Chickens & mosquitoes not pals

Add mosquito repeller to the list of benefits of having chickens.

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36854781

 "The scientists, whose research was published in the Malaria Journal, concluded that
as mosquitoes use their sense of smell to locate an animal they can bite there must
be something in a chicken's odour that puts the insects off."

I'm thinking about moving the coop/run to zone 0.5, or
maybe just go full pirate and get a bantam to perch on my shoulder.

@Alfrun U: "...or maybe just go full pirate and get a bantam to perch on my shoulder."

Arrrrgghhh, matey!....Methinks ye've hit upon a right salty idee'r!....

Alfrun Unndis wrote:...or maybe just go full pirate and get a bantam to perch on my shoulder.

There are other benefits to this as well, such picking ticks and fleas off your head.    Which where I live would be a GREAT benefit.  We have a lot of ticks and I suppose not enough chickens.  We do not have mosquitoes and I have not attributed that to the chickens although maybe...

This is an interesting theory.

When I go to my chicken coop at night, when I arrive at the coop I get mosquitoes around/on me. I'm not sure if the mosquitoes are after the chickens though... perhaps they aren't attracted to the chickens but their open water buckets.

I used to have a bantam house chicken, Lil chick was awesome would even go on road trips (with the dog & cat as well).  Alas, do to lung problems on my husband's part, we can no long have chickens.  They not only control ticks, but also grasshoppers.  

Josephine Howland wrote:I used to have a bantam house chicken, Lil chick was awesome would even go on road trips (with the dog & cat as well).  Alas, do to lung problems on my husband's part, we can no long have chickens.  They not only control ticks, but also grasshoppers.  

Get chickens as chicks, always treat them with respect, and they can be quite friendly. Even the rooster! Treat them unkindly and it doesn't take long before the hens are skittish and the Rooster is nasty!
I had a large Rooster I could cuddle with. Until I left the flock in the care of someone else for two months.

The article talks specifically about Malarial Mosquitoes. It must be that those specifically don't like chickens because the mosquitoes around me will form clouds around my chickens when they are roosting. I have even seen them feeding from the chicken's legs just recently. I feel pretty bad for them because we have soo many mosquitoes and their coops are definitely not mosquito-proof.  I did recently spray their roosts with some Neem oil and that seems to help. The few mosquitos that got sprayed directly fell instantly to the ground. Too bad the stuff smells horrid because it seems to be the only thing that even slightly discourages the mosquitoes that I've found and I would love to try it as a bug spray...