Flies in chicken coop

[pennie1]

So, why only the food grade DE? What difference does it make?

 

[greenegglover]

Food grade DE is safe in case your chickens digest it....."hey look sand!" says one chicken....other chicken says "lets eat it!"

Non-food grade has a chemical or toxin in it that isnt good for chickens. Theres another thread with more info!

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
I am SO GLAD I'm not the only one this happened to. My husband hung strips around the outside of the coop and when I went to peek through a crack between the wood to check on the girls the side of my face and hair got stuck on the dang thing (it was flapping around in the breeze). I just mosied into the house with it stuck on my face and told DH that they were on their roost for the night. When he looked up he almost fell out of his chair laughing.

Oh... and Peanut Butter worked.

Got me good as I don't laugh much. OMG long thick hair. Forgot about the darn ribbons and ran into it with some speed...wrapped around my hair like a turban.

Didn't know about the PB trick.That was over 20 yrs. ago. Flies still get stuck in my hair.

 

[scubaharry]

Was having a problem with flies in coop even though I have a poop catcher so not alot on coop floor. Have used both pine shavings and straw on floor, no difference. Read somewhere that vanilla car air freshener would remove them so off to dollar General I go. Put 3 hanging in coop where girls could not get them. With in 3 days they were gone. Not sure why but coop smells good and no flies Guessing it masks smells so does not attract them.

 

[appps]

We are heading into fly season over here in Aus so reviving this old thread for those of us just starting our battle with the flies.

I was surprised to read about the hay because this is my first year putting it in my run and my first year with flies constantly hovering and swarming round in the run. Guess what's going in the compost today - sigh

I'd moved to hay because the shavings take so long to compost I hate putting in them in my compost pile and I hate wasting all that chicken poop fertiliser. So much for that idea it seems.