Pigeon Talk

[Fields Mountain Farm]

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.

I dont have any suggestions but @mixedUPturk had issues with gnats killing some of her quail.. maybe she can help..
She dealt with buffalo gnats but her article may help with ideas on what to do to get rid of what you have, weather or not they're the same type of gnats.. I hope!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/author/mixedupturk.356238/

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.

 

[mixedUPturk]

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.

Im sorry your having that issue those bugs are a nightmare! Do u have ny vanilla extract in the pantry?

I dont have any suggestions but @mixedUPturk had issues with gnats killing some of her quail.. maybe she can help..
She dealt with buffalo gnats but her article may help with ideas on what to do to get rid of what you have, weather or not they're the same type of gnats.. I hope!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/author/mixedupturk.356238/

thanks for remembering me, that war finally ended about 2 wks ago. The blasted things died off. The war lasted about 8 wks and i sprayed permetherin 10 times! Everytime it rained or we cut our flipn grass had to be reapplied and when i missed the reapplication for a day or so the pop would blow back up. The fly catcher strips mr caveman recommended will help as can vanillaair fresheners but i had Swarms of the nasty buggars they were so thick walking thru the swarms ment eating and breathing them! I have a bayou each to my north and to my south with lots of trees offering them places to hide from the heat so they lived on despite everyone saying theyd die off when the temps reached the 90s consistently. I almost had a caught one sent to LSU to be 100% certain that it IS buffalo gnats living extra long but the vet who necropsied my hen assured me she was Certain. A fan is wonderful and the blower was an excellent idea!

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Im sorry your having that issue those bugs are a nightmare! Do u have ny vanilla extract in the pantry?



thanks for remembering me, that war finally ended about 2 wks ago. The blasted things died off. The war lasted about 8 wks and i sprayed permetherin 10 times! Everytime it rained or we cut our flipn grass had to be reapplied and when i missed the reapplication for a day or so the pop would blow back up. The fly catcher strips mr caveman recommended will help as can vanillaair fresheners but i had Swarms of the nasty buggars they were so thick walking thru the swarms ment eating and breathing them! I have a bayou each to my north and to my south with lots of trees offering them places to hide from the heat so they lived on despite everyone saying theyd die off when the temps reached the 90s consistently. I almost had a caught one sent to LSU to be 100% certain that it IS buffalo gnats living extra long but the vet who necropsied my hen assured me she was Certain. A fan is wonderful and the blower was an excellent idea!

I am soooo happy it's finally over for you!

 

[mixedUPturk]

@Qwerty3159 also, those things are lethal take every precaution.

 

[mixedUPturk]

I am soooo happy it's finally over for you!

Thanks i Still cant believe they took all but 1 of my quail. 42 birds lost in 5 days. No more losses since i did the first treatment though i stayed on top of it. I jus yest heard from my landlord how his friends mom lost all 25 of her chickens to them.

I was able to save the hen in the coop w her sister (the only chicken i lost.) She was to the lethargic stage but i got her to eat some eggs and nutridrench and it was touch and go for awhile but she survived.

ETA the vet was highly impressed that she survived she hadnt ever heard of a hen getting past the toxemia.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Thanks i Still cant believe they took all but 1 of my quail. 42 birds lost in 5 days. No more losses since i did the first treatment though i stayed on top of it. I jus yest heard from my landlord how his friends mom lost all 25 of her chickens to them.

I was able to save the hen in the coop w her sister (the only chicken i lost.) She was to the lethargic stage but i got her to eat some eggs and nutridrench and it was touch and go for awhile but she survived.

Congrats on pulling her through! That's AWESOME!
Have you been able to rebuild you flock of quail to what you want yet?

 

[CCUK]

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.

Oh no. I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't Skye being aggressive but if that's the only feasible explanation. We're there any other peck injuries other than to the eye?

 

[mixedUPturk]

Congrats on pulling her through! That's AWESOME!
Have you been able to rebuild you flock of quail to what you want yet?

Thanks she gets all the credit shes a tough ole one eyed bird

I have hehe i hatched another 48 eggs from JMF and this time theyre all colorful

 

[CCUK]

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...

I caught a chicken in one. I put one in the run last year and I heard all this commotion and one of my pullets came running out screaming. I saw something hanging of her leg. I thought she had been injured badly. Turns out it was the fly paper stuck around her leg. She lost a few feathers when I removed it.

 

[CCUK]

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?

I have had a red mite problem with my chickens for the past year or so. No matter what I did I couldn't get rid of them. I used all the prescribed methods, no luck. Do I just cleaned them out regularly to keep them minimal. This year I was given some all mite powder. Effectively DE. And it seem to have worked! Luckily they didn't get to the pigeons!