Mahonri's 2nd Annual BYC EASTER HATCH. Post pics of your chicks!

[superchemicalgirl]

Steve, the woman from this thread that offered up the soap prize MarathonMultiplesMom has a citronella soap available that you might want to try:
http://www.edentiafarms.etsy.com/

 

[SteveH]

A high velocity fan is working well to blow the buffalo gnats away from my few remaining birds.

For those familiar with bug zappers, you know most bugs get fried then fall through the grid and out the bottom; but some get hung up and you have to clean it some days. My bug zapper is doing a better job than I thought on the buffalo gnats.................................... the mosquitoes are bad here, but these can't all be mosquitoes.

Clean bug zapper, with the florescent bulb that attracts bugs showing.

What mine looked like today before cleaning.

 

[kvmommy]

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wow...just wow. how long was that up?

 

[happyhensny]

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Got some of those evil little buggers. Good job.

 

[SteveH]

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wow...just wow. how long was that up?

Twelve hours from the last time I saw it empty; I don't know how long it had been completely plugged.

 

[chknfrmr]

Here are a few pics of my first chicks:

Lamar

 

[SteveH]

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[Cynthia12]

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Thank you, and everyone else, for all the support. Strange you mentioned pride, I was just thinking it always goes before the fall.

A high velocity fan is working very well. The few survivors only took minutes to discover that standing in front of it gave them relief. I bought a large tiki lantern and gallon of citronella oil as back up, but not useing it yet. They do not seem attracted to a new bug zapper. Other than that, their own defence was to hide in the darkest areas; the gnats hate darkness, but love tall grass though.

Almost forgot, one more died, but I found two that flew out of the open topped pen to hide from the gnats. I had not counted the dead, just subtracted the few live from what was supposed to be in the pens. I was very pleasantly surprized by a blue Ameraucana that did not know how to back out of a lumber pile she got under, and the sport white Freedom Ranger that hid under a junked jeep at the other end of the building.

Just saw your post here and some of the remarks..and an offer from dsgard. Not sure if you took her up on her offer, but I can tell you this, her eggs are very fertile..and, I got some beautiful blues, a black, and a splash Ameraucana from her. They are beautiful!

 

[SteveH]

Thanks to a post by knjnnm, I used this link to find that one of the only 4 retailers in my state was less than 20 miles away. The business listed was actually an applicator instead of a retailer, but supplies it to a nearby greenhouse that retails it. I sprayed this garlic spray in my coop, pen, and surrounding area; it worked nearly instantly. Home made garlic spray has not been effective. It remains to be seen if it works as long as touted, but today is the first day my chickens left the safety of the high velocity fan since this plague began. More detail at the second link.

http://www.mosquitobarrier.com//

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6491659#p6491659

 

[SteveH]

I'm certain I have not replied to all those offering support, suggestions, or free hatching eggs. I did not mean to ignore anyone, I just lost track of those not sent by PM, and have been very busy. So, thank you everyone. I've enough eggs of my own, added to those I may have coming from others, to restock. God willing, by late fall I may have a breeding population going again.

Two applications of Mosquito Barrier left a reduced number of buffalo gnats, but enough to still be a problem. I called the local distributor, who, it turns out, had already contacted the manufacturer in regards to my problem. Canadians have discovered that in heavy blackfly hatches, Mosquito Barrier has to be mixed at 12 oz to the gallon of water instead of 3 oz, with 2 tspns of Palmolive dish soap per gal added also. Canola oil, usually added 1:1 to Mosquito Barrier, isn't necessary for buffalo gnats; but does aid mosquito control by floating on the surface of still waters as a very thin film, and kills the larvae as they hatch.