Flies!

[thepick4uchicks]

Done, thanks..

I agree. Get some other kind of litter and you will have less flies. The sand is doing nothing. You can use shavings and add PDZ- zeolite and have much less stink and flies on your roost and in your coop.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Yes they do work but stink to high heaven and attract every fly within ten surrounding counties or continents. I have bought several. I had buzzards flying over those things no lie before I could get them into my garbage can and get it carried off. I do not want that to happen again. Not good. Buzzards. Next coyotes will come.

GOOD GOLLY!! How many did you hang?

I put 2 this year in opposite back corners of the yard and wanted to puke! Sooooooo incredibly gross. They worked though.

 

[BakkDad]

I agree. Get some other kind of litter and you will have less flies. The sand is doing nothing. You can use shavings and add PDZ- zeolite and have much less stink and flies on your roost and in your coop.

Thanks for the tip. I wasn't familiar with PDZ. I thought the coarse sand I use would work like kitty litter. I easily scoop up the poop every day in the run area. Pine shavings in the coop part. Oh, and I do sprinkle DE occasionally.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

Yes, I was looking for "non-chemical" solutions..

Yes I did read that you specifically said that. I just have a need to alert everyone to the toxicity of Permethrin in felines

 

[LoveCochins]

I use fans in the coop and run. I no longer have a fly or mosquito problem. They also keep my chickens cooler during these hot and humid days.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

GOOD GOLLY!! How many did you hang?

I put 2 this year in opposite back corners of the yard and wanted to puke! Sooooooo incredibly gross. They worked though.

This was only one freaking fly bag believe it or not! We had five huge buzzards landing in our yard now. More were flying over head above our trees. My husband had taken it way off away from the house at this point because it had gotten so bad but he had to leave it on our property lines and we own two houses situated on our property and I had buzzards landing on the roofs of both houses and circling between them. The cops whose station is four houses down from ours drove by to see if we had a problem. I guess they thought we had killed someone and had a dead body that was decomposing in our yard or something. Never again! Never! My husband does not have the strong stomach that I do from being a Mama and working in healthcare for 30 years and he actually puked before he could bag it up in like four garbage bags for disposal! Now that was a moment for Candid Camera!!!! Too Funny!!!lol!

 

[21hens-incharge]

This was only one freaking fly bag believe it or not! We had five huge buzzards landing in our yard now. More were flying over head above our trees. My husband had taken it way off away from the house at this point because it had gotten so bad but he had to leave it on our property lines and we own two houses situated on our property and I had buzzards landing on the roofs of both houses and circling between them. The cops whose station is four houses down from ours drove by to see if we had a problem. I guess they thought we had killed someone and had a dead body that was decomposing in our yard or something. Never again! Never! My husband does not have the strong stomach that I do from being a Mama and working in healthcare for 30 years and he actually puked before he could bag it up in like four garbage bags for disposal! Now that was a moment for Candid Camera!!!! Too Funny!!!lol!

Well.... I do see how police may become concerned with buzzards around.

I thought buzzards went by visual not scent.....learn something new all the time.

 

[cmom]

Flies? Permethrin 10 .... End of fly problems!

I agree. Permethrin is an insecticide in the pyrethroid family. Pyrethroids are synthetic chemicals that act like natural extracts from the chrysanthemum flower. It is also used in some over the counter shampoos for head lice such as Nix. It's also used in sprays for clothing to repel insects such as mosquitoes. My coops were loaded with flies. At the time my birds had mites so I sprayed the coops because of the mites. The bonuses were it also took care of the flies and there is no egg withdrawal period. It's such a pleasure to walk into the coops and not get bombarded with flies. Good luck...

 

[cmom]

Well.... I do see how police may become concerned with buzzards around.

I thought buzzards went by visual not scent.....learn something new all the time.

Black vultures hunt by sight. Turkey vultures hunt by smell.

 

[CrazyTownChick]

Black vultures hunt by sight. Turkey vultures hunt by smell.

And since Turkey Vultures eat carrion only, the dont kill their prey with talons as hawks do. They have a powerful beak to tear meat but weak talons to catch and capture anything. They have chicken feet. So when they're circling overhead they're using their Incredible sense of smell to find rotting carcasses hundreds of yards away. On the other hand, Black vulilters are very aggressive and will kill live prey as well as eat dead.
We had a problem here in Kentucky a couple of years ago with black vultures finding newborn calves and killing and eating them - it was horrific. Cattle farmers quietly put an end to that.
When you see vultures circling as we do here frequently they're often a combination of turkey vultures and sometimes a black vulture or a hawk with them. They can work as a team.
We see vultures and hawks pretty regularly. In fact on Sat DH and I took pictures of a couple Turkey vultures high in the branches of a tall oak in our yard. 10 foot wing spans. DH had done some brush hogging so they wanted to find the goodies stirred up.