice)

Some things that I read said that with a heavy load the eggs will keep hatching for three weeks. One person said they rip out the feathers that are covered with eggs (for 40 chickens???!?!? ) another said they bathed the chickens and picked off the eggs (again, with 40 chickens??!?!?!?! )

If I put the (actual product name) .25% Permethrin in my Horse Lice Duster 3 all over in the wood ash dust bath... And in the poop tray bedding and in the nest boxes.... Well.. Then I would end up doing all of the poultry chores.. And not let the kids anywhere near the houses, but
I would not have to rip out feathers or bathe chickens... Right?

And then in three weeks I All by myself, I clean out the toxic bedding, and then two days after that, I decide the kids can return to chores, and we can start eating the eggs again???

WHAT am I supposed to do?????

 

[Alaskan]

:

 

[drumstick diva]

Why can't the darn chickens pick the lice off each other like monkeys do? Or maybe you could hire monkeys to do the job, they seem very thorough at it, at the zoo.

 

[Alaskan]

Why can't the darn chickens pick the lice off each other like  monkeys do?  Or maybe you could hire monkeys to do the job,  they seem very thorough at it, at the zoo.

And then they get the pesticide in their mouth!!!!

And we will all stop breathing... And if you swallowed it.. The label says "try to sip water if possible, but do not vomit"


swallow IF possible!!!!

 

[ronott1]

Ummmm . . . I think pyrethrins come from chrysanthemums, rather than marigolds. There are synthetic pyrethroids, and products that also include things that are supposed to enhance the activity, like piperinyl butoxide, that aren't considered strictly organic.

Right! Chrysanthemum--a flower.

Still, they are not very toxic to people or birds. They are bad for bees though.

 

[ronott1]

@ronott1

Please hold my hand and use very tiny words.... Truly... I HAVE had poultry for my entire life.. But I am an organic freak, and this is my first outbreak... I am almost at the point of never eating my own eggs again!

(Last night I kept thinking that I was coughing funny, and I kept wondering if the toxin had ended up in my lungs.... Yes, I am, freaking. I never use anything in my gardens or with my animals.... Never. Not true.. I didn't have an issue with using frontline in dogs.)

OK.. It turns out that some of my older hens have a pretty heavy poultry lice egg load (I checked.. That is what we have.. I have seen no evidence of other external parasites... Only the poultry lice)

Some things that I read said that with a heavy load the eggs will keep hatching for three weeks. One person said they rip out the feathers that are covered with eggs (for 40 chickens???!?!?

) another said they bathed the chickens and picked off the eggs (again, with 40 chickens??!?!?!?!

)

If I put the (actual product name) .25% Permethrin in my Horse Lice Duster 3 all over in the wood ash dust bath... And in the poop tray bedding and in the nest boxes.... Well.. Then I would end up doing all of the poultry chores.. And not let the kids anywhere near the houses, but
I would not have to rip out feathers or bathe chickens... Right?

And then in three weeks I All by myself, I clean out the toxic bedding, and then two days after that, I decide the kids can return to chores, and we can start eating the eggs again???

WHAT am I supposed to do?????

Your are doing fine!

There is a new pesticide that uses spinosad. You should look into using it later. This will likely not be the first time for buggies to get into your coop and chickens and it is good to use something different--to alternate treatments.

This time use the permethrin for both the first and second treatment. Get Captain Jacks dead bug juice from Amazon and mix up for killing aphids in the garden. Use it to treat the coops, making sue to get the corners and cracks along with the bottom of the roosts. You can treat with this on the coops every month if needed. At a strong mix, you can use it as drops on the skin and is systemic. That will kill bugs that feed on blood. It will not get bugs that just eat feathers though. Those need contact with a spray.

Another thing you can use is Sevin but it has stopped working on mites in some places in California.

I did not catch what you have--mites? lice? Treating the coop and pens is very important for those.

If the problem is not solved with the above, then there is the option of frontline. I doubt that you would have to go that far since it is a first infestation for you. The problem is with resistance.

Of course having a warm winter makes the bugs worse so next year will likely be bad up there too. We are having big problems with them in California this year--killing some peoples birds because they are so bad. It is sad to see the cause of death on a necropsy be mites.