how to get rid of Mosquitos???

[chicken head34]

we cant let the roam yet...we live deep in the woods with ALOT! of predators! and our fence isnt done yet

 

[RL]

I had that problem too. I live by a large lake and I had a ton of skeeters in my coop. You will never get rid of them all, but you can cut them down a bit. What I did was after I was sure all the girls were done laying for the day I locked them out of the coop and completely cleaned it out so the coop was empty. I closed up the coop as much as I could and set off two bug bombs - I have a large coop. After the 2 hours I opened the coop and the floor was just covered with dead skeeters.

I cleaned all that out and set the coop back up and let the girls go back in. I then went a bought a Stinger Bug Zapper with the mosquito attractent -you can get them at Lowes or home Depot I think they are 45 to 60 I don't remember. I have not had a skeeter problem since and the girls love to eat the fried skeeters when I clean the thing out every 3 days. I am about to go and buy another one, they are awsome.

 

[patandchickens]

If you've got a serious mosquito problem in your area, nothing you do is going to really have a major effect. You just have to wait til Fall. Obviously don't *encourage* them -- get rid of standing water (including old tires and gutters) and mow down tall grass and weeds, and put mosquito Bt products in any unavoidable standing water that they tend to breed in -- but don't be expecting that to really reduce your mosquito population meaningfully. Ditto with allegedly mosquito-repellent plants.

If you want to discourage them from congregating excessively in a particular area, you might try one of the garlic-oil sprays that are on the market. Not all mosquitos are affected by them, apparently, but I am seeing some reasonable benefit from them here at our place this year (first year I've tried them). It does not get rid of mosquitos or kill them, but if you heavily spray particular areas, the mosquitos are less apt to hang out there.

For stable flies and other biting housefly-lookin' flies, the stinky traps work really well BUT you want to put them well away from areas where you yourself spend a lot of time, because seriously they DO stink atrociously. Follow label directions for where and how to set them up.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Ceilismom]

Quote:
it is critical to do this before you start seeing mosquitoes in the spring. Otherwise, it will take however long the mosquito life cycle is before you see any change in the population. This stuff takes care of larvae, not mature mosquitoes. You also need to read the package carefully, because I believe that you need to re-apply periodically.

 

[cherylcohen]

Best thing we ever bought...The mosquito magnet, has worked flawlessly for 5 years, it's not cheap but REALLY worth it

 

[jeb251]

how about the solar powered bug lights, I saw them at menards for ten bucks each

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Mosquitoes hatch in water, but the amount needed is very, very little. If you have ponds, use mosquito dunks or get mosquito eating fish (there are several types). My understanding is that muscovies LOVE mosquitoes, but I've never had muscovies, so I cannot give experiential data on that. There are a number of pesticides that are effective on mosuqitoes; some are fairly long term, others pretty short term. Clear away brush where they tend to congregate, there are time released sprays that contain permethrin and are effective in controling mosquitoes in a smaller area. Country Vet is one brand name, but there are others. The Freshmatic Ulta (1/3rd the price) unit will work with these canisters, but you need to switch sprayer caps. Any sort of mosquito repellant will work for some amount of time.

Also, mosquitoes carry illnesses--not just to humans, but to many other creatures, including chickens, cats, dogs, horses, ... Some of these illnesses are serious, even fatal.

 

[flgardengirl]

Along with the mosquito dunks in our pond and water plant tubs, I use screen on all the chicken house windows. It helps keep them from biting the chickens at night when the skeeters are most active. Our muscovies are just babies so I don't know if they will help with the skeeters yet. If you attract purple martins (a kind of bird that lives in a colony bird house) and bats to your yard it will put a serious dent in the mosquito population.

 

[nvmycj]

Quote:
Ummmm..... No they don't!

 

[woodguy]

Get some Mosquitofish, Gambusia is the proper name for them and put them in your pond. They breed very fast and bear live young like guppies. They eat the mosquito larve.