Flies are taking over! I clean the coop once a weeks but they are everywhere! Does DE help? What else can I use???? Any help is greatly appreciated!
You know, I was panicking over the same thing earlier this year. I tried everything in the book from cleaning more often, to DE, to pine shavings, etc. And don't you know it, one day in WalMart I saw fly tape. I could have sat there for an hour banging my forehead against the wall. It's cheap, it's easy, it's super effective, and it's a time-honored solution. Hope that helps, you're not alone!
What worked best for me was trying to prevent as many flies from hatching. I raked up poop from under the roosts every day and kept the ground sprinkled with DE. The rakings from my coop and goat barn all go on a manure pile which gets removed totally once a week so I kept that sprinkled thoroughly with DE as well. I had very, very few flies.
We use fly predators I the goat and horse barns. We started three yrs ago and get them delivered 10 months a year. We are down to having very few flies ever.
Vanilla extract or the car deodorizers that have real vanilla in them will deter flies. DE works, but it takes time and you need to start fresh.
We are having major fly problems too. We keep our doors and windows open and they are in the house! It's crazy....