Pigeon Talk

[backyard pigeons]

Field mountains your back! How was you nap?

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I've got to go also. Funny, I was wondering if you were thinking about the birds also last night.

I'm going to TSC. To get ivermethrin spray.

The mites have come back...

I finally asleep still thinking about them..

I cleaned out all the bedding in my main coop, and squirted and squirted in the nooks and crannies. And all in the boxes and floors. Tonight I'm going to get the birds.

I am going to start spraying every day for a week, and once the mites are all gone I will spray weekly as preventive. I saw some quite I usual things I didn't expect... Cockroaches were living in my coop! I saw 5-6 and a bunch of centipedes.

How often do you spray? If at all?

Ugh.. what a pain! Im sorry you're having to deal with all that..

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Field mountains your back! How was you nap?

Good thank you..

 

[Qwerty3159]

We ended up getting about 8 hours straight of extremely heavy rain so I'm not worried about the squabs being hot at the moment.
Unfortunately this extremely heavy rain has brought out swarms of gnats or midges, not sure if you guys get them in the summer too. I don't think they actually bite or do any real damage other than flying into and onto everything, they are extremely small and able to fit into the loft and are currently driving my birds nuts, with all the foot stomping and head-shaking going on I thought some wild animal had gotten in. I'm not sure really if there's a way to stop this problem because they're absolutely everywhere.
I give them monthly ivermectin drops on the 1st of each month but tomorrow I'm going to do them all early and hope it keeps them away a bit.
I got my pigeons last fall so this is my first incident with these bugs. Does anyone else have an issue too?

 

[cavemanrich]

Should I be overly concerned about panting squabs? The loft has plenty if not too much ventilation and there's only one point for about 10 minutes in the evening where the sun can shine directly towards them, its just plain hot!
The other day when I first noticed them doing it I took them inside to cool off. Fortunately the parents are very lenient about me messing with their young but I cannot reasonably move them inside permanently to keep them cool.

Is there a way to place some shade for the short time the sun shines in the eve directly. Temporary tarp???
I have not encountered swarms of gnats, but if I did,,,,, I would consider using these. Sticky fly traps. I would install them on the outside of loft,,, to catch whatever was heading into, or just buzzing in vicinity.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Is there a way to place some shade for the short time the sun shines in the eve directly. Temporary tarp???
I have not encountered swarms of gnats, but if I did,,,,, I would consider using these. Sticky fly traps. I would install them on the outside of loft,,, to catch whatever was heading into, or just buzzing in vicinity.

I wouldn't recommend doing that. Because when I set one outside of the loft, I caught a bird. they try to eat all the flies that are stuck...

 

[Qwerty3159]

update on the bug situation:
I went out around 3 am last night to even more gnats. I squished many against the walls and found that a small percentage of them had blood inside them which leads me to believe there were at least a few of them feeding on the birds. This morning there was a bit of a breeze so many of them were gone. The loft stays pretty cool for most of the day so I don't think its warmed up enough to drive them off completely yet.
All the birds appeared fine albeit a bit restless but I moved everybody into the aviary and blew a leaf blower into the loft which removed 90% of the remaining gnats. We are in for another day like yesterday with a hot early morning and afternoon followed by long heavy rains until dusk so hopefully I do not have more gnats tonight.
I set up some bowls will vinegar and soapy water outside the loft to catch them but they seem more attracted to the birds. If they are severe again tonight I will be bringing the squabs inside for the night as they have a decent amount of bare skin opposed to the adults.

 

[WVduckchick]

Okay, thanks! I didn't encounter this issue with the first set they raised because it was still much cooler out. They're not really panting constantly, more of just an on and off thing.
If it does get worse I'll have to buy a fan.

Is there a way to add a small piece of cloth or tarp or something to block that bit of sun?

 

[Qwerty3159]

Is there a way to add a small piece of cloth or tarp or something to block that bit of sun?

Yes, I should've been more clear. I already had that part blocked off, they were panting in the shade! I think they'll just have to get used to the increasing temperatures, it has been an extremely mild summer up until this week when it started heating up.

 

[WVduckchick]

Yes, I should've been more clear. I already had that part blocked off, they were panting in the shade! I think they'll just have to get used to the increasing temperatures, it has been an extremely mild summer up until this week when it started heating up.

I usually catch up before commenting, which I should have done this time. I see that was already suggested.

I’m caught up now!

Don’t think I told you all, I found Galaxy dead a couple evenings ago. He was just starting to get out of the box and wander around, I saw momma feeding him on the ground. But when I did my evening rounds, Galaxy was laying dead in his nest box. No apparent wounds except a small peck on one eye. Crop was full, he had been doing very well. I think Skye got aggressive and did it.