Do fly predators work?

[AKsmama]

Or do they work well? Living in the buggy South, we have flies, but this being our first summer with adult free-ranging chickens, well, the flies are horrible. I know about the air fresheners in the coop, DE, fly traps and fly tape, but I would like to know specifically about fly predators. We have cats, chickens, and a dog, but no horses, sheep, goats, or any other larger animals. The ads make them sound great, of course. . . just curious if they'll solve the problem, or knock it down by a large percentage.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Good 'ol fly strips work well for us. No chemicals and inexpensive.

 

[AKsmama]

Fly predators aren't chemicals. They're some sort of insect that eats fly eggs, or some such.

I know about other methods, as I said

I want to hear experiences with fly predators.

 

[Pele]

I have never used fly predators specifically, but I have tried similar approaches to other pest management. I am assuming that the basics are similar.

Using predators is really effective, but only if you keep up with it. For example, I used preying mantids to organically control aphids on my rose bushes. For the first month, the results were FANTASTIC. The bushes were fastidiously clean of bugs. However, after a month, the mantids dispersed or died from predation themselves, and the aphid population merrily returned.

The key to this method is reapplication on a monthly basis. Luckily we are talking about bugs, so they're not horribly expensive.

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[scottishgal]

Pele, this is a bit off topic , but regarding your roses just plant one clove of garlic at the base of the bush near the roots and the aphids should go away. It flavors the plant and they hate it, works for mine.

 

[Pele]

Oh my gosh, what a wonderful idea! I'll plant some asap! Thank you so much, hopefully chickens hate garlic too and won't eat my flowers this year.

Yay