buffalo gnats

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akane

akane

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A random thought today. In the spring we had a horrible problem with these gnats. Apparently some chickens are highly allergic and several died having seizures. The breeder also had my akita's father break out in horrible sores recently because they took him to an area that still had large populations of buffalo gnats. What about rabbits.... The rabbits were on the enclosed porch during the height of gnat season and while 100,000s of gnats did get on the porch one evening they all collected on the windows and got stuck between the ripped screens (thanks to a cat) and the windows. I sprayed them all with dog safe mosquito spray that I hoped was also safe around rabbits and ended up with about 3" high and 1" deep of gnat bodies on the window sill the entire length of the 12' long porch. It was a nice victory but did not prevent chickens being tortured. I ended up spraying essential oils (also a dog bug spray I have around) on the door frame to deter them from entering the coop.

So are rabbits susceptible to buffalo gnats? I'd like to plan for this now rather than the middle of winter or after the problem occurs.
 
Wow, I have never heard of them, I live on the west coast. That sounds like a plague of biblical proportions! I will never complain of mosquitoes again!
 
Eco2pia, I'm with you there. I'd never heard of them either. More and more, hearing about fire ants, buffalo gnats, venomous snakes and spiders, temperatures routinely over 100 degrees F., floods, horrific hurricanes and tornadoes... I realize that this part of Southern Ontario is paradise. I'm not saying things don't happen here - blizzards, wind storms, even the odd tornado - but most of the time they are not extreme. We're truly blessed.

Akane, they sound vile. I wish I knew something that would help. :(
 
I've never tried it but my grandmother swears by Vanilla. Use the pure extract and mix 50% vanilla and 50% alcohol in a bottle and spray liberally. She sprays everything with that stuff so her house and garden and cats and dogs all smell like vanilla cookies. I've only been bitten by them a few times because anytime I go to visit in summer she hoses me down in vanilla. LOL

PS She even sprays her chickens and peacocks because apparently the gnats can get in their throats and kill them. Anytime anyone or anything gets bitten she makes them take children's benedryl which seems to help any reaction.
 
Yeah, Miss M, I didn't realize that buffalo gnats are blackflies. We certainly have those in Ontario, and they are quite horrid in spring, though I've never seen them like Akane describes. But y'know, blackflies in Ontario are further north than our little corner. They seem to start at the Canadian Shield, about 80 miles north of here. Here by Lake Ontario we don't get them. Mosquitoes... yup, we get plenty of those.
 

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