Tumbleweedlynn
Crowing
Hi All 
We are having the worst biting gnats invasion we have every seen. They leave welts on my husband, it’s horrible.
I had 20 chicks in my outside brooder ranging from 1-3 weeks old. I went out on Thursday to greet them, with 14 chicks on their coop floor, dead. No blood, no feathers, just dead on the ground. We couldn’t figure it out - they weren’t dead under the warmer plate, it just blew our minds.
Later that day, a woman came to bring a parrot that she lost the night before for my husband to mount. Healthy bird that she had let stay outside during that one day, then the next evening, it was dead. She said it had been exposed to these biting gnats all that day it had been outside (she hadn’t obviously allowed that exposure knowingly). Then it made sense that our chicks had succumbed to them as well. I scooped up the survivors and put them in our shop brooder.
Then panic set in - what about my other flocks? My youngest flock is three months old. I’ve seen my flocks being harassed by these things, but to be honest, they weren’t biting me, so I just thought my husband was sensitive.
Now I am stressing about these bugs killing my youngest flock. Does anyone know of anything I can spray on them to keep them off my chickens? I use essential oils and know lavender and rosemary repel mosquitoes and flies (in theory), but it didn’t seem to keep them off the chickens.
Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.
We are having the worst biting gnats invasion we have every seen. They leave welts on my husband, it’s horrible.
I had 20 chicks in my outside brooder ranging from 1-3 weeks old. I went out on Thursday to greet them, with 14 chicks on their coop floor, dead. No blood, no feathers, just dead on the ground. We couldn’t figure it out - they weren’t dead under the warmer plate, it just blew our minds.
Later that day, a woman came to bring a parrot that she lost the night before for my husband to mount. Healthy bird that she had let stay outside during that one day, then the next evening, it was dead. She said it had been exposed to these biting gnats all that day it had been outside (she hadn’t obviously allowed that exposure knowingly). Then it made sense that our chicks had succumbed to them as well. I scooped up the survivors and put them in our shop brooder.
Then panic set in - what about my other flocks? My youngest flock is three months old. I’ve seen my flocks being harassed by these things, but to be honest, they weren’t biting me, so I just thought my husband was sensitive.
Now I am stressing about these bugs killing my youngest flock. Does anyone know of anything I can spray on them to keep them off my chickens? I use essential oils and know lavender and rosemary repel mosquitoes and flies (in theory), but it didn’t seem to keep them off the chickens.
Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.
I’m so sorry to hear about your chicks and the lady’s parrot. Heartbreaking.
