Organic/Natural repellent

[RioLindoAz]

Hey!!!

I know that summer is coming and that means lots & lots of nasty mosquitos.
One way to get those nasty mosquitos away from you is to wear repellent.
But if you want to make sure no mosquitos get to your animals, you might not
be able to give them the same repellent you use. So, let me show you a natural,
repellent reciepe that you and your animals can wear.

________________
Materials
An empty spray bottle
1-1/2 cups of water
Tea Tree Oil [wich you can find at a health store]



First, pour the water into the spray bottle.
Then, add 15 drops of the Tea Tree Oil into the spray bottle.
Shake it a little bit, and its ready!

Thank you for coming,
Chicken_Boy

 

[Dawn419]

Thanks for the recipe! I'm definately going to try it here, this year!


Dawn

 

[RioLindoAz]

It works really well for hourses, big time! But it takes half a bottle to spray them all

 

[spatcher]

I believe DE will keep them away from your chickens.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I really can't see how it would? It has to be ingested by the bug then basically sheds them inside. It isn't a repellant.

 

[cjeanean]

we've been using tea tree oil for years, my mom is really into natural stuff. Didn't think about using it on my chickens, though....thanks!

 

[earthnut]

I once read a study that soybean oil was quite effective, for humans at least. I don't think sprayed oil would be good for feathers though. The same study found eucalyptus to be very effective too. You could probably substitute eucalyptus essential oil for tea tree oil. I don't remember if they tried tea tree, but they did find citronella and mint and catmint to be very short-lasting. I can attest to the ineffectiveness of citronella and the effectiveness of eucalyptus!

 

[dlhunicorn]

Please be careful when using any aromatics or terpenes around birds... inhalation or absorption through cracks in skin can cause severe reactions which can sometimes lead to death.
http://www.exoticbird.com/gillian/

 

[gumpsgirl]

Interesting! My family and I will most definitely be using it! Someone (I think its Dawn419?) rubs their roosts down with a mixture of the tea tree oil and vegetable oil to help freshen the coop. I wonder if just treating the areas that the chickens live in with the tea tree oil and maybe the eucalyptus oil as well, might be enough to keep mosquitos away. Kind of like a citronella candle burning. It's worth a shot anyways!

 

[Carolyn&Ron]

As was mentioned, I wouldn't think you would want to put any kind of oil on a chicken. We will try the tea tree oil spray on our horses and on ourselves though.

We have been trying oregano oil on ourselves to see if that will keep off the critters--but I wouldn't want to use it around chickens and I don't know about using it around horses or other animals