I understand this will probably be just a pet, but before using such a treatment by a working flock--egg layers-meat birds--there are many questions that must be addressed.

It is a systemic insecticide that has a 90 day residual in dogs. How long must you waite to eat a bird that has been treated. If treated bird come in contact with laying hens (roosting and mating) what kind of contact treatment will the hens get, and if so, how long must they stay away from the Hens before it is safe to conclude that there will not be contact treatment with flock-mates. Are the eggs safe to eat?

These are very important questions you must ask your Vet. According to manufacturers of Advantage, they say this is an off label use and they DO NOT RECOMMEND it.

If they would spend the money to do tests to answer these questions they could be opening up a multi-million if not billion dollar market.

I myself will use this treatment on the Seramas and other small breeds that are not intended for food (eggs-meat).

I use Adams Flea & Tick Mist With IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) spray for external parasites on my chickens, it works great and lasts for three months. They also make a shampoo with the same ingredients if you need to bathe a heavily invested animal.

I've got a chicken info website here with more, this is the page on health, but I recommend reading the entire site, especially if you are new to chickens:

http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickHealth.htm

Scroll down to 'Worming And Dusting/Spraying' for the skinny on treating for parasites. As for his injury, you can help him get better by restricting his movements somewhat--try and keep him from jumping up onto and down from things to rest the injured leg, and offer him a bit of extra protein in his diet to help his body build the new tissue it needs.

Enjoy your chicken, and kudos for you to taking him in! I give you three weeks at the MOST before you cave in and get him a hen or two 'for company'. :)

Velvet ~:>

Forgot to add the below link. Before using any insect or mite remedies that have a long period of protection (systemic mite/insecticide) on your birds that will be used for food, please read two or more of the websites that are authored by State Ag and/or Universities. Many states do not allow it's use on any food sources.

Please make informed decisions relating to their use.

Here is a link that might be useful: To use or not to use

Holy cats, seramas, one of those articles was written in 1951! *L* Hopefully they will update their site soon... :)

But yeah--ANY time you use a poison you need to weigh the benefits against the drawbacks--use only when necessary, and whether it's meat birds or egg birds, you want to wait a while before eating any product from a treated animal.

The best thing is prevention by keeping your animals healthy and strong. :)

Velvet ~:>

The date of the publication doesn't change the the danger of systemic insect/miticides or acaricides. There have been over 200 brands taken off the market since that article was written. The Toxins in these are basically the same, they restructure the molecule and put it back on the market with a new name.

I point this out not to scare but to warn that we must be careful in their use, they have an accumulative effect beyond our life time.