They swarm on the horse all day long.
The goats, too.
Fly strips get covered up within an hour.
We keep a fan rolling in the barn during the day.
Flies don't like wind.
The goats and horse often come to stand in front of this during the hottest part of the day.
The chickens, I believe, are helping with fly control, though.
A neighbor told me that her family's horse had a leg that became swollen from fly bites.
That it looked like it's leg had a black sock on it, but it was just covered in flies.
Gives me the heebie jeebies just to think of that!
So, I guess our bad fly situation could be worse than it is.
I'll say it again...the chickens are helping.
"How do chickens help with fly control"
you ask?
Simple.
Horse eats grass.
Horse poops.
Flies go right to poop.
Lay eggs in poop.
Chicken sees flies on poop.
Runs to poop very quickly.
Scratches through poop (remember, it's just grass y'all!).
Chickens eat flies.
Eat fly larva.
Voila!
Chicken fly control.
But there's another much worse problem this year.
Worse than those *dirty, poo on their feet, landing in my lunch as I eat on the pool deck, buzzing past my face* flies.
Mosquitos.
God damn mosquitos!
I went out today to hose the horse down with the water hose.
She gets hot and sweaty grazing in the pasture all day and enjoys a hose down.
It's like washing a Mini Cooper really.
But, oh my god!
I was attacked by Mosquitos the entire time.
Biting my legs.
My arms.
My stomach through my shirt.
My face and neck were attacked.
It was the quickest Mini Cooper wash down ever.
I ran for my life!
I ran to save my blood from larval poisoning and my skin from instant welts.
I ran for the safety of the pool and jumped in.
The mosquitos don't go to the pool.
Why are there so many mosquitos?
We abide by the 3 laws of a mosquito-free environment.
1. No standing water
2. No standing water
3. No standing water
We have a large water trough, but a frog and many fish live in it.
They have one job.
To eat mosquito larva in there.
The mosquitos seem to be in higher concentrations near the barn.
I'm wondering if the pond behind the house has water in it this year and that's the problem.
Some years it's bone dry.
Most years it's that way.
I'm not going to go back there to find out, though.
I may come crawling out of the woods with two less pints of blood.
I can see how malaria is so hard to prevent in certain areas of the world.
I worry that the bug world is going to take over the planet soon.
And I'll be sequestered in my house until a deep freeze hits.
Last week I was in Chicago.
And while I do enjoy the country life, I also enjoy the city.
One of the biggest reasons being...no mosquitos.
I.
Hate.
Bugs.
But like warm weather.
Chad and I have wondered if there's a warm tropical location that we can live in that doesn't have bugs.
Does the desert have mosquitos?
Could I get used to a dry heat?
So many questions.
So many bug bites...
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