In article ,
Jan Flora wrote:

Hey Om:

Have you ever tried diatomaceous earth for mites/lice on chickens?

It didn't work worth a flip.


I just put some Sevin in my hens' favorite dust hole, but I hate
using stuff like that, if at all possible to find a natural remedy.
I sure as hell didn't want to dust the hens directly with the stuff.

5% is safe to dust the birds directly.


I figure that if I need to glove-up to put something on my critters,
it's probably not something I really want to use, if there's any
viable alternative...

I never bothered to glove up or wear a mask.
If I'm going to expose my pets to it...

It's not something I ever had to use with great frequency.
Once or twice per year.

Ivermectin in the water works too if you don't want to use a topical
remedy.

Once per year I sevin the lawn at the same time I put front line on the
dogs and cats to control fleas. Seems to be all it really takes.


The reason I moved to Alaska was because of going into anaphylactic
shock after spraying some poison on some apple trees. Damn near died.
I decided if I was going to die in my early '30's, it would at least be
somewhere that I like living.

After growing up around horticultural poisons in my mom's greenhouses,
I've had my lifetime dose anyway.

Jan

There are levels of safety...

Pyrethrine is about the only spray I use. I use the pyrethrine cat flea
spray on flies in the house. It's the safest thing I can use around
Freya. She is a Goffins Cockatoo. Birds are very sensitive to poison
sprays.

I'm not crazy about pesticide use and there are ones that I will NEVER
get near my house. Very limited use of sevin and pyrethrine is my limit,
and BT for caterpillars.

I manage to maintain a healthy population of lizards, toads, spiders and
other predatory insects in my yard. :-)

Unfortunately, those won't control spider mites or mealy bugs.

I did purchase lacewing eggs last year to wipe out the mealy bugs and
scale in the greenhouse and that worked better than any pesticide ever
did! If you can find a natural predator for spider mites, that'd be cool.

I'd been fighting scale on my succulents during the winter months for
two years until I bought the lacewing eggs. Haven't seen scale since. :-D
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson