FLYS!

[Porterfive]

Hi Fellow Chicken lovers,
I have about 40 chickens in a coop and very large run/pen.
We have had them for about 2 years now and never had a problem with flys like we do now. I keep the coop and run very clean, well as clean as chickens can be. I scrape up poop from the poop shelves in the coop daily and keep nesting boxes as poop free as possible.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions for keeping the fly's down other than cleanliness?
Thank you. Jenny

 

[ducks4you]

JUST got off of the phone with Spaling Labs. They grow "fly predators. These are little flying insects which lay their eggs in fly's eggs. Their young consume the fly egg, and the fly doesn't hatch out. Then the fly predators hatch out, fly around looking for others to mate with and fly's eggs to lay their eggs in.
I asked Spalding Labs about whether chickens ate the fly predators and they said the following:

"Put the (fly predators) in an OPEN zip lock bag before they've hatched (when they're in their pupa stage) and HANG it. The birds will ONLY eat them when they are IN the fly pupa. After they've hatched, the birds won't eat them."

Here's contact info:
1-888-880-1579
http://www.spalding-labs.com/

BTW, I've tried them this season for the first time to cut down on barn flies (from my horses.) So far, it seems like the number of flies is fewer. My daughter and I think we've spotted some of them. They look like gnats, but they don't hover and buzz around your ears and face.

 

[mominoz]

There are millions of flys around here, thanks to the chicken manure the farmers fertilaize their fields with, and the cattle.
So I use fly predators, fly trapping bags (walmart carries them) , I spray my barn with permethrin when no animals are in it.
The trick is to get the bags up early and the predators early....but predators don't breed as fast as flys do. Multi-prong approach....

 

[scogind]

You probably are having more flies this year because its been wetter than before. If you have access to ashes (wood ashes) from a fireplace, heater or those furnaces just sprinkle them all over the wet areas. Small chunks of unburned wood (charcoal, not the bbq stuff) won't hurt either. If you can't get ashes "pelletized lime" will work too. You can put a little straw down after you sprinkle the ashes and the chickens will get in there and work it all in, same for the lime. This won't kill the flies, but they will lay a lot less eggs there and it helps dryout the area and will keep down the smell. A wet chicken pen will get a "spoiled" kinda smell to it and that's when the fly population will begin to explode.

 

[ducks4you]

mominoz, where do you live? I have ordered Fly Predators for the season--should be distributing my 2nd dose this week.

BTW, You can go the Profile/Personal and fill in your location

--I live in Champaign County, IL, SSE of Champaign/Urbana, sssooo....I have Central IL in my Personal.

Also, you can go to Profile/Personality and put in your sign and Avatar...why?!?...'cause it's fun