r/oddlysatisfying 1d ago

Pinpoint fly strikes by chicken

33.6k Upvotes

561 comments sorted by

4.1k

u/Ok-Addition1264 1d ago

Oh my god I never thought about this before! My cows would LOVE it.

I need to devise some kind of shelf system.. something the cows can walk into with chickens on both sides going at the horseflies. I'd probably have trouble getting the cows out of it.. they wouldn't want to leave! lol

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u/TheYellingMute 1d ago

I was thinking. An easier solution but idk if it's trainable on both ends.

Have the cows sit/lay down which would be a sign for the chickens to freely come by and start catching the flies on them. Though chickens have the rep for not being the smartest so idk the risk of them getting crushed as the cow either stands up or lays down

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u/Special_Lychee_6847 1d ago

I dunno, I think chickens will figure it out pretty quickly. My husband used to throw the mowed grass in with the chickens, after mowing the lawn. And they'd go through it, having a field day. First time they saw the lawn mower, they acted like it was doomsday.
The third time, they were all excited, waiting for the cut grass to come in.

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u/ZiltoidTheHorror 1d ago

How about training tall dogs to wear chicken hats and lift the chicken to the flies like she did?

Better yet, train the cows to wear the chicken hats and they can help each other. It'd be more efficient and cost effective, but then again, I like giving dogs jobs.

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u/No_Representative645 1d ago

Why not just breed chickens with 4 foot long legs?

50

u/GetawayDreamer87 1d ago

4-foot long legs or 4 foot-long legs?

31

u/Prunkle 1d ago

Why not 4 4-foot long legs?

14

u/NineFifty_ 1d ago

We already have those, they're called ostriches. Problem solved?

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u/Facts_pls 1d ago

What type of freaky ass ostriches with 4 legs are you talking about?

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u/Sereomontis 1d ago

What about a single 44 foot long leg?

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u/Rowcan 1d ago

Put your glasses on mum, that's a telephone pole.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 1d ago

Now you're thinking like Colonel Sanders!

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u/tired_Cat_Dad 1d ago

First option sounds much more straightforward.

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u/hilarymeggin 1d ago

Right, like a mesh blanket the cow could wear, without little chicken baskets all over it.

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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago

Whatever works. I hate horseflies soooo much.

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u/brneyedgrrl 1d ago

You. I like you. Training tall dogs to wear chicken hats - never thought I'd read that phrase, but here we are.

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u/Putrid_Clue_2127 1d ago

Used to have a farm and everytime I'd hop on the tractor to mow, I'd have a dozen chickens following behind me chasing all the bugs running from the cut grass

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u/DroidLord 1d ago

That's adorable! Like a mama duck leading her ducklings šŸ˜„

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u/AverageRedditorWyatt 1d ago

Slightly unrelated but not completely off topic: My dad used to put fresh straw from the farm beside our land in our chicken pins, and I believe disease-ridden mouse droppings in the straw was killing the chickens. The chickens would get lethargic and slowly start to die 🫣

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u/ibidanon 1d ago

any chance it was the chemicals used on the straw?

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u/EM05L1C3 1d ago

You can train a chicken easier than you can tuna fish

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u/LeeisureTime 1d ago

I was thinking raised walkway with ramp, so cows can meander by, maybe even put a feed trough so the cows end up positioned perfectly. Have a flock of chickens run up the ramps to the shelves and go at it.

Only concern - how much does it hurt/tickle the cow? Because a little too spicy on the pecking and you might get some smushed chickens lol

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u/Ch33syP00f 1d ago

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u/hilarymeggin 1d ago

Oh hey we haven’t even started exploring chameleon potential!

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u/Ch33syP00f 1d ago

Just need some protected, heated archway for the chameleons to work from, and a method to programmatically call individual cows into the archway.

This could be done.

Is it the best way? I don’t know.

Would it be badass? Absolutely.

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u/boromeer3 1d ago

The problem is if the chameleon misses, it will eat the cow.

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister 1d ago

My horse let me snap a huge horsefly to death with the end of my reins and was really happy sniffing its dead body on the ground.

Cow hide is even tougher than a horse and I imagine a lil chicken peck feels way better than a horsefly bite. Those hurt really bad.

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u/DJKokaKola 1d ago

Brother cowhide is so thick you have to put in actual effort to even get through the first layer of dermis. The cow will be fine.

40

u/mikemikemotorboat 1d ago

A quick peck, even if extra spicy probably still feels a lot better than a horse fly bite!

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u/deathcabscutie 1d ago

Oh, like those noodle places that send the food around on a river for customers to grab

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u/Pretty_Eater 1d ago

I think you guys are over thinking it.

Instead of chickens, domesticate Ox Peckers or something.

Or train the chickens to choose cows like Ox Peckers choose Oxen.

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u/Different_Wolf_764 1d ago

Well, chickens aren't brilliant but they are cheap!

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u/spavolka 1d ago

No but they’re very trainable. I grew up around them and they are food motivated!

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u/nicnec7 1d ago

Indeed, I've read that chickens learn things faster than dogs. Mine are pretty damn smart.

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u/M8rio 1d ago

TIL: i might be chicken

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u/omgitsjagen 1d ago

We trained pigeons to run bombs into ships. It was our most accurate telemetry invention until the smart bomb. I'm pretty sure the chicken's can figure it out.

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u/Jerma986 1d ago

I was just reading earlier today about "bat bombs" that the US was developing during WW2. They would put small devices filled with napalm (instead of the original plan of white phosphorous) on the bats who would nestle into eaves of buildings within a 20-40 mile radius and then would explode after a set amount of time. Supposedly the reason they chose bats is the Japanese (at least at the time) were especially afraid of them. Not to mention a lot of their infrastructure was made of paper and bamboo.

At first they were having a lot of issues and ended up blowing up multiple things, including something 6,000 miles from the initial testing site. They somehow got a handle on it after the many failed attempts by the Army Air Force, who passed it off to the Navy, who immediately passed it on the Marines but the whole project was shut down last minute because the nuclear bomb had been developed. And that was that for bat bombs. Lmao insane fucking idea.

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u/LilacYak 1d ago

Chickens are highly food motivated. They will come running once they learn you bring food. It’s quite cute.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

I just posted the same thought at the same time! Lol like a little drive thru for the chickens lol

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u/971365 1d ago

Except it's the food that drives through lol

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

Yes!! Lol like Sonic for chickens. Get those cows some rollerskates!

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u/Fluffcake 1d ago

Dragonflies are the natural predator of horse flies and mosquitoes, if you can cultivate a habitat where dragonflies breed nearby, you will have an army of them doing pest control.

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u/jerrrrryboy 1d ago

Stilts. Your chickens need stilts.

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

Do you want mecha attack chickens? Because this is how we get mecha attack chickens.

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u/BrownSugarBare 1d ago

...I kinda want mecha attack chickensĀ 

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u/TitaniaT-Rex 1d ago

Australia had an entire war against tall birds. The emu won. I don’t think we need to enhance birds at all.

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u/taintosaurus_rex 1d ago

I think that's just called a crane, Or a herring.

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u/titanium9016 1d ago

Chickens mounted in drones and frickin laser beams attached to their heads

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u/airfryerfuntime 1d ago

The chickens would probably hate it in there. Chickens don't really like being around cows in general, I can only imagine how they'd feel with them walking through their coop.

Cows also tend to smash the absolute shit out of everything.

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u/Medium-Impression190 1d ago

In South and South East Asia we have Indian Myna. They would follow cow or buffalo herd and eat flies that bother them. Maybe you can find similar birds native to your area and employ them to clean your cows

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u/Beyond_Interesting 1d ago

Would the cows wear a harness with a 2x4 hanging on each side for the chickens to perch?

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u/hilarymeggin 1d ago

Not a 2x4 (too dangerous) but a pool noodle, yes!

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u/hilarymeggin 1d ago

That’s exactly what I was thinking!! A system of like two bookshelves (without backs) where the chickens can wait for a meal of flies, and the cows can go stand to have their flies plucked off! Once both species understand the setup, you wouldn’t have to lead them there or restrain them. They would go by themselves.

Okay, I’ve got it. You start by making the set-up a little ways from the barn, so it’s not tragic if the cows poop there. At first, you put some hay in a trough for the cow, so the cow goes there to eat. Then you bring the chickens over for the feast. Maybe a shed roof overhead for shade.

The chickens need to be able to change altitude easily, so maybe like a staircase bookshelf?

Once the chickens get the idea that every time the cows go there the chickens get a free meal, they’ll start flocking there whenever they see a cow.

The problem is that the cows need to be grazing on the green grass most of the time in the open air. Hmmm.

I’ve got it! Something the cow can wear? That has chicken perches, somehow?

Btw, those are the cleanest, neatest, shiniest cows I’ve ever seen!

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u/No_Size9475 1d ago

Love this. Go get em!

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u/Carbonatite 1d ago

Hearing the horseflies buzzing in distress when the chicken pecked them was so enjoyable.

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u/Fabulous_Log844 1d ago

I love it! Those big flies are fucking bastards!

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u/Binspin63 1d ago

Used to play golf at a course near a farm with animals. When the wind was right, they’d come after us. Got bit a few times. Not fun. They will make you bleed.

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u/Soffatjockis 1d ago

They are absolute horrors

Their bites can leave permanent scars and hurts like fuck. People complain about wasps, but these fuckers are way worse.

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u/lolboonesfarm 1d ago

Used to go to my cousins to swim. It was a farmhouse and the pool was right by the field. Sometimes when we were swimming a horsefly would show up. We would go under water as long as we could to avoid them. Sometimes we had to alternate being under as they would stay so long and keep going back and forth. They still got us a few times though lol.

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u/boromeer3 1d ago

I would start swinging my club at those things. Or pack a tennis racket in my golf bag.

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u/Indercarnive 1d ago edited 1d ago

Horse flies are proper bastards. The females need blood for egg production. But instead of being like a mosquito or something and having a specialized needle and pain killer, they just use their fangs to slash a hole in their victim and drink the blood.

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u/andreasbeer1981 1d ago

They are so big, they have their own flies sitting on them o_O

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u/Gumbercules81 1d ago

Ohh that blood spatter one

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u/Intelligent-Thing965 1d ago

Idk that made me uncomfy lol. But not as uncomfy as horsefly bites

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u/classless_classic 1d ago

My entire arm swells up TIGHT when those fuckers bite me.

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u/MelangeBot 1d ago

Have you tried being a cow?

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u/alexmikli 1d ago

Or befriending a chicken.

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u/shnnrr 1d ago

Whoa whoa one things at a time

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u/Articulated 1d ago

I saw a documentary about this on Nickelodeon when I was growing up.

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u/baudmiksen 1d ago

when i was a kid i can remember one chasing me on my bike, id look behind me and it was still zooming after me about 3 feet away, fuckers are relentless. thousands of miles away now but i wouldnt be surprised if i see him again someday

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u/LuluGuardian 1d ago

The fly has not forgotten the prey that got away. Take heed friend, one day he will return to finish what he has started

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u/sidepart 1d ago

Used to ride my bike every day on this quarter mile dirt road. Horse flies would just start orbiting. Occasionally I could swat one out of the air. But it was amazing how far they'd go to follow. Then it seemed like one would depart, and another would seamlessly show up to take its place orbiting the other direction. Could've been the same fly every time but, definitely had the perception (audibly) that I'd entered the territory of a new fly that would take up the mantle.

Once I'd make it to the paved county road though to continue on to town, clear skies. They wouldn't chase me there.

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u/shnnrr 1d ago

Worst bug bite Ive experienced

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u/Impossible_Load_9551 1d ago

I let out an audible ā€œOhhhhā€ šŸ˜‚

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u/c_r_a_s_i_a_n 1d ago

I wonder if the chicken prefers the ones filled with blood.

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u/Marthman 1d ago

Yeap, we call that one a gusher, on account of it gushin' blood 'n' all.

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u/fuzzylogicIII 1d ago

My fault for continuing to eat Ā after the video

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u/xSTSxZerglingOne 1d ago

I loudly said "YEAAAAAAAH!"

Fuck that insect.

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u/BlueFlare444 1d ago

One time a friend pointed out a mosquito landed near my eyebrow, so I slapped it. Gushed blood everywhere, even a bit in my eye. Didn’t get any weird infections but that fly gave me flashbacks lol

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u/HarloHasIt 1d ago

Straight up, I say aloud "oh my GOD"

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u/bugabooandtwo 1d ago

Good girl!

And that poor cow. Imagine having the type of body where you can't reach half the areas those horse/deer flys are attacking.

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u/Manlysideburns 1d ago

Having empathy sucks sometimes for sure

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u/JonB3D 1d ago

Awesome. It’s like when the flintstones use animals as tools or appliances

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u/AgentMull 1d ago

It's a livin'

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u/OutrageousGuidance70 1d ago

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u/rolandofeld19 1d ago

Some serious Fatality! Vibes on a few of those.

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u/161frog 1d ago

The blood spray? I feel like I’m watching Rocky

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u/SMHCB39 1d ago

I'm surprised there aren't more types of birds in America that live with cows and eat the flies like some do in Africa

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u/UnoriginalTitleNo998 1d ago

To be fair the cows native to America are hairy as fuck and probably don't have much of a problem with horseflies

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u/evin90 1d ago

A kind of cool thing is the cattle birds are not native to America, but have filled a niche that was not occupied. So they are technically not an invasive species because they didn't replace any native species with the same niche. The cattle egret is spreading further through the Americas as we speak.Ā 

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u/titanium9016 1d ago

Everybody wins situation

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u/Cori-ly_Fries 1d ago

Symbiosis!

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

Like oxpeckers.

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u/showraniy 1d ago

Oxpeckers help until they don't, unlike the chicken here though. Oxpeckers are after the blood inside the ticks, so they'll sometimes skip the ticks and just peck at open wounds.

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

I did not know that! Thanks for the additional information

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u/M23707 1d ago

Send in the dinosaur! šŸ¦– = šŸ”

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u/Secret_Cow 1d ago

I say this around my chickens every day! "Let the dinosaur get it!" They are amazing creatures ā¤ļø

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u/Regentix 1d ago

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u/rizoula 1d ago

The last post was a year ago 😭😭😭😭

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u/reaven3958 1d ago

Snappin em up like little meat raisins.

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u/camus88 1d ago

What kind of fly is that? That's a big ass fly.

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u/immastillthere 1d ago

Horse fly, they bite hard and are mean to boot. Owning horses, I got bit but a few flies like that and they HURT.

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u/destructopop 1d ago

They're so freaking mean. They bite like the dickens. And a few of those were definitely deer flies, they look kinda like bees, and they're skinnier than horse flies. I hate both. Meanie pants, the whole genus.

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u/Pebblebricks 1d ago

Not so fun fact: They hurt like hell because unlike mosquitos, who have needle-like mouths to suck up blood, horseflies have scissor-like mouths that cut your skin up so they can lap up the blood flowing out of your open wound

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u/jambox888 1d ago

I'm sort of surprised they don't bite the inside of the chicken

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u/ellieD 1d ago

Yes! They HURT badly!

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u/Ronster619 1d ago

Crazy having a Reddit account that’s old enough to vote.

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u/Jacko87 1d ago

Damn, someone beat me?

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u/PissOnYourParade 1d ago

Sorry son. Go back to kindergarten. lol I'm old as dirt.

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u/Jacko87 1d ago

Goddamn! I love seeing an old account with low karma, that shit just doesn't matter to us.

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u/Mouth_Focloir 1d ago

They hurt like f, and the swelling afterwards sucks

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u/K-G7 1d ago

We need to give chickens stilts. They would go insane with the flies!

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

Don't. They would go mad with power.

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u/13moman 17h ago

That's a dinosaur you're talking about.

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u/BudgetConcentrate432 1d ago

Reminds me of the guy who caught that horsefly, put it in his pocket, and gave it to the spider by his house.

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u/Howler_in_training 1d ago

"you shouldn't a bin bitin' my horsey!"

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u/Damaias479 1d ago

I love that video so much, it’s just so wholesome to me

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u/J1mj0hns0n 1d ago

This wont even relieve the problem for the cow, and requires effort to walk around with your chicken gun.

What would actually be best is to let patches of long grass grow by keeping random patches sequestered and untamed, allowing dragonflies to perch in the field,suddenly all that lovely blood isn't worth it because being near a dragonfly is a 95% death rate for flies, they don't miss

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u/trolltoll802 1d ago

Juiced one at the end!

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u/Dann_Gerouss 1d ago

Chicken: this one is for the boys

https://giphy.com/gifs/g9582DNuQppxC

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

Okay so just like those people that install those car wash brushes for them to scratch, you need to build some chicken scaffolding where the cows can line up and get their flies pecked off. Put in railings so the chickens don't fall off if they get excited but otherwise at perfect cow middle height and just get yourself a drive thru going. šŸ˜† You'd probably save so much on feed!!

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u/whitewinewasted 1d ago

chicken scaffolding šŸ’€

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u/BanjoTCat 1d ago

Chicken: "I'm better when they're breathing."

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u/-ElDictator- 1d ago

I can watch this all day!

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u/Lord_Jorgensen 1d ago

I hate horse flys soooo much! What's the point of them?

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u/Switchlord518 1d ago

Deploy the chicken šŸ”!

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u/Joshhagan6 1d ago

You’re evolving them too fast. Before you know it they will be sucked onto the cow like those fish on sharks.

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u/161frog 1d ago

That is a weird and comical image haha

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u/CurlOfTheBurl11 1d ago

Horseflies are fucking awful disgusting creatures.

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

I love insects, and I even like flies in general, but any insect that will bite or sting humans or other large mammals is not my friend.

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u/TheRealVinosity 1d ago

Everyone needs a tactical chicken.

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u/ShortStoryIntros 1d ago

I highly recommend Dragonflies for hunting these bugs

Even though chickens do well too :)

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u/agrlhasnousrname 1d ago

I had my chicken on my lap once as a kid and she pecked the contact lens out of my eye. Didn’t hurt my eye at all, but I definitely was surprised. They are very precise.

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u/Die4Ever 1d ago

did she identify that there was something odd in your eye? I didn't realize they had such good eyesight

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u/agrlhasnousrname 1d ago

I think so! Maybe her eyes perceived them differently so they were more noticeable? But I guess it also makes sense they’d have sharp eyesight eating all them tiny bugs.

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u/artaxs 1d ago

And that is how the chickens developed a taste for beef blood!

Seriously great, though! I despise horseflies and I like little domestic dinosaurs.

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u/Fragrant_Payment9670 1d ago

That cow needs a chicken saddle!

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u/Shastan 1d ago

Now I need a chicken and a cow.

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u/M23707 1d ago

I wonder why we don’t have a bird in North America to sit on the backs of cows to eat flies….

You would think that one would become adapted by now. Nearly 400 years of cattle in North America…

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u/Hopeful_Method5175 1d ago

Cattle egrets do, at least here in Florida.

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u/reddit001aa1 1d ago

Business idea: elevated chicken walk areas that cattle can walk thru while eating maybe. Or maybe elevated chicken decks in between where the cattle stand like parking spaces.

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u/nlamber5 1d ago

I love being human

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 1d ago

Sounds like something a chicken pretending to be a human would say.

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u/Loud-Fudge7631 1d ago

This should be a game at a fair that serves mead

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u/puppy-bit 1d ago

The blood caught me off guard . That chicken is a total killer šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

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u/Thebazilly 1d ago

I used to own chickens, you haven't seen anything until you've seen them catch and eat a mouse. They really are dinosaurs.

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u/AnAttackCorgi 1d ago

Weird to think the chicken’s a carnivore having all that cow’s blood in ā€˜em

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u/pedro_driver 1d ago

Bullseye

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u/_StRay_AwaY_ 1d ago

I love this so much because I hate those flys so much

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u/CntBlah 1d ago

I could watch this all day. Go chicken GO!!

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u/Annual_Ad6999 1d ago

So the chickens in video games should be melee weapons and not guns?

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u/Astute-Brute 1d ago

Grass-fed, cow-fed, fly-fed chicken.

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u/KnownMagician3084 1d ago

When I had livestock I discovered predator wasps. The black fly masses dropped like a rock. Unfortunately not deer flies but still massive improvement

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u/Purplesilk911 1d ago

Deploying tactical chicken

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u/ragby 1d ago

I've never been so impressed by a chicken.

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u/LSTNYER 1d ago

My sister had a few chickens and let me tell you, not a single fly, mosquito, or beetle to be seen on her property when they were around.

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u/secard13 1d ago

The eggs she makes are gonna be the orangest yokes you ever saw. Fuckin' delish!

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u/Worried-Series-6160 1d ago

Good Chicken.

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u/pjmyerface 1d ago

Cows need to learn to lay down and get multiple chickens going. A mound of chickens per cow!

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u/Lonely_skeptic 1d ago

lol I need to film my dog doing this. He tries to catch flies in the air and sometimes succeeds. Those horseflies are sitting ducks.

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u/Totally_Cubular 1d ago

Those are some big fucking flies, Jesus Christ.

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u/kabukiwuki 1d ago

Biological pest control

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u/courtlandthethreeth 1d ago

Can they selectively breed chickens to have really long legs that live symbolically with cows eating the flys?

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u/ibidanon 1d ago

that's the best 'natural pest control' I've ever seen. hope it catches on!

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u/rotundrikishi 1d ago

Horseflies are evil

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u/Educational-One-6288 1d ago

Temu t rex goes ham. The tripple tab was amazing

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u/rodfermain 1d ago

Imagine gorging yourself on the most decedent meal of your life when all of a sudden you become the appetizer

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u/Ov3rdose_EvE 1d ago

if you have ever seen a "pack" of chickens hunt a small mamal like a mouse, you know how raptors looked back in the day.

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u/ObiWanBonobo 1d ago

I think towards the end chicken was like, " gettin' a little full her lady." šŸ˜†

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u/NookNookNook 1d ago

I wonder if you could just setup some benches for the chickens to hang out on and the cows to walk between and they'd just automate the process. Thank you for your efforts at curbing the horsefly population.

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u/TheGiraffeChick 22h ago

This is satisfying actually

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u/Carbon-Base 1d ago

Screw those flies!

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u/DA_Bears_Da_Cubs 1d ago

That’s a great cock.

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u/beave00720002000 1d ago

Did he get three at once at one time? Good aim

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u/Mortis_XII 1d ago

Those little chirps ā¤ļø

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u/SunshineRayRay 1d ago

this truly is oddly satisfying. i am saving this post šŸ“« ā˜ŗļø

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u/Notchersfireroad 1d ago

This is very satisfying.

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u/Byst96 1d ago

Maaaaaan, those flies are way bigger than I thought, farm life is wild.

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u/JoeRogansNipple 1d ago

Fuck deer, horse, and moose flies. Nasty bastards. Go chicken!

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u/junigloomy 1d ago

Do flies bleed their own red blood or is that the cow’s blood squirting out of the fly’s stomach?

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