Ronnie_
Chirping
- Mar 1, 2023
- 81
- 82
- 91
Hi all!
As things are warming up and my girls are finally outside in their enclosure, I wanted to get some opinions on different forms of insect control (specifically mosquitos and flies).
For Mosquitos~ My ducks (3) just upgraded from a kiddie pool to a large 4' x 12" (~80 Gallons) pool. Ideally, I will change it every 3 days due to its larger size/capacity (and we top off a bit daily). I'm looking into 2 options to help control the mosquito pop. around these water sources.
1. Adding in a few feeder goldfish weekly (I know they'll most likely be eaten eventually by the girls). However, I would want to use tap water conditioner to remove chlorine to allow the fish to survive long enough to eat larvae. Would using a Pet store Fish Tap water conditioner be safe for the ducks?
2. Using Mosquito Dunks in the pool. I know they are based using the BiT bacteria, but has anyone used them before? Do ducks try to eat them? I worried my girls might try to eat the chunks from the dunk...
For Flies~ My ducks (3) have a 25 sq. ft. duck shack & 192 sq ft attached run. Right now, we do a complete deep clean of the house bedding ever 3 weeks as it has not gotten too grimy, and we are experimenting to see if the deep-liter method is a viable option for us to maintain. We do daily spot cleans and stir the bedding daily. Every week leading up to deep cleans we sprinkle food-grade Diatomaceous earth on the bedding and mix it in. The run is 1/2 grass and 1/2 pea gravel, so this is just sprayed down as needed to remove poop. But we are still seeing flies. (Not atrocious or Amity horror level) but I want to keep them under control. All I can think is to hang an outdoor fly trap to just remove as many from the population as possible.
Would love any recommendations or advice. I live in zone 6B, and we didn't have a super cold winter this year so I'm sure most insect populations will be THRIVING this summer.
As things are warming up and my girls are finally outside in their enclosure, I wanted to get some opinions on different forms of insect control (specifically mosquitos and flies).
For Mosquitos~ My ducks (3) just upgraded from a kiddie pool to a large 4' x 12" (~80 Gallons) pool. Ideally, I will change it every 3 days due to its larger size/capacity (and we top off a bit daily). I'm looking into 2 options to help control the mosquito pop. around these water sources.
1. Adding in a few feeder goldfish weekly (I know they'll most likely be eaten eventually by the girls). However, I would want to use tap water conditioner to remove chlorine to allow the fish to survive long enough to eat larvae. Would using a Pet store Fish Tap water conditioner be safe for the ducks?
2. Using Mosquito Dunks in the pool. I know they are based using the BiT bacteria, but has anyone used them before? Do ducks try to eat them? I worried my girls might try to eat the chunks from the dunk...
For Flies~ My ducks (3) have a 25 sq. ft. duck shack & 192 sq ft attached run. Right now, we do a complete deep clean of the house bedding ever 3 weeks as it has not gotten too grimy, and we are experimenting to see if the deep-liter method is a viable option for us to maintain. We do daily spot cleans and stir the bedding daily. Every week leading up to deep cleans we sprinkle food-grade Diatomaceous earth on the bedding and mix it in. The run is 1/2 grass and 1/2 pea gravel, so this is just sprayed down as needed to remove poop. But we are still seeing flies. (Not atrocious or Amity horror level) but I want to keep them under control. All I can think is to hang an outdoor fly trap to just remove as many from the population as possible.
Would love any recommendations or advice. I live in zone 6B, and we didn't have a super cold winter this year so I'm sure most insect populations will be THRIVING this summer.
