What do you do about the dang mosquitos?

[LuckysMom]

I sure like to sit outside and watch my chickens pecking in the yard but the mosquitos are driving me crazy! I wear long sleeves and long pants but they still bite me on my hands. I don't like to use mosquito spray on my hands because I sometimes pick the chickens up and I don't want to get spray on their feathers. What do you all do about the pesky mosquitos?

 

[CarriBrown]

Those stupid things love me! Thankfully, we really don't have any where I live, but when I see family in Virginia Beach, they darn near carry me away.

My saving grace? Unloading a can of Off all over my body.

 

[mamaboyd]

Don't know if you have AVON where you are, but the Skin So Soft bath oil that they make is great for keeping the skeeters away. I find that wearing darker colored clothing seems to attract the skeeters too.

 

[Southern28Chick]

I'm a soap maker so of course I have tons of helpful essential oils around. I usully put a dab of critonella oil on my neck, both my arms and both legs that that usually does the trick. When I'm out of oil I use the Dollar General knock off of Skin So Soft bug spray. I have skeeters really bad here, I could be outside for 5 mintues without spray and come back in with 20 bites. I always go out in the chicken yard with bug spray or citronella oil with no problems concerning the chickens.

Hey...Fall is just around the corner!!!

 

[SpottedCrow]

We're supposed to be overrun with skeeters and EEE and WNV, and we haven't really seen but one or two mosquitos this whole season.
A lot of it is to get rid of standing water, like our birds' bowls. Keep the grass short, which the birds do. And rake out under your trees, because they like the moistness of the rotting leaves. That's helped us a ton.
Avoid eating bananas, something in the bananas make mosquitos love you.
I use citronella tiki torches and I've been bitten more by the house spiders than the skeeters.

 

[Chelly]

I've been reacting HORRIBLY to the mosquito's here - in CA we had a few but not this many.... I swear it has to do with a persons blood group as well, if I'm out with other people I seem to be the only one being eaten alive.... I end up with "welts" the size of the palm of my hand from one bite! and they itch for weeks!
I've been using OFF as well, the only thing I could find in a hurry at the store.
I'd prefer to use citronella - I need to look for some of that!

 

[GoodEgg]

Must be something wrong with my citronella. I use essential oils all the time too, and I really expected it to work, and it hasn't been working well. Aura Cacia isn't my favorite brand, but normally they work quite well ... that's what this one is. Can't figure out why it isn't working.

There's definitely something about "some people" ... so it might have something to do with blood type too. I've seen those with type B get bitten about 30x as often as those with A in the same place. But ... I guess it could be something in shampoo, etc. or the diet too.

I've heard a few people swear by vitamin B-1, saying that taking a dose every day will prevent mosquitoes from biting. I haven't finished testing it out myself yet. I'm not sure how long it should take to work.

Personally, my problem is ants. They LOVE me and will search me out among everyone else, and give me LOTS of painful bites. I HATE ants! un

trish

 

[nccountrygirl]

Hi ya"ll, my BIL is a chemist for a company that produces pure DEET. He has run numerous test on blood types and mesquitos and yes blood type has every thing to do with it. I'm O positive and they LOVE me, so BIL sends me a bottle of DEET and I mix 1 once to a big bottle of lotion and I'm pest free.

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

While living in the tropics, nothing but DEET sprays worked on the mosquitos. (such as Off). Would be nice if citronella candles worked though.

In stores like Tractor Supply Company, you can get these flat, slow burning mosquito repelling coils that work pretty well if you don't want spray on your skin. The smoke can't be great, but I've been using them for 22 years now, and no lung problems yet...

 

[cheeptrick]

Nothing but DEET works here in New England too! We've got black flies which are worse than mosquitos...believe me! They anesthetize you before they bite you and you don't know they've bitten you till the blood starts running down your skin! My family is terrible allergic to them! They bite you on the back of the neck in the hairline and swell up 2x's more than mosquito bites! Deet is the only thing...wear hats too with DEET on them!