Yard Professionally Sprayed!!! Now what do I do???

[DOnSoCalOC]

Fleas arrived and our cats were suffering fiercely. After bathing them at three different intervals, and the fleas keep coming back, we decided to spray the yard. We have never had a flea problem because my husband always sprays the yard...but now that we have chickens he hasn't sprayed in a little over a year. We had the yard sprayed professionally today. They used Wisdom-TC. I was told that it was safe for "pets" after it was dried, BUT I am concerned because when the girls are out roaming they EAT the grass!!! Hullo?! I feel like such a dufus that I didn't think of this before we committed to having the job done.

How long should I keep them, the chickens, locked up before it will be safe for them to roam the yard again???

My husband is going to water the lawn real well every day until it is safe again. Mow it down and water it. That is all I can think to do. My girls are going to be freaking out, because they are allowed out every day all day long unless we leave the house, but as soon as we return they are allowed out again. I will have to stock up on treats for them; lots of kale and other greens, crickets, and meal worms.

Feeling so stressed and horrible about spraying the yard...and even worse about flea shampoo on cats. Read an article about fleas though, that mentions how they would not be attacking pets if they are healthy. We switched our cats to a natural raw food diet with proper supplements in high hopes of them being healthy enough to not even be bothered by fleas ever again.

After this is all fixed we will switch to nematodes for flea control outdoors.

Your insight is greatly appreciated!

Stressed to tears.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd call thed company that sprayed and ask them. They are the professionals. Mention the chickens specifically.

I'm not familiar with that product but looked up the Material Safety Data Sheet. It's one I would be concerned with. The type of information I'd ask the professionals is how long it will be active and whether rinsing will get rid of it. Maybe how much they would have to eat for it to affect them, though I don't know how you can tell how much of it they will eat. Many of these products have a fairly short life but this one looked like it may hang around a while.

It is licensed for use so maybe it is not that risky for birds. If pesticides are extremely toxic to birds or certain wildlife, they are more restrictive in licensing them for use. It's quite possible it is not that big a deal., but I'd certainly err on the side of caution. This one was specifically mentioned as hazardous to fish if it gets into the water. I did not notice other animals listed in the warnings.

I'm not a professional and maybe they will tell you something different, but I'd probably wait until the grass needed cutting, bag it and dispose of it. Then I'd let them roam again. There is a certain toxicity level where one bite won't hurt them but a certain number of bites can. I don't have an idea on what that number is.

If you have to do this again. I'd suggest mentioning the chickens and see if they have a product that is safe for them.

 

[7L Farm]

I'd be concerned as well. I don't use chemicals here at 7L. I'd not only be worried about the chickens but I'd also be worried about selling their eggs.

 

[DOnSoCalOC]

I'd call thed company that sprayed and ask them. They are the professionals. Mention the chickens specifically.
I'm not familiar with that product but looked up the Material Safety Data Sheet. It's one I would be concerned with. The type of information I'd ask the professionals is how long it will be active and whether rinsing will get rid of it. Maybe how much they would have to eat for it to affect them, though I don't know how you can tell how much of it they will eat. Many of these products have a fairly short life but this one looked like it may hang around a while.
It is licensed for use so maybe it is not that risky for birds. If pesticides are extremely toxic to birds or certain wildlife, they are more restrictive in licensing them for use. It's quite possible it is not that big a deal., but I'd certainly err on the side of caution. This one was specifically mentioned as hazardous to fish if it gets into the water. I did not notice other animals listed in the warnings.
I'm not a professional and maybe they will tell you something different, but I'd probably wait until the grass needed cutting, bag it and dispose of it. Then I'd let them roam again. There is a certain toxicity level where one bite won't hurt them but a certain number of bites can. I don't have an idea on what that number is.
If you have to do this again. I'd suggest mentioning the chickens and see if they have a product that is safe for them.

Thank you VERY much. Our girls are locked up in their run and coop for the day. When my husband gets home he is going to cut the lawn REAL low. There are many little bugs dead, including fleas all around the cement, so the kids and I are going to sweep them all up. Lots of treats and greenies hanging in the run today, meal worm treats, and I will even go get them some crickets...to keep them humble in their "prison".

I did mention to the company BEFORE they sprayed and before signing any contract, I just had to put the girls away for about an hour to give the product time to dry. I contacted the company that makes the stuff, via email last night, and am awaiting a reply; but I am actually going to telephone them and the company that actually sprayed in about 15 minutes.

Since the whole premise of this was to get rid of the fleas for the sake of my cats and I feed them an all natural raw diet, I contacted an animal/pet homeopath and she mentioned to add MSM to their diet as the sulphur will help repel the fleas in the aspect that they "look" for unhealthy animals' whenever an animal/person is bothered by fleas it is that their body is lacking in sulphur and MSM is organic sulphur...so that is my major purchase today. Regular old table salt in the bedroom carpeting to take care of fleas in there and in the cracks of the couches, then vacuum up after a couple of days OR steam clean the carpets will take care of the problem right away.

I will definitely be canceling the pesticide company and I will just sprinkle DE thoroughly in the backyard from now on! It is so much more cost effective...and natural too boot!

My poor "girl's" all the way around, (cats & chickens)!

Thus, this too shall pass!
What a pain in the asterisk!

 

[DOnSoCalOC]

Okay, so I spoke with the head technician/branch manager of the company and he absolutely beyond-a-shadow-of-doubt assured me that it was fine to let the girls out. He said, "Let them chickens roam!" Apparently the amount of product used to treat the yard, hence kill the little bugs, is in such a small quantity that it would take much more than the amount of grass in the yard and on the dead bugs to harm the chickens. The time to be really concerned is when it is wet and it has been about 18 hours since it has actually dried yesterday. My husband is still going to cut the grass down short though, it actually needs it; and we will dust the yards with DE in a week or so. I don't need the stress of worrying about my girls, chickens & cats! I will give an update in a couple of days, especially if something goes wrong (though my husband reassures me that God will watch over our girls).

Much work to do today though; flea bath for cats, steam clean the carpets in the 3 bedrooms (a great summer job for an 18 year old that is having difficulty obtaining employment so he spends too much time on the computer playing computer games with strangers on the Internet), and the other 2 children can work together to clean out the run and coop and put down fresh straw, then they can dig up a patch of the yard for planting a little garden. Sound like fun???

So I guess we're good to go!