I am thankful for all the rain this spring - no forest fires. But we are being eaten alive by

[jwirr]

mosquitos. It is hard even to go out to do the chores. I hate to think what it is going to be like gardening.

But most of all I worry about the animals that have to live outside. We have goats, chickens and cats outside. Any advice? We have a bug zapper in the barn but that is not going to be enough. Are animals harmed by mosquitos? Any help will be welcome.

[Kali]

1. if you use flea/tick "pour-on" type stuff on your cats it will help with flies and mosquitoes

same with collars. You can get ear tags or collars for the goats as well or various sprays/wipes etc.

I have never found the "natural" sprays - citronella or eucalyptus based to be very effective but might be worth trying if you don't want to use the other stuff.

drain any standing water you can, use mosquito "dunks," and encourage frogs, bats, birds etc.

Yes there are transmissible diseases so some precautions are probably warranted. check with a vet or county extension.

[jwirr]

2. Thank you.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Dogs get heartworm from mosquitoes.

Huge problem down here.
Luckily there is a monthly pill for it.

Have not thought about the chickens we have. Mosquitoes are most likely food to them.

[mopinko]

6. the army tested it all. WHO tested it all. deet

and ddt at the only things that works well enough to bet your life is what they decided. unless something new has come up in the last few years.

they even tried skin so soft. i think that one attracted them.

[fasttense]

4. I wish you could send some rain our way.

Normally about this time of year we get at least one good rain a week normally 2 a week. But this year we haven't gotten any rain for 3 weeks. I wish I had your problem. We have very little mosquitoes and gnats this year.

But last year we had tons of rain and mosquitoes too. I let my chickens run lose in the yard where we keep the grass short and it seemed to help reduce the population of mosquitoes a lot. We also had no fleas that year but the gnats were really bad.

We have sheep and they didn't seem to mind the mosquitoes but the biting flies really drove them crazy. I finally broke down and bought some chemical wipes for the sheep to wipe them down with. But it seemed like the minute I bought the wipes, the flies went away.

[jwirr]

5. We are getting too much rain here after the huge snows we had last winter. Thank you for the tips.