DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[bigmrg74]

I saw this idea for a horse fly trap on Facebook yesterday. Looks simple enough to put together, other than I would need a table saw for those angled cuts on it.

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July 30 at 9:27am ·

Built a horsefly trap 3 days ago. Day 1 killed 146 horseflies. Day 2 killed 375! We either have a terrible horsefly problem or it's a great trap.
UPDATE: The 7 day total was 1,697 Horseflies killed! They are big (1" long) and easy to count. They need to be cleaned out every day anyway so they won't rot. How it works is simple. Horseflies are visual hunters. From a distance the black bag looks like something to bite, they do a fly over and are deflected into the soapy water and drown within a few seconds.
UPDATE: I've added a couple of pics since many people have been sharing this and asking for plans. The leg configuration can be whatever you like. I just made mine so it would be easy to move and change the bag. One last tip: The plexiglass needs to be keep clean and free of scratches. We have high humidity here so I squeegy the dew off the plexiglass every morning. The 3rd pic is one day's catch! I've quit counting. ;-)
UPDATE: I just realized the pic of the HORSEFLIES was blurry so I replaced it with a clearer pic. Also added a 4th pic of the saw cuts in the 2x4 that holds the plexiglass. They are at 45 degree angles about an inch deep. The plexiglass fit tight enough that I didn't need to fasten it in any way. The bag I used was a 55 gallon trash bag from Sam's Club.
UPDATE: Make sure and set this in an open area where the horse flies can see it from a distance. You may need to move it around until you find the "sweet spot". Clean it out with a cat litter scoop or large slotted spoon. Also I would love it if you would pm me pics if you do built it.

 

[perchie.girl]

similar trap been around a long time


the principle for both is the flies are drawn to the black surface.... their first instinct is to fly straight up after landing

I have seen beach balls painted black with a skirt of white plastic held in place with a hoola hoop at the bottom... then a funnel into a catch basin at the top.

Like the one you show above I have heard of spactacular catch stats.

Only works with horse deer and cow flies.... Thank goodness we have very very few here in San Diego.


Link to a commercial product
https://www.h-trap.com/

But the Tray one would catch so many more....

deb

PS then there is the hillbilly version

 

[Kusanar]

I saw this idea for a horse fly trap on Facebook yesterday. Looks simple enough to put together, other than I would need a table saw for those angled cuts on it.







Quote:
That looks great, but if anyone thinks you could park that thing ANYWHERE a horse could reach it and them not dump it out... they're crazy....

 

[scottcaddy]

My Caddy would think that it Looks like a great neck scratching item.
Scott

 

[bigmrg74]

That looks great, but if anyone thinks you could park that thing ANYWHERE a horse could reach it and them not dump it out... they're crazy....

Yeah, with our herd I'm pretty sure I would have to keep it just out of reach out of the pastures.

 

[perchie.girl]

mine would say ;'whats that?.... " push... "Oh Lookie it rolls..." push push ... She can make anything roll.

even lawn chairs....

I watched her out in the arena once.... Someone had set up jumps for practice... By the time she was done EVERYthing was laying flat on the ground... even the 55 gallon drums...

deb

 

[aart]

That looks great, but if anyone thinks you could park that thing ANYWHERE a horse could reach it and them not dump it out... they're crazy....

I would think anyone with horses would know plenty well enough not to set it where they could reach it..SMH.

 

[perchie.girl]

but its soo fun to tell the stories..... LOL. I been horse proofing, dog proofing, goat proofing, chicken proofing, cat proofing.... etc for way too long now Never mind the whole Predator proofing deal....

Keeping em in and keeping em safe OH My.

 

[Kusanar]

Quote: I would think anyone with horses would know plenty well enough not to set it where they could reach it..SMH.

Though, I fail to see how if I put the fly trap out "on the back 40" how it would attract the flies that are bothering my horses... There is only one place I could put something like that where the horses couldn't knock it over... and there aren't any flies there because... there are no horses to bite... they're all out in the middle of the field bothering my horses...

You would be surprised what they can get into that you would never think would be a problem....

A big name Saddlebred stallion just died a week or so ago because someone left a pitchfork leaning up against the outside of his stall wall for about 5 minutes... Somehow, he got it in his stall, broke it in half, turned it into a sharp spear, gored himself in the gut with it and broke off a big chunk inside him. When the humans came back to get the pitchfork he was down and bleeding everywhere.... They got him to surgery but he had a hard time waking up after and died.

My farrier had one almost completely cut his hoof off on the BARN WALL... he lifted his leg over 2 feet up, put it over a horizontal board (between the board the sheet metal), got his hoof under the metal and pretty much ripped it off...

 

[tmarsh83]

Just my take on a waterer. The tank is an old salt reservoir for a water softener. drill a hole, some PVC and away we go.

I rigged a gutter of sorts so it refills with rain. I'm happy with it.