Flies, flies HELP

[Sunshine_Chick]

I live in Florida & we've been receiving copious amounts of water. I am having a horrible problem with flies all over the feeders. My 3 chickens free range & sleep in dog crates at night, so no coop. The flies are covering the feeders & it's horrible. I've taken to sweeping up the spillage at lock-up time, but as soon as I set out the feeders & let the chickens out bam I have zillions of flies. I had the same issue a few weeks ago when we had a week of rain. I don't have this problem when the sun shines. I set out fly tape & that catches a lot. The girls don't want to eat & who can blame them. Any long term remedies?? Thanks!!

 

[Sasha-chickens]

I live in Florida & we've been receiving copious amounts of water. I am having a horrible problem with flies all over the feeders. My 3 chickens free range & sleep in dog crates at night, so no coop. The flies are covering the feeders & it's horrible. I've taken to sweeping up the spillage at lock-up time, but as soon as I set out the feeders & let the chickens out bam I have zillions of flies. I had the same issue a few weeks ago when we had a week of rain. I don't have this problem when the sun shines. I set out fly tape & that catches a lot. The girls don't want to eat & who can blame them. Any long term remedies?? Thanks!!

Same. I live in florida too and i know how you feel. i use captivator fly trap. you can throw it away or refill it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm in Northwest FL (Panhandle/Wiregrass area) and like you, getting lots of rain. No fly problems though, or at least, not so much as I'd call them a problem. I have a composter near the coop (and feed) for black soldier flies, which some claim help to keep housefly populations down in some fashion I don't fully understand and can't explain. Something to do with the larvae.

Its not an immediate solution - it may not even be a solution - but you might consider reading up on black soldier fly composting systems for their other benefits. My birds eat the larvae as a protein treat, and I was planning on composting anyways, so...

https://www.directcompostsolutions.com/composting-black-soldier-flies/
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27407

and I built one of these (without the wheels and handle, my bin is stationary -
https://gardenpool.org/beneficial-insects/black-soldier-fly-composter-automatic-chicken-feeder (instructions for an identical design available on probably hundreds of other websites, too - its widely copied, this can't be the original place it was posted)

Hope it helps.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

Thanks for the replies. Not too sure about composting as afraid of rats and am not handy in any way to build anything, but I will be reading up on it. Will be going to the pest control store tomorrow to get some traps & see what other supplies/solutions they have. Thanks again. I truly want a spray to kill them instantly, but still be safe around chickens. Maybe wishful thinking!

 

[Birdielee]

I live in Florida & we've been receiving copious amounts of water. I am having a horrible problem with flies all over the feeders. My 3 chickens free range & sleep in dog crates at night, so no coop. The flies are covering the feeders & it's horrible. I've taken to sweeping up the spillage at lock-up time, but as soon as I set out the feeders & let the chickens out bam I have zillions of flies. I had the same issue a few weeks ago when we had a week of rain. I don't have this problem when the sun shines. I set out fly tape & that catches a lot. The girls don't want to eat & who can blame them. Any long term remedies?? Thanks!!

Interesting. Is your feed wet or dry?. My flies are into the excrement, not the feed

 

[Chicken Heel]

I haven't had nearly as much of an issue with flies since I began feeding chickens inside the coops and not outdoors. Wet or damp feed is a definite attractant for them. And there are far less odors that emanate from the run areas when not placing feed there.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

Interesting. Is your feed wet or dry?. My flies are into the excrement, not the feed

I feed dry crumbles. It's a new bag of Purina Flock Raiser. Since it's now happened twice since I got the new bag, but both times was during a period of lots of rain.

 

[texsuze]

We had recent rains down here and flies have exploded. I also have a horse, which is the primary fly attractant. I've been blowing through disposable fly traps like crazy.

In the past, I've used the Spaulding Fly Predators, but didn't seem to have much luck with them. You might google 'fly predators' as a bio-safe way to impact your fly numbers, but be sure to read all about them first, otherwise, they'll just become expensive chicken treats!

 

[cmom]

I have been having a fly problem too lately. I want to treat the coops (spray) but with the rain and high humidity, it would take forever to dry. Since I can't spray I have been using poultry dust with permethrin in the poop pits under the roosts on the floors and in the nest boxes. The flies like the poop pits and there are still a few flies but not nearly as many as there were. I know some people will not agree with this but it works for me. I hate flies. I still have a few chicks in my brooder. I have wire on the bottom of the brooder with trays under the wire to catch the poop. Feed and water stay cleaner. I put pine shavings in the poop trays along with some poultry dust and don't have a fly issue like I used to. Good luck...

 

[tribalacres]

We live in Florida too. We are attacking this problem this week, or gonna try our hardest. We ordered solar fans for their coops, we are hanging lemon balm plants by the coop (this is a long term goal, they say when they grow taller you break off a piece and put it on the bottom of their coop, this one lady swear by it), our biggest help is fly ribbons but that doesn’t do anything . It’s rained so bad the ground is still slushy - we live in Central Florida. We clean their coops out every other day. It’s bad though in all their coops (goats and donkeys too). I’ll keep ya updated.