flies flies flies ahhh!!!! HELP

[har100]

I recently had a fly issue. I have a poop board, it had shavings in it. I removed all the shavings from the poop board, put up two fly strips, then on the poop board I covered it with a tarp. Every couple of days I dump the poo into the compost bin, then lay out the tarp on the ground and hose it off. It has worked great. Good luck.

 

[CherishHolland]

I use a couple of old 2 liter soda bottles cut in half place the top half downward in the second half add some acv and a little bit of banana peel punch a couple holes in the bottle halves and add a wire to keep the halves together and twist it and hang it flies go in but can not come back out. It's a cheap solution that has worked for me all my coops have 2 homemade traps hanging in them. I replace them every couple of weeks. Best of luck!

 

[txchick123]

How often do you do this?

 

[Dire Wolf]

How often do you do this?

I think out here in TX, we would need to do it more often. Cali is a dryer climate(in general), flies are less thick there than here. I'm a Cali native that transplanted to TX, so I've kind of experienced both climates. Maybe once a week in the summer? Flies here are insane! And bigger too! So are the mosquitoes, DH keeps saying they need their own flight ID numbers and landing lights. lol

 

[Jeffross1968]

I live in the Smoky Mountains. The flies are out of control the last couple of years. Though...we've added a bunch of chickens. I've tried everything on this thread, plus pennies in a bag, vanilla car fresheners, and even fly predators, that come about every three weeks and are supposed to feed on fly eggs or something, and seriously, nothing has worked. If I had useable land further from my house, I'd move the coops there. But I think some of us are just fighting a losing battle, depending on the amount of chickens you have, and your specific situation. I've come to the conclusion that there is no ridding our flies, being deep in a temperate rain forest...

 

[CherishHolland]

I change my homemade traps out anywhere from once a week to every two weeks.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I use a couple of old 2 liter soda bottles cut in half place the top half downward in the second half add some acv and a little bit of banana peel punch a couple holes in the bottle halves and add a wire to keep the halves together and twist it and hang it flies go in but can not come back out. It's a cheap solution that has worked for me all my coops have 2 homemade traps hanging in them. I replace them every couple of weeks. Best of luck!

I was wondering if you then feed the flies to the chickens? Of course if you just open the trap in the run they would all fly away(DOH!), but what about drowning the flies then feeding them to the chickens? IS there any reason not to do this?

 

[CherishHolland]

I was wondering if you then feed the flies to the chickens? Of course if you just open the trap in the run they would all fly away(DOH!), but what about drowning the flies then feeding them to the chickens? IS there any reason not to do this?

the flies drown in the ACV because once they get in they can't get out. I thought about feeding them to my flock but wasn't sure if I could because I am literally throwing out tons of flies and I know my flock would love those little protein bites. I know the acv wouldn't hurt them. If anyone has an answer to whether or not I can feed the flies to my flock please weigh in with your opinion.

 

[WheatBread]

What is acv?

 

[MuddyBootsPA]

Thanks for posting this question. I am in SE PA & just starting getting a fly problem this past weekend. I've spread PDZ & DE all over the run & coop (we have a double layered large "tractor" style coop). It has been very rainy here so the ground is just saturated. It won't dry out. It leaves it very hard to clean the coop because just by nature, some water makes it into the run (through the waterer or by spraying down the coop to clean). I put straw down & pine shaving with DE mixed in & still get flies. I rake the run at least every day (sometimes twice a day because I'm a clean freak). It's turning into a real chore. Not quite sure what to do either, but I think I'm going to try to make the homemade traps, as well. Sounds like a good plan to me!