Buffalo Gnats are back *UPDATE*

[joedie]

Avon Skin So Soft keeps them away from us completely! Haven't put it on the chickens though.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Can I ask, how much do you put in the water in a spray bottle? So sorry you guys are having this trouble, but I am going to do preventative

 

[ChooksChick]

Have you tried using vanilla air freshener or febreze or glade? I wonder if that won't leave a longer lasting smelly area. I'd drench the wood portions of the coop with it and spray it around an area they like to hang out. I also wonder if you couldn't spray an old towel and hang it or something to really stink up the area...

We don't get those here- thank God!!

Also, there are some camping sprays you can get to treat clothing and gear- those are a product that doesn't wash off. You might be able to coat the wood in an area so that the chickens have a safe zone.

 

[Mario]

I am going to use this stuff called Absorbine Green Gel and see if that works.. Also I have read to coat their heads with vaseline, so I may try a mixture of both.. Let you know how it does.
Right now my 6 hens are running loose, staying underneath the back porch all day where its dark.. They are digging up the mulch and destroying my hostas, but I dont want to see them suffer any longer. Hopefully they will make it through this season. Next season I will be better prepared.

 

[pips&peeps]

They are really called black flies and we have them up here right now too...

 

[feather and mountain man]

Buffalo gnats are also called midge flies. We have survived the worst of it. We have been using 1 part banana boat to 6 parts water in a spray bottle and it works the best to keep the chickens happy and gnat free.

 

[SteveH]

I lost nearly my entire flock in a few hours of one day last month to buffalo gnats. The entire river bottoms in this area was swarming with them, no way to kill enough of them to help. The plague only lasted 2 weeks, although there were just a few around both before and after the major hatch. I spent a ton of money on repellents; nothing worked for over 3 to 4 hours. A high velocity fan was put in the coop for the 8 [out of 52] survivors; they voluntarily stayed close to it until the main hatch was over. Those that survived had hid in dark places on that first day before I figured out what was happening; the buffalo gnats avoid darkness. One of the survivors recently died, I assume from an infection carried by the blackflies. I'm still raising a few the youngest replacement chicks behind mosquito netting........................ just in case. However, those people living down here long term tell me the plague populations that happen occassionally in wet springs only last two weeks, and the rest of the spring and summer will be safe.

In small numbers, the chickens actually seem to peck them off themselves and each other, and eat them. In plague numbers, the buffalo gnats crawl in the chicken's nostrils, and death can [and did] occur within minutes. I read that the deaths occurs from both outright suffocation from the number of insects in the airways, and a resulting reaction to the buffalo gnats toxic bite.

 

[feather and mountain man]

Quote:
We live by the river and have them most every year but wet springs make it worse. We seem to be mostly through it now. They also kill wild bird populations too. We have our coop screened in now and that helps in combination with the fans blowing on the chickens and the sunscrean. We lost a total of six roosters and one hen. They were all young chickens. The older ones seem to handle it better. The buffalo gnat are reported to kill by three means 1 suffocation, 2 Anaphylactic shock, and 3 draining them of blood.

The gnats are also the cause of many other animals to die. In 2008 we lost alot of the deer population around here.

 

[deanawo]

I spray skin so soft on mine too. Have used it on a horse and on dogs. Works on gnats, flies, mosquitos. Add some to the dog shampoo and it kills fleas.

 

[Chicken Momma T]

We have lost 30 chickens today alone from them. And our female peacock.