skeeters, kennels, and water

[simpleman30]

went up this evening to feed up and wash down the pens. we've had dogs on the same slab since the early 80's when my grandpa first moved there, and i've never seen skeeters that bad.

we've got a pretty good fan blowing most of the time. in fact, you have to turn the fan off to be able to wash the pens out. i splash a little bleach in the water buckets once a week to keep the water clean and skeeter larvae and other bugs out. i'd like to try the lickers and get rid of the buckets but i still ain't sold on them yet. not to mention worrying about running the pipe and then worrying about the lines freezing in the winter. what do yall think?

is there anything else yall know of to keep the skeeters away? we're in the middle of the woods and back up to a wet weather pond/swamp, so it's kinda like peein in the wind trying to do much good.

 

[Kwaksmoka]

we used the drips and put a rock in them during the winter to keep them dripping a little and we never had a pipe bust. Now, we went to the pens every day to check but it always worked out. I'm about ready to meet up at the cedar tree, how about you?

 

[grouper throat]

My buddy and his dad have the lickers and like them. They insulated the exposed pipe and let a faucet ran inline with them drip during the winter without problems. I think they have 8-12 lickers each. I have all the hardware for them myself but haven't completed them yet. The fan is a good idea too.

 

[Nannyman]

Lixit. Never look back.

 

[specialk]

we've got a pretty good fan blowing most of the time. in fact, you have to turn the fan off to be able to wash the pens out..

how is your fan(s) set up? could you post a pic if not to much trouble? ive been wanting to do this in my pen.....i thought about cheap box fans from wally world attached to the roof.....

 

[simpleman30]

it's a big box fan that i think my dad picked up from a renovation project we did the HVAC on. it's 30"x30" with a 3/4 or maybe even a 1 HP motor. it must have been an exhaust fan of some sort in a warehouse. dad built a box for it, put chicken wire on both sides of it, and put casters on the bottom to use at the house for parties and such outside. he wasn't using it, so when my old fan went out, he let me have this one. i'll take some pics of it this week.

 

[ylhatch]

beeber,you can get a bug zapper it will help with skeeters

 

[mudfoot]

I went to the lickers about 7 or 8 years ago and havn't looked back. I have 8 pens with 1 in each pen I put a spigot on the far end so I can leave it dripping and it doesn't freeze and I also let it drip in the summer or the water in the pipe gets hot.

 

[simpleman30]

beeber,you can get a bug zapper it will help with skeeters

how much will it make my electric bill go up? between the fan and well pump, it's already 40-60 a month, depending on how much the fan runs.

here's a pic of my fan. you have to turn it off to wash out the pens, or it will blow the water everywhere. can blow the hat off your head too.

 

[skeeterjp]

Beeber you need to get Alan to throw a stick more often and get them pecans down so they don't clog your drain field up and bring in the skeeters.

 

[ishootlittlebucks]

My pens are right in frint of a cypress head and at times, the skeeters get really rough. I started misting them with diesel fuel out of a squirt bottle. After a few days, there aren't even any around the pens. It also puts an end to the flees and ticks.