Rural Gardening: Anyone else having problems with Buffalo gnats?, 1 by fleursdefouquet

fleursdefouquet wrote:
Molly, I googled it - they are just gnats. Also known as black flies, punks, punkies, etc. Technically, they are very small flies and the females attach themselves to animals and suck blood sometimes to the point of death. They particularly like the eye, ear and nose areas. They breed in water and travel in swarms. That's about the extent of my knowlege. It's impossible to get away from them. We cannot even go on the side of the house where the chicken coop is because they are so thick. Our vet said one of his clients lost 50 chickens - they huddled together trying to protect their faces and suffocated. Apparently, they are becoming a serious problem in this area due to the excess rainfall. They like warm, moist environments. He also recommended letting the rooster free range for a while and spraying the coop with malathion. We've followed all of his advice except the Skin So Soft - need to locate an Avon rep. I also read some people put Campho-Phenic (sp?) on the chicken's head as a repellant.

We just tried to catch Dewey (the rooster) and doctor him again but he was not cooperative. Bet we looked pretty silly. Guess it will have to wait until he roosts this evening.