Flies in the Run - Weren't there last year - What to do?

[Goronson Chicks]

I have loads of little black flies (like miniature houseflies) in the roofed over part of my run that I didn't have last summer. They appear to be only in the part that has a suntuff roof, not the side that is open at the top.

There are a few dried up remnants of old melon peels and potato peels on the ground, but we always clean those out weekly. This seems strange. What am I doing wrong? How do I get rid of the flies without poisoning my chickens? I am afraid of DE as I've been told it's dangerous for the chickens and us.

Any body else ever have this problem? How did you solve it without DE?

Thank you,

Maureen

 

[GitaBooks]

Yeah, its a good season for flies. A lot of people have had problem with fly strike (maggots eating away at wounds on chickens). Horse flies as well as house flies and others. They like moisture and they like strong smells, so if you keep things dry and clean then there shouldn't be as much a problem.
DE, from what I have heard, is only dangerous if you breath it in because it irritates the lungs. It is not toxic if it is food-grade. However, we tried it during a bad flea infestation and it did nothing to help but make a big mess of our house, so I'm sort of holding a grudge against it.

You could try fly paper out of reach of the chickens.

Best of luck!

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Thank you for the feedback. I bought fly paper tonight from my farm store tonight. Will put it up tomorrow and let you know how it worked.

Best,

Maureen

 

[Mike6chickens]

I had a ton of flies in the run this spring. Food grade DE dumped on groups of them, fly paper and plastic reusable fly trap just outside the run, and daily poop scoops. Flies are not problem now. Still have plastic trap and scooping but hardly any DE now and no paper. I would try all these, then cut down on DE if you're worried about it. Like other post said, try not to breathe dust. If you look at ingredients in layer pellets, includes DE (mine does anyway), so can't be too bad!

 

[cavemanrich]

ALL DUST IS BETTER TO AVOID BREATHING. Use common sense. If an individual has respiratory problems, then a mask would be recommended. I don't have any respiratory issues, but when I am cleaning my coop , I wear a dust mask. There is plenty of dust and dander flying around. Just a precautionary measure.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Thank you for the advice. I bought the sticky fly strips and am washing their dishpan out every day and also cleaning out any remnants of rinds. Still seems to have something to do with the covered part of the run, though. Perhaps moisture content in there is higher. Maybe open roof with sun dries the flies out faster?

Maureen