I hate gnats!

[GunnyBun]

Do any of yall have any remedies for the gnats in your henhouses? We have terrible gnat problems, and we think it might have caused several of our hen's deaths.

 

[Mistizoom]

Sorry about your chickens. Our chicks are only 4 weeks old so still in the brooder but I am preparing for the buffalo gnats to come here in about a month when the chickens will be in the coop and run. We have had large numbers of chickens killed twice before by gnats so I want to be more prepared this time. We used to use a chicken tractor but now we are building a coop that will have screens small enough to exclude gnats, and we might keep them inside the coop for the few weeks the gnats are here. I am planning to order permethrin which can be used to spray both the birds and the coop. Not sure what other remedies might work, but I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[GunnyBun]

Sorry about your chickens. Our chicks are only 4 weeks old so still in the brooder but I am preparing for the buffalo gnats to come here in about a month when the chickens will be in the coop and run. We have had large numbers of chickens killed twice before by gnats so I want to be more prepared this time. We used to use a chicken tractor but now we are building a coop that will have screens small enough to exclude gnats, and we might keep them inside the coop for the few weeks the gnats are here. I am planning to order pemetherin which can be used to spray both the birds and the coop. Not sure what other remedies might work, but I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

Some say to use vanilla, we've never tried it, some say to use a apple cider vinegar mix. I was just wondering about any other options, because the gnats are terrors around here!

 

[Mistizoom]

Just saw this article posted in another thread, https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/buffalo-gnats-and-what-you-need-to-know.75016/

 

[Kiki]

Get some permethrin....
spray daily.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/martins-horse-stable-permethrin-citronella-spray-1-qt

 

[GunnyBun]

Just saw this article posted in another thread, https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/buffalo-gnats-and-what-you-need-to-know.75016/

Thank you for sharing!

 

[GunnyBun]

Get some permethrin....
spray daily.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/martins-horse-stable-permethrin-citronella-spray-1-qt
View attachment 2116767

Thank you I just read an article about it and I do believe we will try it!

 

[arkansas_ash]

We have them bad here, too. We have a creek across from our property which is where they are coming from. This is the first year we've been here (20 years) that we've gotten bit, with my husband being bit on the forehead and back of neck, and me on both ears. What an itch! We normally see them come out in late March or early April and are gone by late May. I found this 2013 thread very helpful, though there are other threads here on the subject:
gnat-attack-need-help
an informative Illinois read:
Illinois Public Health-Black Flies
Last week I bought a package of three vanilla scented Little Tree pine trees found in the auto section of stores. They worked and were cheaper to use than vanilla extract on cotton balls. I also bought a bottle of Gordon's Permithrin 10 from T.Supply and mixed it 1/2 oz to 1 quart water and sprayed the backs of my five chickens while they were on the roosts at night. Just today the pests are not as bad as they were a few days ago.

I have to share that when we lived in a rural area of central Tennessee, it was our first experience with biting Black Flies that appeared in April and didn't go away until September or October. They were much more veracious there that they even attacked the inside of our dog's ears, the cats would try to bite them as they flew in their faces, especially our black cat, and the Bantams and Buff Orpingtons were pestered non-stop. I'm surpised we didn't lose any chickens to them. Oddly, just a few miles away, friends of ours who had chickens did not have any biting flies bother their flock. Besides living near a river, my husband realized the continuous month after month problem was from our neighbor who had a pond built on a very deep ravine on the north side of a ridge where all year long it didn't get any sunshine so the water temperature was cool. It was too cool for fish to survive in, much less tadpoles, so it was the perfect environment for these pests to survive all but the coldest months. It was so bad that we had to wear a hat whenever working outside, and I started wearing goggles to keep them away from my eyes. Not fun wearing goggles in steamy summertime. I couldn't wait to move from that place!

 

[PatriciafromCO]

am an uneducated newbie looking for input/ discussion from more experienced !!!! read the responses to my question

would (skin so soft from Avon) be a effective? Is it still made by avon, and would it be harmful to birds if it could be effective to be used? In Basic training the gnats were so bad in AL skin so soft was the only thing that kept them off us...

 

[GunnyBun]

We have them bad here, too. We have a creek across from our property which is where they are coming from. This is the first year we've been here (20 years) that we've gotten bit, with my husband being bit on the forehead and back of neck, and me on both ears. What an itch! We normally see them come out in late March or early April and are gone by late May. I found this 2013 thread very helpful, though there are other threads here on the subject:
gnat-attack-need-help
an informative Illinois read:
Illinois Public Health-Black Flies
Last week I bought a package of three vanilla scented Little Tree pine trees found in the auto section of stores. They worked and were cheaper to use than vanilla extract on cotton balls. I also bought a bottle of Gordon's Permithrin 10 from T.Supply and mixed it 1/2 oz to 1 quart water and sprayed the backs of my five chickens while they were on the roosts at night. Just today the pests are not as bad as they were a few days ago.

I have to share that when we lived in a rural area of central Tennessee, it was our first experience with biting Black Flies that appeared in April and didn't go away until September or October. They were much more veracious there that they even attacked the inside of our dog's ears, the cats would try to bite them as they flew in their faces, especially our black cat, and the Bantams and Buff Orpingtons were pestered non-stop. I'm surpised we didn't lose any chickens to them. Oddly, just a few miles away, friends of ours who had chickens did not have any biting flies bother their flock. Besides living near a river, my husband realized the continuous month after month problem was from our neighbor who had a pond built on a very deep ravine on the north side of a ridge where all year long it didn't get any sunshine so the water temperature was cool. It was too cool for fish to survive in, much less tadpoles, so it was the perfect environment for these pests to survive all but the coldest months. It was so bad that we had to wear a hat whenever working outside, and I started wearing goggles to keep them away from my eyes. Not fun wearing goggles in steamy summertime. I couldn't wait to move from that place!

Thank you for the feedback!