Down here in St. Bernard Parish, we are surrounded by marshes. Like mosquitos, gnats hatch in water. This is gnat nightmare country.
An example: We hog hunted for years and during the fall and early winter the gnats were horrendous. We had to wear netted headgear, gloves and thick clothing they couldn't bite through. The thick swarms would totally engulf us. Sometimes we couldn't here the hogs approaching due to the noise of these tiny biting creatures. I remember a sow walking into my clearing and she looked like she had on very thick makeup around her eyes and snoot. Her butt hole looked like a black furry tennis ball was stuck to it! Please forgive my description?
I just shared this tip with another BYCer in SE Texas. It just might help. When I was a kid our cattle would sometimes be tormented by hordes of biting flies. My Dad and Grandfather would hang burlap sacks over a wire. The sacks were drenched with spent motor oil. The cattle would form a huge circle going round and round under those sacks non-stop, desperately looking for any relief to be had. Gnats don't have a long needle-like probiscus like a mosquito. Gnats have biting, tearing and ripping mouth parts. Their bite is very much more worse than their size might indicate!
Now, I don't expect anyone to resort to the near-toxic spent motor oil but, hanging rags over a string/wire with Deet, Vanilla, permethrin or, whatever else might provide enough relief to help the chickens. Maybe just the rags alone might brush them off enough to provide SOME respite from these creatures?
An example: We hog hunted for years and during the fall and early winter the gnats were horrendous. We had to wear netted headgear, gloves and thick clothing they couldn't bite through. The thick swarms would totally engulf us. Sometimes we couldn't here the hogs approaching due to the noise of these tiny biting creatures. I remember a sow walking into my clearing and she looked like she had on very thick makeup around her eyes and snoot. Her butt hole looked like a black furry tennis ball was stuck to it! Please forgive my description?
I just shared this tip with another BYCer in SE Texas. It just might help. When I was a kid our cattle would sometimes be tormented by hordes of biting flies. My Dad and Grandfather would hang burlap sacks over a wire. The sacks were drenched with spent motor oil. The cattle would form a huge circle going round and round under those sacks non-stop, desperately looking for any relief to be had. Gnats don't have a long needle-like probiscus like a mosquito. Gnats have biting, tearing and ripping mouth parts. Their bite is very much more worse than their size might indicate!
Now, I don't expect anyone to resort to the near-toxic spent motor oil but, hanging rags over a string/wire with Deet, Vanilla, permethrin or, whatever else might provide enough relief to help the chickens. Maybe just the rags alone might brush them off enough to provide SOME respite from these creatures?
