Managing Mosquitoes in the Coop

[AZ Heat]

I've been having a bad mosquito problem in my coop, specifically the nest boxes. Is there a trick to getting rid of mosquitoes in chicken coops?

And there isn't any standing water, but the local plants seem to attract them a bit. I can't change that.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Do you sprinkle with DE? That keeps mine very clear of any and all bugs
Also, doyou have standing water? If so, the mosquit dunks work well

 

[dawg53]

Mosquitos are an issue here also. I've installed screen around the vents and also the entrance to their house. In the mornings the chickens manage to go thru the screen, down the ramp to feed. After the sun comes up I use a clothespin to hold back the screen so they can go back in their house to lay eggs. In the evening just before sunset, I coerce them into their house,remove the clothespin and down comes the screen to block mosquitos from flying in their house. I also have a bug zapper outside their pen that helps and I use sevin dust inside their house to control all types of bugs and pests. I dust once every 10 days after cleaning/sanitizing their house.

 

[CityChook]

Weird. Mosquitos are pretty much the state bird here in MN, but my yard has NONE. The chickens must be eating all of them. Seems strange that they'd be prevalent inside the coop. Sorry I can't help here - hopefully someone else will have the answer.

 

[patandchickens]

I have to laugh about the standard Public Health type suggestions to get rid of standing water (not in the above post specifically, just ANY time that is suggested) -- yeah, obviously that makes sense, but it does zero to get rid of the nine bazillion mosquitoes that bred in someone ELSE's standing water and are just generally infesting the whole area

Believe me, how much standing water you do or don't have on your property has really pretty much nothing to do with your mosquito count, in an area with lotsa mosquitos!

If you have tall grass or other nonlawn plants within 20' or so of the coop, eliminate them if possible, that will decrease the mosquitos hanging around.

Planting lemon balm or yarrow (large amounts of 'em) helps somewhat but by no means totally IME.

I get mosquitos hanging out in my chicken bldg in the summertime, esp in the darker back half of it, also in my darkish barn; I think they are trying to stay out of the bright drying exposed outdoors? Anyhow, I do know what you mean. If you could get more light and/or air movement in the coop in general and the nestboxes in particular (keeping an eye out for chickens conceivably becoming annoyed by more light), that would likely help.

Spraying a citronella and/or pyrethrin spray on the walls of the coop occasionally can help, but I am personally leery of doing it, I certainly would not do the spraying when birds were in the coop or likely to reenter soon.

Good luck, "have fun",

Pat, in a mosquito swamp for most of the summer

 

[dawg53]

patandchickens. I had to laugh at your post lol...you are absolutely correct! It's been bone dry here in southeast Georgia and it seems the mosquito problem is worse this year than last year when all it did WAS rain practrically everyday. We have 'tiger' mosquitos also that'll nail you anytime of the day rather than around early morning and late afternoon like regular mosquitos. Also mosquitos carry fowl pox and it's easily spread to chickens after they're bitten by an infected mosquito. I dealt with that issue 4 years ago, it was a terrible mess and stressful. I've heard of people also spraying vinegar in chicken nests, it wont hurt the chickens neither.

 

[Beekercat]

I'm hoping that reducing the number of mosquitoes on the property will lead to less of the little buggers in the coop so we've put up three large bat houses on our property; supposedly an adult bat can eat 1500+ mosquitoes each day. We shall see...

 

[dawg53]

Yeah you're right about the bats Beekercat...I've also heard dragonflies tear them up also.

 

[Jody]

Plant marigolds all around the run and coop. Mosquitos HATE marigolds. Also, catnip and rosemary work well... catnip actually is 10 times more effective than DEET, but it is poisonous to chickens if they ingest it. Could also put them potted on the coop roof, or window boxes on coop walls, etc

 

[patandchickens]

Uh, catnip *oil* is, volume for volume, ten times more effective than DEET in laboratory trials... however this does not mean that the plant, growing in the garden, is especially repellent to mosquitoes.

I get just about as many mosquitoes hanging around the very-catnip-infested parts of my house foundation plantings as in the catnip-free parts.

Skeptical about real-world effectiveness of planting marigolds either, but not tried it.

Just sayin',

Pat