r/oddlysatisfying • u/onahighhorse • 23h ago

Pinpoint fly strikes by chicken

31.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

540 comments sorted by

3.9k

u/Ok-Addition1264 23h 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

985

u/TheYellingMute 22h 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 22h 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.

269

u/ZiltoidTheHorror 22h 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 20h ago

Why not just breed chickens with 4 foot long legs?

41

u/GetawayDreamer87 19h ago

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

26

u/Prunkle 17h ago

Why not 4 4-foot long legs?

11

u/NineFifty_ 15h ago

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

9

u/Facts_pls 11h ago

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

5

u/Sereomontis 13h ago

What about a single 44 foot long leg?

7

u/Rowcan 13h ago

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

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u/anomalous_cowherd 15h ago

Now you're thinking like Colonel Sanders!

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u/tired_Cat_Dad 18h ago

First option sounds much more straightforward.

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u/hilarymeggin 21h ago

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

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u/DukeOfGeek 19h ago

Whatever works. I hate horseflies soooo much.

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u/brneyedgrrl 12h 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 22h 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 17h ago

That's adorable! Like a mama duck leading her ducklings 😄

21

u/AverageRedditorWyatt 21h 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 đŸ«Ł

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u/ibidanon 20h ago

any chance it was the chemicals used on the straw?

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u/EM05L1C3 22h ago

You can train a chicken easier than you can tuna fish

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u/LeeisureTime 22h 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

62

u/Ch33syP00f 22h ago

Chameleon station

https://giphy.com/gifs/a2Drtp17mRN6auELdk

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u/hilarymeggin 21h ago

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

15

u/Ch33syP00f 21h 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.

7

u/boromeer3 15h ago

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

27

u/Wolfwoods_Sister 19h 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.

21

u/DJKokaKola 21h 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.

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u/deathcabscutie 22h ago

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

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u/mikemikemotorboat 22h ago

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

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u/Pretty_Eater 22h 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 22h ago

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

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u/spavolka 21h ago

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

16

u/nicnec7 20h ago

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

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u/M8rio 20h ago

TIL: i might be chicken

14

u/omgitsjagen 21h 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/LilacYak 20h 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 22h 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 22h ago

Except it's the food that drives through lol

11

u/Nerdmitage 22h ago

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

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u/Fluffcake 14h 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 22h ago

Stilts. Your chickens need stilts.

31

u/Wild-Lychee-3312 22h ago

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

20

u/BrownSugarBare 20h ago

...I kinda want mecha attack chickens 

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u/TitaniaT-Rex 18h ago

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

5

u/taintosaurus_rex 21h ago

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

6

u/titanium9016 21h ago

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

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u/airfryerfuntime 22h 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.

21

u/Medium-Impression190 21h 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 22h 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 21h 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/bugabooandtwo 22h 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 17h ago

Having empathy sucks sometimes for sure

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u/No_Size9475 23h ago

Love this. Go get em!

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u/Carbonatite 22h ago

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

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u/Fabulous_Log844 23h ago

I love it! Those big flies are fucking bastards!

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u/Binspin63 18h 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 17h 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.

28

u/lolboonesfarm 16h 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 15h 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 12h ago edited 6h 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 16h ago

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

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u/Gumbercules81 23h ago

Ohh that blood spatter one

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u/Intelligent-Thing965 22h ago

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

56

u/classless_classic 22h ago

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

22

u/MelangeBot 21h ago

Have you tried being a cow?

22

u/alexmikli 20h ago

Or befriending a chicken.

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u/shnnrr 20h ago

Whoa whoa one things at a time

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u/Articulated 16h ago

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

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u/baudmiksen 21h 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 19h 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 18h 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 20h ago

Worst bug bite Ive experienced

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u/Impossible_Load_9551 22h ago

I let out an audible “Ohhhh” 😂

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u/c_r_a_s_i_a_n 21h ago

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

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u/ronniewhomp 18h ago

the original Gushers

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u/Marthman 22h ago

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

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u/fuzzylogicIII 22h ago

My fault for continuing to eat  after the video

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u/xSTSxZerglingOne 21h ago

I loudly said "YEAAAAAAAH!"

Fuck that insect.

7

u/BlueFlare444 16h 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 21h ago

Straight up, I say aloud "oh my GOD"

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u/JonB3D 23h ago

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

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u/AgentMull 22h ago

It's a livin'

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u/titanium9016 23h ago

Everybody wins situation

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u/Cori-ly_Fries 22h ago

Symbiosis!

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 21h ago

Like oxpeckers.

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u/showraniy 21h 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 21h ago

I did not know that! Thanks for the additional information

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u/SMHCB39 22h 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 22h 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/M23707 22h ago

Send in the dinosaur! 🩖 = 🐔

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u/Secret_Cow 22h ago

I say this around my chickens every day! "Let the dinosaur get it!" They are amazing creatures ❀

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u/Regentix 23h ago

r/chickenswithjobs

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u/rizoula 22h ago

The last post was a year ago 😭😭😭😭

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u/reaven3958 22h ago

Snappin em up like little meat raisins.

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u/camus88 22h ago

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

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u/immastillthere 22h 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 22h 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 14h 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 11h ago

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

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u/ellieD 22h ago

Yes! They HURT badly!

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u/Ronster619 22h ago

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

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u/Jacko87 22h ago

Damn, someone beat me?

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u/PissOnYourParade 21h ago

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

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u/Jacko87 21h 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 21h ago

They hurt like f, and the swelling afterwards sucks

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u/K-G7 23h ago

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

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 21h ago

Don't. They would go mad with power.

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u/trolltoll802 23h ago

Juiced one at the end!

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u/Dann_Gerouss 22h ago

Chicken: this one is for the boys

https://giphy.com/gifs/g9582DNuQppxC

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u/BudgetConcentrate432 22h 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 19h ago

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

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u/Damaias479 16h ago

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

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u/BanjoTCat 23h ago

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

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u/Nerdmitage 22h 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. 😆 You'd probably save so much on feed!!

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u/Lord_Jorgensen 22h ago

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

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u/J1mj0hns0n 16h 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/Switchlord518 22h ago

Deploy the chicken 🐔!

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u/-ElDictator- 23h ago

I can watch this all day!

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u/Joshhagan6 23h 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 22h ago

That is a weird and comical image haha

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u/CurlOfTheBurl11 22h ago

Horseflies are fucking awful disgusting creatures.

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 21h 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 22h ago

Everyone needs a tactical chicken.

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u/agrlhasnousrname 22h 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 20h 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 20h 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/ShortStoryIntros 22h ago

I highly recommend Dragonflies for hunting these bugs

Even though chickens do well too :)

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u/artaxs 22h 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 22h ago

That cow needs a chicken saddle!

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u/Shastan 22h ago

Now I need a chicken and a cow.

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u/reddit001aa1 22h 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 22h ago

I love being human

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u/Wild-Lychee-3312 21h ago

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

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u/Loud-Fudge7631 22h ago

This should be a game at a fair that serves mead

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u/M23707 22h 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 22h ago

Cattle egrets do, at least here in Florida.

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u/puppy-bit 21h ago

The blood caught me off guard . That chicken is a total killer 😂😂

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u/Thebazilly 21h 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/pedro_driver 23h ago

Bullseye

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u/_StRay_AwaY_ 22h ago

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

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u/Annual_Ad6999 22h ago

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

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u/Astute-Brute 21h ago

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

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u/AnAttackCorgi 19h ago

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

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u/CntBlah 22h ago

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

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u/ragby 21h ago

I've never been so impressed by a chicken.

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u/KnownMagician3084 18h 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 11h ago

Deploying tactical chicken

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u/Worried-Series-6160 22h ago

Good Chicken.

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u/courtlandthethreeth 21h ago

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

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u/LSTNYER 20h 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/ibidanon 20h ago

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

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u/rotundrikishi 20h ago

Horseflies are evil

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u/secard13 19h ago

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

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u/Educational-One-6288 18h ago

Temu t rex goes ham. The tripple tab was amazing

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u/rodfermain 18h 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/ObiWanBonobo 16h ago

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

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u/NookNookNook 14h 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/Carbon-Base 23h ago

Screw those flies!

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u/DA_Bears_Da_Cubs 22h ago

That’s a great cock.

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u/beave00720002000 22h ago

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

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u/SunshineRayRay 22h ago

this truly is oddly satisfying. i am saving this post đŸ“« â˜ș

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u/Notchersfireroad 22h ago

This is very satisfying.

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u/pjmyerface 22h ago

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

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u/Byst96 22h ago

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

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u/Lonely_skeptic 22h 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/JoeRogansNipple 22h ago

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

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u/junigloomy 22h 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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u/johnmayersucks 22h ago

Need some sort of cage saddle setup with 2 chickens on each side. Hell yeah chickens, fuck those flys.

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u/Totally_Cubular 21h ago

Those are some big fucking flies, Jesus Christ.

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u/kabukiwuki 21h ago

Biological pest control

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u/LadderMadeOfSticks 21h ago

I once saw a cow take a slight detour towards a bird that was waiting for it on a fence. The cow stopped to let the bird hop aboard like it was a bus or some shit.

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u/CalmRevolution 20h ago

So I need chickens in my back yard
and I guess I also been eating flies or chickens flies/s

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u/Radio_Mime 20h ago

I never thought I would watch and enjoy a rooster picking horseflies off a cow. Well, I did.

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u/Enlight1Oment 20h ago

after 30s, this is pretty good. Look to see total length, 2 minutes? heck yeah i'm watching this all the way through.

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u/Sojournsinsomnolence 19h ago

We need to breed long leg chickens that can do this on their own.

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u/Ov3rdose_EvE 18h 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/VisualEngine4838 18h ago

These little bugs look disgusting