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Buffalo gnat control?

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Guest:
I\'m up late, trying to figure out where to go from here.

To make a long story short, I lost 45 of my 52 outside birds [which included all my Ameraucanas] today; they went from obviously healthy to dead or dieing over the course of the day. I took 3 to the state lab, but a phone call to my neighbor resulted in the information that it was buffalo gnats. I had seen them on my dead and dieing, but thought they had gathered there after the birds went down.

He went out to find them killing his brooder chicks, and was going back out to put up a big fan to blow the gnats clear of the brooder. He said they crawl into the beaks through the nostrils and enter the airways; that people in this area have lost entire flocks before due to them. Another nearby person said spraying chlorine bleach in the coops repels them........................ that seems a little severe to the birds respiratory to me.

I dusted the survivors with Sevin, but of course not their faces. Then I hung glass bottles of chlorine, with holes punched in the lids, in a coop and a portable breeding pen. I have 6 fairly healthy, and one near dead, birds to see if this is effective. I have 14 chicks hatched last week still inside; plus a bator with 42 eggs. Any suggestions for control so that I can have them outside someday?  

Mike Gilbert:
That is really heartbreaking.   We sometimes get them here.
The best defense is dust, and that means keep them out of outside pens on grass.  Or if outside, make sure it is on dirt so they can scratch.   It is possible to make a repellent from vanilla extract, but you have to apply it at least twice a day, and it just is not worth the effort and cost.  God made chickens to love dirt and dust for a reason - for their own protection.  I raise mine in a dusty coop, and it is effective not only against gnats, but also mosquitoes and other flying insects.  I do let them outside, but they can get back in if they need to, and the insects stop at the door.

Beth C:
I am so sorry, Steve - that is just horrible...

greeneggsandham:
Dang, I didn\'t know those gnats could do that.  I believe we had them here last spring.  They were biting gnats, I know that.  I kept wondering what was causing my hens to shake their heads all the time.  It was the gnats.  But they did not seem to be here in very large numbers.

What a bummer.  Wish I had some suggestions.

Guest:
One of the last 2 EEs died today, but a blue Ameraucana hen and sport white Freedom Ranger pullet turned up loose and alive. Evidently the two had flown over the pen. The Am had hid her head under a lumber pile and survived, but did not know how to back out.................. at least she was easy to catch. :p The Freedom Ranger sought refuge under a junked jeep at the other end of the building I have my chickens penned to.

A trip to Walmart netted me a high velocity fan for under $40. By the time I got back, the gnats were out in force. The gnats hate the dark. My now 7 survivors had learned to hide in the dark; 4 were in nest boxes, 3 picked a corner and dug a dust bath. I hooked the fan up and drove the girls from their refuges. Within minutes they found the fan and were happily standing in front of it, gnat free. I replaced my bug zapper;  the gnats never got near it, but its frying about 10 mosquitoes a minute right now.  :D  I also purchased the largest tiki lantern I saw and a gallon of citronella oil, but have not tried it.

Since the buffalo gnats disappear at dusk and return in the morning, the fan is on a timer.

P.S. No repellents I tried worked. I poured straight vanilla in my hand and rubbed over my own and the one EE\'s head. It lasted less than 15 minutes.

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