Mosquitoes!!

[MyTDogs]

Is there anything I can do to minimize mosquitoes around my birds? I have one broody duck & she is just surrounded by 20-30 mosquitoes each morning what I shoo her out of the nest box. I am sure the others are just as bad but the bugs fly around when the birds start moving in the morning.

Thanks!

 

[AlienChick]

Sorry about your mosquito problem.
I can only suggest getting some guineas.

 

[galanie]

Too bad I'm so far away. Mosquitoes love me so much they'd be too full to eat your ducks after I visited.

 

[WinterLadyAK]

The broody might be different, but don't the other ones eat them out of the air? Mine will even jump for mosquitoes, and will catch them. They try for flies but haven't gotten one of them yet (that I've seen). I think of mosquitoes as a great snack for them, and the last month we've been literally swamped with them but I think it only bothers me not the chickens.

 

[Chiken Mamma]

I have a bad mosquito problem here in Ontario too. I was told to sweep all the hay, etc that was on the floor out of the coop. My coop gets flooded a bit when it rains and the hay would stay damp for days. I was also given a spray for spiders that I was told to spray on the walls, roosts, nesting boxes, etc. It is safe for the chickens. I have 2 guineas that eat a lot of the mosquitoes. A lite in the coop at night is supposed to let the birds see the bugs better. I was also told that ducks eat mosquitoes but mine are sleeping ont he pond and wont come into the coop at night. Another spray that is safe for chickens is listerine the mouthwash. Havent ried that one yet, but will soon!

I hope some of these suggestions work for you.

 

[Jaxon4141]

Do a search for mosquito dunks or bits. It's an insect bacterial toxin that kills some types of insect larva, which includes mosquitoes. The toxin doe not appear to be toxic to vertebrates.

 

[Jaxon4141]

I have a bad mosquito problem here in Ontario too. I was told to sweep all the hay, etc that was on the floor out of the coop. My coop gets flooded a bit when it rains and the hay would stay damp for days. I was also given a spray for spiders that I was told to spray on the walls, roosts, nesting boxes, etc. It is safe for the chickens. I have 2 guineas that eat a lot of the mosquitoes. A lite in the coop at night is supposed to let the birds see the bugs better. I was also told that ducks eat mosquitoes but mine are sleeping ont he pond and wont come into the coop at night. Another spray that is safe for chickens is listerine the mouthwash. Havent ried that one yet, but will soon!

I hope some of these suggestions work for you.

Spraying and kill spiders is counter productive to getting rid of mosquitoes. Let your fowl take care of the spiders that are not smart enough to stay out of the way and let the rest of the spiders help you get rid of mosquitoes.

 

[krispkritter]

I put a separate fan and bug zapper out near the coop. The fan helps keep them cool and the bugs at bay. It's a $15 Big Lots fan and it runs only after dark on a timer and has been at work for 9 months even in the rain. I know, why hasn't it fried? Use it with a GFCI of course but rain doesn't faze it. Locate the zapper a bit away from the coop and put it on the same timer.

And the best solution: dog fennel. Look it up online. It's a tall growing, fern-like plant that is somewhat invasive but it was rumored to be used by native FL Indians to keep mosquitoes at bay. Well, there's a dry pond bed full of it on my property and we go walking and riding down there all the time and there are no mosquitoes anywhere. So I took several fronds from the plants and lined the nesting box with them and the top of the coop. Where before I had mosquitoes hanging out inside the coop during the day, now it's mosquito-free. I'm going to be boiling some down and creating a spray from it to see how effective it is, there are some sites on the web that say it's just as effective as DEET but has a shorter 'lifespan' but an oil base may help that. Even so, I'm encouraging it to grow near the house to fend off the 'squiters.

It grows over much of the US and is rampant in FL(I'm on the Nature Coast). It has great bunches of white flowers when blooming but the scent isn't very good. Bonus: the dried stalks make a very handy pole for tomatoes or beans, etc. Not as strong or long-lived as bamboo but free, easy to grow, and they can reach 8' in a single season.