Flies no more!! Found the perfect fly repellent.

[N F C]

Have the vanilla scented Christmas trees continued to work for you? The heat of summer has hit, and the flies are out. I am going over to Walgren's, but I'd love an update. I will be absolutely thrilled and thankful if this simple solution does the trick.

I got my scented trees at a dollar store (3 pack for $1). I don't know if they are as strong as other brands, but these last about 3 weeks each then need to be replaced.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

Believe it or not, the little vanilla scented trees have work for us. I use 2 in the coop, full strength, and change them out after about 1 month.

 

[lifthiminsong]

Oh my, I sooooo would NOT use petroleum jelly on my birds! Please just a bit about its damaging effects here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/vaseline-petroleum-jelly_n_4136226.html

I would instead use AnimalScents Ointment from Young Living Essential Oils. I use it on all my animals (dogs, cats, horse, chickens, even chinchilla) and we humans, too. It provides amazing supportive benefits for the skin and even helps to repel pests. The container is large enough to last for several months, and the uses are limitless. Find it here:
https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/products/home/pets/animal-scents-ointment

 

[mandarin1]

I used the vanilla car Christmas trees and it cut the flies down drastically. There are still a couple gnats flying around, but nothing like there was and none of the big black flies. I used the imitation vanilla extract (4 parts vanilla to 1 part water) and it didn't work as well as I hoped, but I went and bought some pure vanilla extract. I haven't used the pure vanilla extract yet, because the vanilla Christmas trees seem to be doing the trick. I think as the scent decreases on the trees I might try the pure extract to see if there's a difference between the pure and the imitation, but in the meantime the scented trees seem to be helping a lot!

 

[Clucked Up]

I read that also on "The Chicken CH*CK". I am going to try pure vanilla extract on a piece of cardboard. Let ya'll know the results. Still noting beats a daily cleaning of the coop, DE, ONLY construction sand on the floor, and plenty of ventilation!
From North Central TN where the heat index in 101-106 again!
Clean any treats from the area when they have their fill; frozen sliced cucumber torpedoes, frozen watermelon rinds, etc.
Stay cool! OH, and from the garden, a few frozen tomatoes!

 

[N F C]

We've had the best luck using the extra wide fly paper sheets. I think it was about $7 for a 30 foot long roll and it's about 12 or 16 inches wide. We put up sheets of it a couple places in the run, and coop. It's drastically reduced the number of flies (plus it caught 3 small lizards that were going after the flies

). Definitely works better than anything else we've tried.

 

[mimsy]

We had a fly explosion this last week, probably cause it went from rainy cool weather to the 80's and dry. I got like a 1/2 lb of dry rosemary and sprinkled it throughout the coop and around the yard and now no flys in the coop and only a few in the yard still. The coop has sweet pdz on the poop deck and sand with de on the floor. The other side of the coop has the youngsters and that has wood shavings currently so it will be easier to clean out after they go to the normal part of the coop and it doesn't scratch up the floor which is pergo. (don't ask..it was free and well ya)

 

[imsbuzzbee]

...

I think I might have read this on a thread here, but wanted to shout it from the barn top.  We were having a horrible time with flies and nothing seemed to help much, including the stinky fly traps.


I bought several packages of vanilla scented "christmas trees" like you put in your car.  I hung one in each pen, one on the back porch and one on the front porch of the house....and we don't have anymore flies.  I thought maybe it was a fluke so I didn't post right away...but it's been over 2 weeks now and still no flies.


We do use DE and Stall Dry in the coops in addition to the vanilla air fresheners.  I guess the flies hate the smell of it as much as I do.  /img/smilies/big_smile.png  I'm not crazy about vanilla scented stuff  but I'll sure tolerate it if it keeps the flies away.  /img/smilies/wink.png
[/quote
Thanks for the fly repellent idea. I'm off to go get some to try right now.

 

[imsbuzzbee]

Unfortunately the vanilla scented car tree design air freshner did not encourage my pesky flies to exit the chicken pen. I then bought e disposable fly trap bag by Rescue and added the water to create a nice attractant for the pesky little critters and hung it up. The next morning no flies. It works very well.

 

[AngryRWH]

I tried the vanilla trees from walmart auto section. It does not work, same amount of flies. Can you post a picture of the package so i can buy the same brand and try again? The only fly remedy that worked for me years back was cykick insecticide, but ot killed my ladybugs, praying mantis and all the bees . It took five years to detox my front porch area now i have a healthy thriving bee hive but flies as well. I would love a non poisonous solution to flies, thanks!