blue bottles in the coop

[martin.d]

I spotted a few blue bottle flies in our coop today whilst cleaning it up. Our Bantam gobbled one up mid flight! It's a mild winters day today, around 10c in the shade at warmest. Should I expect these flies as normal or is it a sign of poor hygene?

 

[martin.d]

just in case its lost in translation, "blue bottle" =

The blue bottle fly or bottlebee (Calliphora vomitoria) is a common blow-fly found in most areas of the world and is the type species for the genus Calliphora

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_bottle_fly​

 

[nurse_turtle]

They just wanna eat some poo. It's natural and not a sign of chicken hygiene problems.

 

[Nonny]

martin.d :

just in case its lost in translation, "blue bottle" =

The blue bottle fly or bottlebee (Calliphora vomitoria) is a common blow-fly found in most areas of the world and is the type species for the genus Calliphora

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_bottle_fly​

Well I'm glad you posted a translation! Over here, this is what a bluebottle is: http://www.australianfauna.com/bluebottlejellyfish.php

I was wondering how on earth you got THOSE in your run! LOL

We get all sorts of weird and wonderful flies in the run, usually covering the fresh poo or hovering around any fresh dinner scraps, but a quick rake up of the offending food and they disappear again. I wouldn't be too concerned.​

 

[Cebarmlds]

have you heard of 'fly strike'? i don't know the technical name for it but google it, those flies can do nasty stuff so keep the area and birds as clean as possible!

 

[gryeyes]

Well, my favorite two vodkas are in blue bottles, and I have a bottle tree in the yard I need to "bottle out" so I was hoping I could make a deal with the OP for any extra blue bottles hanging around in a coop somebody might wanna give away. Oh well.

And the other BYCers' posts are exactly correct - those flying insect blue bottles are opportunistic and fairly normal.

The Down Under ones, those are not.

Guess I need to drink some more vodka. My bottle tree looks very "winterish" and bare.