HUGE mosquito Prob in Chick coop, Need help!!

[centrarchid]

This problem more widespread than most people think. My squeeters come in at night by the hundreds. Breeding habitat is hundreds of feet away and too dispersed to go after aquatic life stages.

Screens can work but problem for me is same system can obstruct ventilation during day.

Most repellents such as Deet have potential for negative health effects on humans so use on my birds not desired.

The garlic idea I like. Need to try and see if it works. Many mosquito species out there so needs to be tested as may work for some folks but not others.

I think citrenella plants need to be tested as well.

 

[mulewagon]

Maybe a big fan in the coop to keep the air moving? Or maybe if the coop is small enough you could throw mosquito netting over it at night?

We're in the woods, and the mosquitoes had been swarming around my chicken pen this week. I found a small puddle on top of the broody coop, and a forgotten waterer in an empty cage, both swarming with wrigglers! Dumping those seems to have helped.

 

[bryan99705]

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That's funny, I live in a place with hundreds of thousands of acres of muskeg (that's grass clumps with standing water around their roots due to the permafrost preventing it from soaking in) and on a hot day the skeeters are absent but on a cool damp day the clouds of them are so thick they limit visibility.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I live in the (usually) dry desert, and humidity levels have nothing to do with whether mosquitoes are around in masses or not. Uncut grass and brush, dog dishes and other sources of standing water are the breeding grounds. Doesn't take much water--a drop of dew or from a sprinkler is enough for mosquito eggs to hatch. If it stays moist for a day or two, it will mature to adult stage.

We've already had mosquito problems a few times this year, and until the last few days, our humidity measured in the single digits.

 

[iluvsedward]

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like vampires? than I guess wooden splinters work to

 

[bryan99705]

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I bow to your expertice on desert raised mosquitos that hatch and reach adulthood in one day from a drop of dew now let's offer this lady some suggestions to help fight the problem SHE is having.

Miss Ema, Any chance you have a large open yard or are next to one. Maybe for the future try setting up a swallow or martin house to attract these type birds as they eat huge numbers of flying insects daily and help reduce insect numbers with out risking the health of your birds and yourself by using pesticides to kill the bugs.

Depending on your set up, maybe some flower boxes full of citrenella plants under the coop windows would help

I also saw a article about Mosquitofish that eat the larvea in the water but you would have to do a lot of research before introducing them so as not to creat another problem.

 

[centrarchid]

I am a fish guy. Mosquito fish and guppies not effective as most mosquito reproduction takes place in water too small to support fish.

Swallows forage too high up and at wrong time to controll mosquitos. Bats a potentially better option but even they do not control as most mosquitos fly too low and bats target larger insects. Bats are specialist in what they consume and where they hunt it.

The citrenella is very interesting and possibly more practical.

 

[bryan99705]

Yeah, swallows do range pretty high but every sketter eaten is a dead skeeter and one less to contend with.

I just briefed over the article on Mosquitofish but due to the situation she is in and not knowing the size of the standing water areas she has thought it was a idea to throw out.

Bats do sound like a option if they can be attracted to roost in the area, I know we have them up here so if they can do that then southern Canada should not be a issue, again if they can be attracted to stay around the area.

I spoke with DW who's job in the Air Force had to do with mosquitos as a Public Health, and she suggested a few drops of vegetable oil on standing water kill many breeds of mosquito larvea

 

[southerndesert]

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like vampires? than I guess wooden splinters work to

Ummmm very small wooden splinters perhaps

 

[NightingaleJen]

Ugh, that sounds like a miserable problem.

I do advise against the bug zapper, though. The insects drawn to them tend to be good, beneficial insects, not mosquitoes. One or two might float into it, but really, they're a waste. Indeed, the light will attract MORE mosquitoes to your yard! Bug zappers are nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Try to eliminate standing water. I also wonder if there's some weird source of carbon dioxide there, as that's what they love to follow. That and light. Do you have many lights on near the barn?