Lice

[petal]

I spray with johnsons antimite spray(peremythrin-2.99!!!!!)- if an outbreak of lice appears- every single bird gets it on the tummy and my 11 year old daughter doses many of them.

[tlck9]

next stop...frontline for mine...but then my dog groomer who loves anything natural and without chemicals suggested one of her flea shampoos from the US. Checked the contents, nothing I could see could harm the chuck as they were all things they could generally come into contact with, so having diluted it 10 fold than you would for a small dog, I sprayed a very small amount directly onto some lice - DEAD, wow, chuck didn't scream like she does when you powder her and the little blighters stopped moving, even those not even within the sprayed area. I checked her vent area this afternoon, and she was clean - no irritation, no lice brill.....I don't know the name but if anyone is interested then I'll find out - far far better than frontline, and no chemicals is even better

[kathyd]

Hi Tlck9 - it certainly sounds interesting... if you could find out the name, we could look it up on the internet to find out more about it .

Can I just double check while I'm on here... when it comes to actually applying the product, do you really have to lay the birds on their backs, or can you do it while they're sitting on your arm?? I'm still at the practicing-picking-them-up stage at the moment! Not doing too badly, except my fingers are having problems getting far enough apart to grip the maran's legs... and all the little blighters thrust their leggies backwards as soon as I try to grip them! Lol . But no-one's been terminally traumatised yet. Still only done the easy ones though .

[Suechooks]

Remember that Frontline will also prevent return of the parasites for a couple of months which your dilute shampoo may not if its a contact killer.
Kathy - no you don't need to turn them on their backs. I just tilt them sideways so the wing sort of opens up and then spray in the "armpit!" on each side then just tilt the back end upwards towards you and spray there. Job done!

[tlck9]

suechooks you have a point there, what egg withdrawal do people do with frontline

[Suechooks]

suechooks you have a point there, what egg withdrawal do people do with frontline

I only do a couple of days.

[RichmondHens]

Blimey! Is that what the vet said? I would have thought it would be much longer, given the cover Frontline provides on mammalian skin (4 weeks +). And what do you do about meat withdrawal? I won't spray my meaties even with the fast degrading Permethrin stuff, they just get Diatom on them.

At the risk of upsetting people (please don't take this the wrong way Sue, I don't want us to have a falling out over this) I don't think any of us should be recommending/promoting a product that is not licensed for poultry. PP forum doesn't allow it by the way. Use of Frontline should be discussed with your vet and used according to his/her recommendations.

[Nicos]

I don't think any of us should be recommending/promoting a product that is not licensed for poultry. PP forum doesn't allow it by the way. Use of Frontline should be discussed with your vet and used according to his/her recommendations.

Thanks RH for pointing this out- I was just about to say this....
The GYO forum also cannot encourage the use of unlicenced products

[kathyd]

Kathy - no you don't need to turn them on their backs.

Thanks goodness for that! It was that naughty Chris who got me worried - I was visualising a roly-poly session with them! Lol . I'm going to explore louse powders this week, and then rub it into all those nooks and crannies as suggested.

Oo, I managed to pick up one of my tricky birds yesterday! The expression on her face was a joy to behold.. She'd come to tell me off for cleaning out the coop, and while she was perched on it I scooped her up - she uttered a sort of strangled noise when she realised the others had been watching, and then just sat there with her head on one side giving me a totally astounded look. Fun! Going to try one of the bigger ones today - good game

[Suechooks]

Thanks RH for pointing this out- I was just about to say this....
The GYO forum also cannot encourage the use of unlicenced products

Thats fine. No more recommendations!!!
I doubt there'll be much recommended anyway as there's virtually no products licensed for hens.
Not falling out with anyone! I'm happy to be guided by my vet (who has been a great help and was trained in her student days by Victoria Roberts), and I'd assume others would do the same.
BTW I don't do the meat birds with anything apart from a certain organic product either!

[Nicos]

I'm sure I speak for all of us chook owners Sue- that your experience and advice is an inspiration to us all

[kathyd]

Product Recommendations & Advice

Can I stick my oar in here please? First of all, my guess would be that GYO already has in place a very clear and all-encompassing disclaimer, probably put together / vetted by a team of lawyers, which states that it takes no responsibility for any action any forum user may choose to take based on anything they read in these forums, and that the views / recommendations given by forum users are not necessarily those held by, or endorsed by the company.

On that basis, I would just like to say how useful I find this forum BECAUSE people are able and willing to give advice, and to suggest products or approaches which may help others, whether those products are 'licenced' or not... As long as forum users are aware that any advice or recommendations may be from non-professionals or inexperienced people who just like to talk a lot (not ME of course ), we are then able to make up our own minds about whether to take that advice or not. Perhaps a disclaimer could be visible at the top of the forum to avoid confusion?

[Hilary B]

I think anyone offering that sort of advice should put it something like "well it works for me, but it isn't actually approved, so think hard before copying my method" It isn't up to the forum to remind folk that advice given may be very unofficial, better they remove any unofficial advice given without the appropriate warning!

[RichmondHens]

I'm sorry, have I spoken out of turn? I'm confused.

The reason I feel so strongly about using Frontline on chickens is because they are a FOOD SOURCE, and I think that many people do lose sight of that as they see chickens as pets and have no wish to eat them. They do however like to eat their eggs.

Frontline is an effective insecticide and I can see why people find it attractive as a quick fix with a certain amount of ongoing cover. But it was never manufactured for use on food producing animals and I think consideration should be given to this before spraying it all over the very creatures who produce your breakfast.

[frias]

My vet always advises me if the product is not licenced for use on chickens. Most things aren't because the makers won't pay for the licence not because they shouldn't be used. He also says if there should be egg withdrawl. I ask him if he would eat the eggs personally and if he says yes that's is good enough for me. I'm not selling eggs so don't have to worry about the legalities of that.