Frontline for mites and/or lice

[dixieland]

I looked through my binders from when I was the director at the Pharmacovigilence Call Center for Merck/ Merial:
Frontline DOES NOT have an expiration date. It is alleged to stay stable and safe as long as it is kept out of direct sunlight. Hence the colored vials and opaque bottles it is sold in. When a product is EPA mandated, like frontline is, an expiration date is not mandatory. I have put in a call to one of my old colleagues regarding withdrawl times for meat and eggs in poultry treated with frontline. I know that the withdrawl time is 21 days for poultry treated with any member of the ivermectin family.
I alternate my flocks between Frontline Spray and Ivomec Pour-On. Both products have had a well earned place in my animal husbandry toolbox for many years. I have been way overexposed to both products on multiple occasions including accidetal inhalation and ingestion. I do not glow in the dark, nor have I grown any extra fingers or toes. I am accused of being harsh and blunt by my family and co- workers, but I blame that on my overexposure to NYC during my formative years, lol!!!

Ok, back to the point: There is not one product that is going to provide the same results for all of us.....We are all raising our flocks in unique environments. The climate varies greatly from my place in Middle TN to the Smith's place outside of DFW to Royce in CA to Jean & Christina in WA state and so on and so on. It's important to keep n
otes on how well a product works for you and to share those results with fellow breeders....

[Tailfeathers]

Jes, your post cracked me up!  You sure you don't glow in the dark?  And having talked to a few folks in NYC from time to time, your excuse there is likely warranted!  One or two days of calling into there and I'm like, "What is it with these people?  I'm going to go work SC or something."

One slight correction to your post... I'm in WA with Jean and Christina.  And, if I remember right, none of the Ivermec products are authorized for poultry so since it's off-label use, it's usually pretty hard to get anyone to tell you anything about using it on poultry.  I've tried calling and never got anywhere.  I used to the Ivermec Eprinex and since it said there was no withdrawal period for milk or meat, I figured it was safe for eating eggs and chickens too, especially since it was likely a lot smaller dose.

Thus far I'm not glowing in the dark either.

God Bless,

Royce

[dixieland]

Sorry Royce,
     I thought you were hangin' ten near the Ocean in CA for some reason, lol!!!! Again they are both off label uses-- but I did work with the company for several years, so I am generally able to get off label data; like the withdrawl time for Ivomec in Poultry or vaccines sent directly to my vet....That job had and probably still has the best perks of any job I have had...
Have a great Lord's Day!

[Tailfeathers]

Jess, I forgot I read that.  We are very blessed to have your years of experience with Merck here with us. I'm quite sure now that you've let that cat out of the bag, I and probably some others will be bending your ear in the future.

And here I was thinking you're just an ol' Hillbilly Chicken Rancher!   

God Bless,

[dixieland]

YyAt the end of the day, that's all I am.....Add Christian to the adjectives and you've covered the most I'm
portant details....
But like any other Hillbilly Christian Chicken Rancher, I ha ve a past.....12 years worth running Pharmaco for Merial/ Merck and then Pfizer.....And I would not trade one minute of my past for my present/ future!!! Everything has worked out beyond super for me...That includes meeting and learning from all of you!!!!

[jeeperspeepers-r4us]

I've been using the Frontline for control of the N. fowl mites
my question is about the eggs that I see on the feathers.
It appears that its killing them off as they hatch, but how long will this process take? I've put the frontline on them twice now at 14 day intervals.
I have also been bathing the one that had it the worst in Adams flea & tic shampoo (not the plus label). That seem to last for about 3 weeks. at which time I put the frontline on.

[dixieland]

Yvonne,
   Sounds like you are doing the right thing by the birds... Sounds like there is a life cycle of N Fowl Mites somewhere that your birds are exposed to....You might consider dusting their roosts with DE, pyrethrin powder or even Sevin dust... You could also add some of the aforementioned to a dust bath area for your birds...You are looking at 2-3 months to really get things under control..
Not sure where you are, but that will also factor into the time also..
Jes

[jeeperspeepers-r4us]

I'm in N. Florida, bugs here all year. We rarely get a frost let alone a hard freeze. 
I've read that some eggs can lay dormant for months. To bad we cannot put something on the birds that stop them from hatching.
Thanks for the advice, maybe I need to put the dust out more often
I use DE Viper (brand of Sevin) and Pyrethrin. I've thought about using Citronella oil in the cracks and crevasses.

[Beth C]

Just curious if anyone has tried or knows of anyone using Spinosad on or around birds? The guy at the local garden center recommended it for the stink bugs, but I haven't tried it yet. And when Frontline stopped working on the dogs, the vet switched them to Comfortis, which has Spinosad as the active ingredient. It is classified as organic, but haven't found any reference to it's use with regard to poultry. If it's working for resistant fleas, maybe it could be an option for resistant mites/lice?

*Edited* I found this, sounds encouraging:

http://www.mapress.com/zoosymposia/content/2011/v6/f/v006p282-287.pdf

[jeeperspeepers-r4us]

I found a Spinasad concentrate spray for gardens on Amazon. I'm going to spray it in the coops. Based on the artical it is good for red mites, hopfully it will work on NFM as well. From what I have read the main difference in the 2 is that the NFM stay on the bird and the Reds nest in cracks & crevasses and come out at night.

[John]

It's been over 6 weeks since we went thru all the birds with Frontline.  Today was a beautiful day here in mid-Michigan with lots of sun, very little wind and a high in the upper 30s, so David and I moved the LF lavenders to a different coop to make room for started chicks.  Anyway, I figured it would be a good time to hit them again with Frontline and we did but the I was surprised that I didn't see one mite on any of the birds.  Maybe it lasts much longer than 30 days on chickens.
I spray it into an eyedropper bottle and use it from there on the birds.

[Tailfeathers]

Over 7 weeks now and still NO mites!! 

I washed 16 birds today (well, actually it was yesterday now) for the show and no sign of anything.  Looked over a bunch of others when deciding which ones to take and nothing on them either.  I am one happy camper!

John, what's %% of Fipronil on that 8.5oz bottle that you have?  I believe it was about 10% on the Pronyl I got in the tubes.

God Bless,

Royce

[greeneggsandham]

Does anyone think the frontline spray would work on scaly leg mites? 

[Max]

The last time I sprayed was November and still no mites...

[Beth C]

I hit all of mine about 2 weeks ago but found no lice or mites on any of them. When I had that bad outbreak I was treating them once a week, then once a month, now I'm down to quarterly. I found a few last fall, not bad, and hit them hard. I'm hoping I'm ahead of them at this point and can stay there if I keep spraying. So far the UltraShield EX & Frontline are working, but I bought some Spinosad for my tomatoes (if this stuff kills stink bugs I'm buying stock in the company) and I may spray the coops, too, just to catch anything that might be resistant.