Pest Management Professional, May 2018

Continued FroM Page 62 but somebody can I think the chicken companies have licensed people that spray the houses and there are certain products labeled for sprayin even with birds in there Jack shook his head in amazement How would you know things like that Crawley No response He sat back down at the microscope and began looking at the bed bugs again How would you know such things MJ asked in a tone much gentler than Jacks Its not in any of our training manuals not even the Trumans Guide He raised up eyes hovering slightly above the microscope eyepieces Stuff like thats on the Extension Service website under poultry pests Havent yall read it MJ and Jack glanced at each other then Jack issued instructions OK then Crawley I want you to type up for me a list of options pesticides and subcontractors we might could give Dr Anniston And find out who can spray inside the house with live birds present Get it to me by tomorrow close of business Mmm Crawley returned to looking through the microscope There aint nothing will work until the birds go out in the fall Youll see T hree days later Crawley and MJ met Mr Johnson Dr Anniston and other representatives from the Service King Poultry Co at the farm While they talked two men in a white truck loaded with spray equipment and jugs of pesticide pulled up and began suiting up to spray the chicken house for bed bugs This is my first time to encounter bed bugs in one of our houses Dr Anniston said but I spoke with some of the other corporate vets and found out its happening more and more lately She turned her attention to MJ and Crawley And we really appreciate you getting us headed in the right direction as to controlling the pests We found a company with a special license for agriculture operations Im confident this treatment will take care of it Aint gonna work Crawley said flatly Too many places for the bug to hide Dr Annistons eyebrows went up I think what hes trying to say is that bed bugs are very difficult pests to control MJ intervened hastily It might not be quite as simple as you think After an awkward silence Dr Anniston turned toward the men loading up their spraying equipment Lets see what happens A week later there was a safety meeting at the Peace of Mind headquarters Have you heard anything from the chicken people Jack asked Crawley during the meeting Did their spraying get rid of the bed bugs The corporate woman claims theyre gone but Mr Johnson thinks theys just as bad as before Maybe corporate just doesnt want to face the ugly truth MJ offered Should we go back out there and look around Jack paused No I guess not Not unless they invite us I had once thought this was an opportunity to expand our business maybe even try for that special license myself but now Im not so sure Maybe give it another week or so and well reassess MJ asked I say wait until the birds are sold and then check the place Crawley offered Thats the only way to know for sure if the spraying worked F our months later the chickens at the Johnson farm were sold to a soup company so Crawley decided to check out the empty house His curiosity was piqued he couldnt stand not knowing what all those millions of bugs would do now that the chickens were gone Would they crawl around inside the place frantically looking for their animal hosts or just hunker down and wait for a new set of laying hens He remembered he had read somewhere that bed bugs dont actively disperse much they were mostly just passively transferred around in personal belongings like suitcases boxes bags and things like that 64 May 2018 Pest Management Professional mypmp net IllustratIon truMans sCIEntIFIC GuIDE to PEst ManaGEMEnt oPEratIons Crawley could confirm his findings by turning to p 320 of his Trumans Guide to Pest Management Operations Seventh Edition Continued on Page 66