Flies, Flies, Flies, and MORE flies!! Please help

[devon1182]

So we have a fairly small backyard and three hens and two dogs. Our girls our in a chicken tractor that we move fairly often and we let them free range most of the day. We love our chickens but our yard is COVERED in flies!! What can we do? We use the fly bag traps and those work GREAT! But there are still hundreds of flies in the yard and getting in the house. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[back2simplelife]

Flies outside can be tricky but hanging fresh rosemary in your door way will naturally repel them from getting in! Just thought I would offer that advice. I am sure someone else knows more

 

[krisX]

We are having the same problem... Any advice is welcomed and thank you.

 

[mshuntjump]

I TOTALLY reccommend the Fly Relief hanging bags. They work incredibly well. We have had such bad flies in the past and we finally got two of these, hung them up by the coop, and within days we had little to no fly problems.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

I'm having the same problem. But it's strange, the flies don't usually land on anything. They just hover in the air.

It's weird...

 

[TheCrazyClucker]

Hang a couple bags with pennies in them out there. That should deter them enough.

 

[TKDmom]

Hang a couple bags with pennies in them out there. That should deter them enough.

I'm having the same problem. Why would pennies do anything against flies?

 

[artsyrobin]

this really does work, get the original pinesol, mix in a spray bottle, 1/4 pinesol 3/4 water and spray the runs coops etc, i tried it yesterday- amazing-

 

[CluckCluck18]

I tried the fly relief bags and they worked but I think I got my flies and all the flies in my neighborhood....there were zillions of them!
I'm trying to do all natural with my flock and like the rosemary idea. Chickens don't like it either so that's a win-win!
I know it sounds crazy but those little air fresheners that look like trees......get the vanilla ones; they are yellow.....work really well. Flies don't like the scent....I hang one on each corner of the coop and it definitely helps keep them out of the henhouse.
If you can afford to spend a little more $$$ ......try fly predators.....they are little bugs that eat fly larvae. Check out their website.....they will tell you how many you need depending on how many chickens you have......mine cost about $ 18 per month and you won't need them in winter, I don't even need them in Florida once the weather cools down. Even though they cost more, I think they are worth it. I live in the city and want to keep my neighbors happy as well as my chickens.

 

[mandelyn]

Hang the vanilla air fresheners IN the coop and run, place the traps around the outside, sprinkle ALL bedding in food grade DE, "Sweet PDZ" stall refresher under the roosts, and then around the yard and near the door to the house hang the pennies in the bag of water (think ziplock bag that seals) (use new shiny pennies!)

No harm in spraying a swarm of them away from the birds, using one of the "green" all purpose home pesticide sprays. Cause let me tell you, it's so tempting to swat them when you see 20 on a poo pile... but smacking them with a swatter gets... messy.

We have an average sized yard, and we pick up poo every day, but almost everyone around us has dogs that they don't clean up after, and two horse farms that blow flies in on the wind. Fly predators only work where they are breeding. So if it's neighbors contributing to the problem but the flies congregate at your house with the chickens... combination methods are the most effective.

Their life cycle isn't that long, so you'll see improvement soon enough. They LOVE damp, warm areas to breed in. Rain + Heat can cause a new swarm if they have a breeding site. If you compost the poo, be sure you're running it hot so that they cannot use it for breeding. Grass clippings work like a charm to get the heat going in the compost.