Should I mosquito proof my new coop?

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I'd like to know an easy way to keep mosquitoes out of a coop & a run. I think it would be possible to bar as much of the openings as possible, but very difficult to cover every opening through which a tiny mosquito could get into a coop. Covering an entire run would be extremely difficult.

I also live in swampy South Florida, aka Mosquito Central. Sure, the skeeters get to the birds, but the Fowl Pox usually only affects the young stock since the older birds have already caught it, fought it off, and built up their own immunity to it. They may look bad for a week or two, but then it's over.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I agree. I think it will be difficult. Some mosquitoes will still slip through but I would hope that the number of mosquitoes would not be as much since the mosquito screening would b on top of the hardware cloth.

Yes, they will only look bad for a week or 2 but I feel helpless that I can't help them with the biting ALL NIGHT LONG. I can't stand for a mosquito to bite me for a second, so I know that I couldn't take being bitten from 6pm - 6am. The mosquito can work a 12 hour shift and get all the blood that he wants. I just feel so bad when I see that.

 

[TigerLilly]

thanks for the info--very informative threads!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Yea, I felt sorry for my girls and boys as well. To have to sleep all night with mosquitoes biting the CRAP out of you and you can't swat them away. Blood drips down from the combs and wattles and you can't do anything.

Where did you get your mosquito screening? Do you have any pics? I need to get started like this weekend on mine coops. Did I say, I HATE MOSQUITOES!!!!

I suppose regular screen door stuff on the roll. wow some of those pics are traumatic.

 

[Moabite]

Quote:
I'd like to know an easy way to keep mosquitoes out of a coop & a run. I think it would be possible to bar as much of the openings as possible, but very difficult to cover every opening through which a tiny mosquito could get into a coop. Covering an entire run would be extremely difficult.

I also live in swampy South Florida, aka Mosquito Central. Sure, the skeeters get to the birds, but the Fowl Pox usually only affects the young stock since the older birds have already caught it, fought it off, and built up their own immunity to it. They may look bad for a week or two, but then it's over.

In my case it will be easy. All I'd have to do is wrap the one swath around the run with stainless steel screen and since I'm in the middle of replacing the chicken wire with hardware cloth anyway, it's just a matter of a few dollars and a little extra time doubling it up. I'll ride over to the lumber yard on my bike in the morning.

 

[kuntrygirl]

perchie.girl :

wow some of those pics are traumatic.

Yep.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

That's a neat coop you've got there, Moabite, and it does look easy to wrap in screening. But will you try to mosquito-proof the entire run too? I think that would be much more difficult to protect. I don't know what else chickens can get from mosquitoes besides the Fowl Pox, and am not that concerned if/when my birds catch it. A long-time experienced chicken-keeper here recommends putting liquid black shoe polish on the lesions, to help keep the other birds from pecking at them. I'd be more concerned if I kept show birds (one of my banty roosters lost a few points off his comb to fowl pox lesions there) and I do watch to make sure it doesn't turn into the wet form (can clog eyes & nostrils).

I've seen my chickens roosting under swarms of mosquitoes, it seems to annoy them more than anything, they just keep shaking their heads to shoo them off. I've never seen blood dripping off combs & wattles from mosquito bites, perhaps that comes from other chickens pecking at pox lesions? The shoe polish could help stop that temptation.

There is a vaccine you can give your young birds to give them immunity to the Fowl Pox. My resources are better spent making my coops safe from the larger predators with four legs, teeth & claws. Here in the swamps there's really nothing to do to eliminate mosquitoes, instead it's better to practice good prevention such as removing anything that will collect & hold standing water.

 

[farmer_lew]

Avian Pox aside, mosquitoes are a nuisance. I am from SW Louisiana originally and know what a nuisance they can be. In fact, I used to joke that the mosquito was the Louisiana state bird!

If for no other reason, I would mosquito proof the coop just to provide relief from the aggravation that is a mosquito. Window screen material over the vents (on top of the hardware cloth) and any other openings in the coop, should reduce the mosquitoes in the coop. Also, make sure there is no standing, stagnant water around the coop/run. If you can, make a nipple watering system for the chooks, so there isn't ANY standing water. Try to keep puddles to a minimum, if possible, too.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I agree.

 

[Moabite]

The bottom part is the run

, I love the simplicity of my coop, my chickens are very happy in it. I wont let my hens see the fancy coops here on BYC, they might stop laying!
Mosquitoes only come out in the day around here when the humidity is very high and that isn't often. Spring run off hatches out flood water mosquitoes by the billions. I live less than 1/2 mile from one of the largest wetlands on the Colorado River. I didn't notice any problems last year with my chicks, but looking back, I know how miserable they must have felt.