What are these black bugs flying around my chickens?

[Oopoo]

Has anyone tried a fan? Most bugs don't do wind very well and it's the least invasive.

 

[amber]

I have not tried a fan, but I think I will. Any suggestions on what kind of fan I can put outside, though?

I am also going to try vanilla. My m-i-l said vanilla scented perfume works for her.

I also have a correction the spray I was using was called LiquiNet NOT Equinet. It just has a picture of a horse on the front of it! It works pretty well, but I'd like to find something that has a little more staying power and a little less expensive.

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

I used two fans. Limited success. The chickens piled up in front of them.

That was better than when they piled up and pushed through the poultry netting.

I lost 21 of 39 last Thursday (thank God I had slaughtered 60 already). Just as I came home in the evening they were really piling up. 5 were dead beyond use. I warmed up water and started pulling out the weak (but still breathing) birds. Off to the freezer they went. Every bird was covered in red bites. I put the healthy birds in the screened greenhouse and slaughtered them Saturday morning. Each had scabs and gashes where they had been bitten and picked at.

The layers have been staying in their coop. I keep the doors and windows closed just opening the hen door. This needs to end soon. Birds are stressed and grumpy, eggs are runny, roosters are intolerable.

I'm surrounded by running water and clouds of gnats. They somehow find their way through my bee gear.