Eggin at night?

WileECoyote

I have seen many photos of egg tables, patios, porches, smoke shacks, etc. which have a lot of bright grill lights and spotlights. My own custom egg table has two 12-LED spotlights on the countertop and six 6-LED spotlights on the interior shelves which I can switch on or off independently. Most of my cooking is done during the daytime (at least in the summer) but I do cook a late night dinner once in a while, and of course a few all nighters for a low'n'slow.

So the problem I am having now: moths and other flying critters which creepeth at night. The LED table lights seem to draw a fair amount of bugs even though they are darker and dimmer than most other conventional lights. Some of the bugs end up flying into the egg dome, food, pans, or even the hot coals. This is pretty annoying and of course I don't want to eat grilled moths or smoked cicadas with my other food. I figured that the high temps and lots of smoke would keep the bugs away but it doesn't faze them. They fly right into and through the smoke and right over the hot grate. So I am wondering if others had this problem, and if so then have you found a reasonably cheap and practical remedy?

I tried turning on my bright patio spotlights which are about 10' away from the egg table. The spotlights do draw some of the bugs away but many of the bugs still remain around the egg. I can't screen the area in and I live on 23 wooded acres in a warm southern climate so there is no shortage of bugs; some of them quite large and exotic. I have tried tiki torches, citronella, sprays, and electric bug zappers. I also tried some of those 60-watt yellow bug bulbs in our porch light fixtures but the bugs still flock to those as well so nothing seems to do the trick. If I turn all the lights off and just use a tiny flashlight for short bursts then this works pretty well but of course then I can't see what I am doing.

Is there something else that will help? A different color or type of light maybe? I thought for sure that the low-powered blue LED grill lights would be pretty good but apparently they are not good enough. Here are some photos of my table lights turned on with a single driveway spotlight illuminating the trees in the background. The pics make the LED lights look about 25% brighter than they actually are in person and the focusing is off too but I didn't have time to run for my tripod to get perfect low-light photos. This should at least give you an idea:




Any ideas or inventions from the veterans?

Pharmeggist

In Alabama we got Big Un's and extra Big Un's:

Here is my solution:
My Eggs are located on my deck. My Deck is partially covered. The part that is partially covered has a table with six chairs. The mini sits on top of this table. I have flood lights on the corers of the roof. The windows to the house let light out. These lights attracts the BIG un's and extra big Un's. In other words I operate my eggs with very minimal light. If I have to open the eggs I use my mini Mag lite real fast. If I had the Light on under the deck I might as well dip my body in honey and lay on an ant bed :woohoo: So far this summer hasn't been as bad as last year. I have to keep the children and wife inside!!

Happy Egging, Pharmeggist

WileECoyote

Thanks Pharm.

I have done the same thing with a maglight or small headband light and these are ok for quick work. Neither of these solutions are good enough when I need to do more than take a quick peek: flipping multiple foods, checking for color, basting, repositioning food, adding or removing food, adding more lump, adding or moving temp probes, etc. All of these tasks require brighter light for a longer time and that causes bug swarms. I also rarely have a hand free for the maglight anyway.

I was hoping that a dim LED light would not draw many bugs: maybe a red or green LED would be better? I also really hoped that extra wood chip smoke would keep the bugs away but no such luck. Hoping that some other eggers will have a magic trick up their sleeves...

Pharmeggist

I guess we need to get us some bug zappers and one of those mosquito Magnets that hooks up to a dreaded propane bottle. What I would like to to is screen in a cooking area for my eggs. Anyhow, I feel your pain! LITERALLY I am going to watch this thread and maybe I can learn something too!

Many happy returns, Pharmeggist

DynaGreaseball

If they are North Carolina or South Carolina Bugs, forget it. They are relentless. No solutions here.

Eggtucky

My eggs are on a screened in porch with a high ceiling.. there is the arguable fire risk, but no bug problems...


I have also added some fire resistant mats since this photo was taken...also the lighting I have on the porch is flourescent which seems to attract fewer bugs due to less heat generation...

WileECoyote

We plan to screen in our large front porch which has a cement floor however the ceiling is not that high and I don't want to risk a house fire or mess with cleaning the white vinyl siding on the ceiling. We may eventually build a large screened-in gazebo and put the egg in there. Only problem with a gazebo is that some bugs would still get in when we go back and forth with meat, accessories, drinks, etc. It would be nice to just sit with the egg and sip beer or wine for the duration of the cook but I am too busy with other stuff so I often make 5-6 trips during a cook. Guess they call them "bugs" for a reason... :S

Spring Chicken

We tossed around the idea of screening in our Coop but now we're glad we didn't. I sometimes go out there in the middle of the night in my all-together to check on the cook and have not had any problems with bugs. And we have plenty of them around here. Could be they don't particularly care for my taste in lighting LOL...





Spring "Bug Free" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

WileECoyote

I have seen your coop before SC. Very nice work! I would love to have one of those in my back yard, especially with a refrigerator and maybe a hammock or chaise lounge. It would definitely have to be screened around here though. Even in total darkness the bugs up here will smell you and follow you. With a fully lit unscreened kitchen like yours then I would have more bugs than food!

Broc

We have a pair of nice, huge, toothy bats from South America. They are family pets and are trained to assassinate anything flying near the back porch at night.

And believe me -- the bugs have gotten the word! You can see the little buggers all lined up at the property line, eyeing us -- knowing we're there with our tender, delicious, tasty flesh exposed...

But they also know if they attempt to "score" they'll be dead meat --

Our bats [Fred the Vlad, and Winnifred the Woe-Begone] sweep the airspace continually -- they go to bat for us once their radar picks up an intruder.

Winnie's getting a little slow, lately. She's pregnant, you see, and is expecting twins in about three weeks. We're hoping the batlettes are little girls -- as we'll be able to breed them back into Fred. With bats, this isn't considered incest.

And if we can get three breeders trained and ready to defend you guys, we'll sell them so you can protect your cook-sites, also.

They'll be available both with and without papers. As expected, those sold without papers will be neutered or spayed [by our vet] before sending them to you.

More later...

~ B

WileECoyote

Hillarious Broc.

Bats are indeed a great weapon against bugs. I once led a team of volunteers to build some very large "bat boxes" for a local zoo. We thought these would be something small like a bird house but with slats and a bottom opening. Turns out that they were about 2.5' x 4' x 1.5' and weighed about 100 lbs. each with room enough for several hundred bats in a single box. More like bat hotels than bat houses. Many zoos and safari resorts hang them from tall trees to keep the insect population under control. The construction was more complex than a simple bird house but we were able to build 24 of them in a single day. I still have the plans if you want to build a new home for your adopted bat family. Might make a good present for the bridal shower...

Spring Chicken

That looks like a big one.

I made the standard size ones described in the Organization For Bat Conservation site:

http://www.batconservation.org/content/buildyourown.htm

I followed all the steps for installation too but never attracted any bats. Then there was a big rabies scare so I dropped the idea altogether.

But from what I read about bats they are a much better alternative to getting rid of flying insects, especially mosquitoes, than any insecticide.

Spring "Bats In My Belfry" Chicken
Spring Texas USA