Mosquitoes

[Frosty]

Your mosquitos must be something else! We have them here, sometimes bad enough that my horses look gray because there are so many. But between these and the ones on Guam, never had problems like you are describing!

The first shot may have put them into anaphylactic shock, and the second may have been something like epinephrine to reverse it.

Another tidbit that you might be interested in... sometimes when my birds get runny poop, I grind up some hot peppers and add it to their water. I use Thai Dragon hot peppers, it seems to clear up the poop problems. I don't think the birds notice the heat, there are actually reports of the wild turkeys in Mexico eating hot peppers growing there.

 

[thaiturkey]

Thanks Frosty.

The vet may have exaggerated a little because the poults all look fine again today and I have watched them closely. The wounds are drying up nicely. Fingers crossed.

Hot peppers! We have plenty of those around the garden so I'll try some just to see what happens. They really are hot here though!

 

[thaiturkey]

I just found this useful information about mosquitoes and how to deal with them:

http://www.safe2use.com/pests/mosquitos/non-toxic.htm

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
We asked him to call in with worm treatment for all 5 poults. He was here at 7.30 this morning, handed over powders with instructions, checked the progress being made with the mozzie bites and gave us some more general advice. No charge!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep, we fortunately dont have all that problems with them here. The main disease transmitted to birds by U.S. mosquito bite is FowLPox. We have a wing stab injection that cam be given to them at a day old to prevent any trouble with it. Would advise anyone in the south or where you have them really bad to look into vaccinating all your birds against it. It's cheap, readily available, easy to do, and sure is better than watching the suffocate from a swollen throat...

 

[thaiturkey]

The poults have survived and the wounds from the bites are healing nicely. One poult had a bite on its toe and I think it will have a permanent bend in it as a result of the infection.

The vet returned last week and gave each bird a shot of Gentamox (I got the name this time). This coming week he will give them some protection against avian 'flu and as soon as the bite wounds have cleared completely they will have their anti mozzie injections.

The net tent has been a boon. We will dispense with it once the new coop is finished - a slow job for various reasons. When new poults come along we shall use it again for them.

We seem to have three stags and two hens, a ratio that we must soon correct. Three of the birds are now larger than the other two and have started to show off. They push each other with their breasts and strut around the hens who either sit or walk away. Where do young kids learn these tricks?

Thanks again to all how offered advice.

 

[thaiturkey]

Finally, the poults are ready for the mosquito medication that they should have had at 1 week old. That will make life easier for them and for us.

The people from whom we bought the poults have lost all of the ones that they kept because of infection from mosquito bites. 11 poults. Also, a hen was laying eggs under a tree and dogs had all of them. I offered to buy the stag and two hen adults from them if they felt they weren't coping with turkeys but was refused because the hens had laid again. I asked about the losses and reminded them that we had a good vet. They use no medication, feed the poults only rice and don't keep them mozzie free during the first few weeks of life. Their reaction was that they didn't care whether the poults survived or not. People like that shouldn't have animals!