mosquitoes in auto waterer

[emmapal]

We installed an automatic waterer last month which is working great, but it always has mosquito nymphs in it. The bucket is about 2 gallons attached to a sealed 50 gallon barrel. I found mosquitoes very annoying when I was sitting in the pasture near the waterer recently.

In a stock tank, I would try fish, but in such a tiny bucket, what other solutions do I have? I prefer organic methods, barrier, biological, or organic-approved chemicals, etc, if at all possible.

 

[Rocco]

In our rainwater tanks, used for watering yard/garden, I have used a little orange oil and it seems to work for keeping mosquitoes out. I don't think the animals would like the orange smell and flavor though. In troughs in the pasture we do occasionally have to splash a little bleach to kill mosquito and water bugs....goats are ok with a little bleach and it diminishes pretty quickly in strength.

 

[animalmom]

We use mosquito dunks with great success in both our water garden and the automatic waters for the goats and stock tank for the cattle.

I put one dunk in each of the goat buckets. The buckets are fed from a 55 gal drum using a float.

Goats and cattle leave the dunks alone and the dunks don't bother the fish.

Works well for us.

 

[emmapal]

Dunks, are those the little mosquito donuts? Do you put them in the watering bucket, or in the large drum? My husband suggested inoculating the 55-gal barrel with a 1/4c. or so of bleach. Do you measure, or just splash some in?

We had a good freeze 2 nights in a row this week, so for now the critters are at bay, but still not gone for the season. I got a few bites while outside just last night.

 

[Rocco]

My water troughs are about 80 gallon size and I do not specifically measure, but would guess I put around 1/2 cup or less. I just splash some in 2 or 3 areas down the trough. I check the next day and see if I need to add more.

And I usually have goats there "helping" me do it, and they drink the water right then with no problems.

 

[goatboy1973]

I use distilled white vinegar in my watering tanks at a concentration of 1/2 gallon of distilled vinegar to 100 gallons of water. This takes care of the mosquito larvae and algae and also the goats actually love the water and consume a little more water. The vinegar is actually good for the goats and better for them than using bleach. There is an old wive's tale that says if you use vinegar in the drinking water there will be an increased chance of female kids born than male kids.

 

[bloonskiller911]

We put a goldfish in all of our watering barrels and troughs during mosquito season. No chemicals and they keep the mosquitos gone. They will also go dominant during the winter and will be ready for spring.

 

[Harbisgirl]

I use Apple Cider Vinegar for the health benefits but I've never had any misquito larva so I guess it works for that too

 

[goatboy1973]

Yeah, Apple cider vinegar works good also. Probably better and is even better for your goats than the distilled white vinegar. The only reason I use the distilled stuff is because it doesn't discolor the water and make it look dirty.

 

[animalmom]

I put white vinegar in all the goats' barrels and that goes into their water buckets as they drink the level down. It may help with the algae/mosquito problem but I do it mostly for the wethers to keep their urine slightly acid.

Yes mosquito dunks are donut shaped. I used quite a few in different water points and have found that they are less expensive on Amazon where you can get them in sheet of 20 for $18.41 instead of paying close to 11-12 for six dunks. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=mosquito+dunks (sorry folks, computer illiterate here so you'll have to paste into a browser for the link).

Of my three barrels, one was a rain barrel in a former life and has a six inch diameter hole in the lid whereas the other two lids are solid. I put the dunk in the former rain barrel, but on the other two I put the dunk into the bucket.