I am in mosquito HELL

[dogdollar]

Finally got a break from the hot weather...as a matter of fact, today is gorgeous and mild.
Problem is, there are SO MANY mosquitoes around I can't set foot outside without getting eaten alive. There are, literally, CLOUDS of them around my chicken coop...they are in your eyes, on your neck, buzzing in your ears..occasionally I even inhale one or two........... so there is no pleasure at all these days from tending to the chickens, not to mention what the chickens must be going through, bless their little hearts. I have already been through fowl pox with them from this plague but I can only imagine how much they must suffer at the hands of these little blood sucking sons-of-bi****s....but what can I do? I have had some luck in my pre-chicken days with those spray-on deals you attach to the hose and water down the lawn and shrubbery, but when I let the chickens out to free range every day, they EAT grass from the lawn, etc. and I obviously I don't want to make them sick or worse with chemicals
Anyone have any ideas?. This is miserable...........
DD

 

[swimmer]

Not sure what part of the country you live in, but empty anything that might have standing water in it. If you water your lawn, don't. Don't know about any safe products you can spray. Good luck. Hate those buggers. We now live in the desert and haven't seen a mosquito in years. Good luck.

 

[littleleeranch]

im not sure if it will harm the chickens in anway but i live in arkansas and the misquito is my state bird here....you better b careful around herre or they will mug you and steal your wallet.....lol.....i used to have horses and the best remedy for misquitos is garlic salt mix it with the feed and also you eat a lot as well the more you eat or they eat the more the misquitos leave you alone....it will need to get in your system so it may take a few days but hope all works well good luck

 

[roosters4sale]

Yeah, theres not much in the chicken friendly pesticide catagory. I have to put on deep woods off when i grind corn. I spray the palms of my hands real good and then wipe it on my face. Forehead , nose, and cheeks. Spray, again, get my ears all over.

 

[mdbokc]

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa050503a.htm

Check it out. I use some peppermint oil on cottonballs in a vented container so they can't get to them.

ETA - Other threads have cautioned on volatile oils. Peppermint is strong. A drop will do you or the cottonball.

 

[xyresicchick]

i have neem bug spray and the mosquitos dont touch me. i went on a trip to ME to climb Mt Katahdin and used this and even the black flies left me be.

http://www.iherb.com/Organix-South-TheraNeem-Herbal-Outdoor-Spray-4-fl-oz-120-ml/17637

 

[cgmccary]

You can put a tablespoon of lemon dish detergent & a tablespoon of lemon ammonia (both available cheap at the dollar stores around here) in about 1.5 gallons of water and spray your bushes, grasses, around the coop and barn -- I read this in the BYP magazine one time & it works!

I have also put those Mosquito Dunks in the standing water (not harmful to fish or other animals)-- here, they are cheapest at Wal-Mart.

 

[Tala]

I don't like sprays, but this summer I tried the Off Clip-On thing and was pretty impressed with it. I got one or two bites instead of being swarmed!
My in-law's land where I moved my chickens too is low-lying and anytime it rains the mosquitoes come out in legions!!!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I put up some swallow houses a couple of years ago. While there are still "mosquito columns" every evening that it is warm, the population is much decreased from before.

Purple martins I think also eat mosquitoes. And bats?

So, if you encourage bird nesting (NOT right up near your house though), the mosquito pop. might drop.

 

[joebryant]

Move to central Indiana. We haven't had any rain for two months, and I think all of the mosquitoes died along with anything/everything that was green.