Flies!?

[Shrader]

Any advice about controlling the flies in our coop and run?
Any specific traps that work?

Thanks.

 

[Bubba]

Get a big tea bottle. Its for making Ice Tea in the summer. Its 2 gallons or so? You take the lid and put a U joint pvc pipe in the middle of it. I will try to make a drawing or picture later. You then toss something with meat into the jar with water, let it rot. The flys are attracted to the smell fly through the U joint and are stuck. They WILL not fly into darkness on purpose, unless following food. The U joint makes it so when they are inside the bottle all they see is a dark spot above them where the U joint enters. U joint blocks the light. While some may fly out randomly the majority will sit in that bottle an rot with their maggots. Just make sure to keep adding water as it evaporates.

Bubba

PS Place it AWAY from your birds, it will attract flys from all over the place. Your birds might sit outside it and just pick them off as they go towards the bottle. So you may have to secure it, birds love to jump on stuff.

 

[blue90292]

or you can do what the mexican restaurants around here do where you eat out in the patio area. you take baggies and fill them with water and then hang them from up in the rafter area. they say the flies, with the way their eyes are, they think there's a wall of water around them and they don't go near that area.

works at the restaurants real good.

 

[biretta]

Hmm...so that really works? Have you actually tried the bags of water or just seen them in action? The meat suggestion seems like it would work, but might be a bit too gross for me to be looking at or handling!

 

[Bubba]

Haha once you have the bottle set up the only thing you have to do is add water. (Maybe empty it once or twice a year)No handling of meat or anything nasty. Its self contained. Put it somewhere out of sight out of mind and away from your nose. It doesn't smell bad unless your right up on it.

Bubba

 

[countrygirl4513]

I use DE. I dust the whole area and I don't have any trouble with flies. Make sure it's food grade DE.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We buy the plastic disposable fly traps at the farm store. Add the attractant, some water and set it where you won't smell it. Works great and you don't need to empty or clean it, just toss it. Dumping the glass version was just too gross!

 

[MissPrissy]

I use food grade DE. My barns do not have flies. My animals are bug free. My new goats had a couple of ticks but I have powdered them down twice since we got them and we have seen nothing on them since. I believe in using DE liberally around my animals. I mix it in their feed and it acts as a natural wormer as well. My animals are so fat and sassy and healthy - proof positive that it works.

 

[speckledhen]

Let me tell you that in some areas of the country, this is definitely a BIG fly year. I used a 50# bag of DE in two months in an 8x20 coop and a pen that is roughly 11x20. I am on my second bag of PDZ in just over a month. I've cleaned out shavings completely twice, I have a baggie with pennies hanging in the doorway out of desperation! I have fly traps, sticky ones and bag ones. The coops are still swarming with flies. ALL remedies have been almost useless this year. The only thing that will work is cold weather. Ask anyone who has seen my coop and they'll back me up that it's not a sanitation issue.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Here in NC both flies and mosquitoes have been awful this year. We have been through two cans of OFF because you simply cannot be outside without it. It's never been like this that I can remember.

My chicken run has a lot of flies and I might have to buy some of that DE.