FLIES!

[Ivytwilight]

I have put up fly ribbons around my coop and bought a few types of Vanilla air freshers. I have to say it sounds crazy, but I had success with the vanilla tree car air fresher, not so much with any of the others. I put it around the latch of the door to their run, away from where they could peck at it. My fly trap has started to work today too! It was the first day I could smell it so maybe it took awhile to get going. There are less flies this evening than previously. The monsoon storms are going to go away for a bit so they yard should have time to dry as well. Still have a number of them, but hopefully things will continue to improve!

 

[Sylvestor12]

Great,

yeah rains really pick up the fly population.

 

[rosesm]

Rain is definitely not our friend when we are trying to get rid of flies. The moisture is awful. I hope the rain stops so you can dry out.

 

[clogan98]

We have a serious fly problem. Our chickens have only been outside in their run/ coop for TWO DAYS and there have to be close to 100 flies already. People are saying to keep things dry...well I live in the desert it can't get anymore dry than it is. I have sand on the bottom of their run and pine shaving in their coop. The coop is small. We only have three hens and the coop is enclosed so we haven't had any flies in there, but in the run it is crazy! I was shocked at the number of flies that gathered so fast for just three little birds...we got one of those bag fly traps two days ago and so far it only seems to be attracting more flies, but most don't go in the trap...? I use a cat litter scoop to clean up their poo...which there isn't much of considering they have only been out there for a day, night, and day!

Does anyone have any suggestions as what to do about this problem? I understand flies come with living with livestock. I used to have a pig growing up, but even he didn't attract this many flies...the number of flies seems to be obscene.

We have a decent sized backyard and wanted the birds to free range in it as pest control (we have had scorpions and heard chickens were good for eating their bug food supply so we got our 3 Dominique pullets), but seeing as a hawk landed right on their run today that seems out of the question as well. The hawk didn't even care I was out there and didn't leave until I told the dog to "Get the hawk". We are very new to chickens and this has been a very bad day for us. We feel slightly overwhelmed with problems right now and the flies are the very annoying cherry on top to a frustrating day. Do the vanilla air freshers really work for people? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm in the high desert of oregon and I'm dealing with the same thing. I hate the stinky bags but it works and gets a lot of them. However, it seems to attract MORE and then the run gets full of flies. I've got the bag hung up away from the run, fly tape in the run. It's those icky green blowflies. I hate them! I cooked on the grill today and turned off the grill to let the chicken cool down. I opened the lid to go get the chicken and it was covered in those **** flies! So, needless to say, no dinner tonight. ARGH

 

[GREG BOAM]

- I found that moving my coop to grass really helped with the flies. the sprinklers seem to dissipate the poop into the grass well.
- fly strips help, make sure they are away from the chickens though or they will definitely get stuck to them.
- wood shavings 3 inch high.
- those fly bags work well.
- i tried the 2 liter diy method with meat in the bottle to attract them, didn't work at all.
- if its really bad you may want to have a pest control person paint fly away on some surfaces.
- even if you are hosing the area off the poop will still be on the surface attracting flies. throwing dirt on top can really help.

 

[Jenny1]

I am having the same problem.... I will let you know if Diatomaceous Earth helps. My yard looks like it snowed!

 

[TheMotherHen]

Thank god for BYC! Yesterday the flies around my run were out of control. There were hundreds buzzing around and It was so loud when I was in there I felt like I was inside a beehive! Serious. I keep the hens extremely clean - pine shavings on the run floor and inside the coop as well and I scoop up droppings at least once a day but lately several times a day and the problem with flies was out of control. I keep the waste in a tightly closed trash can so that was not the culprit. After reading about the vanilla air fresheners I gave it a try. I also put out a new bag of shavings to make it deeper, used 8 air fresheners and laid out fresh cut basil next to the run's path. I checked all of my hens bums for ... dare I say... maggots. Clean bill of health. I already had a stinky bag trap set about 40 feet away and now the flies have retreated. Only a few, less than 10 are near the run while the trap seems to be filling up fast. I've never had this problem before... I think maybe something died next door. I am just so glad I read this forum because I really felt bad about subjecting neighbors to this and I had hellish nightmares last night too. What a freakin' relief!

 

[Ivytwilight]

Well, I can say after using the stinky fly bag trap...it does work to some extent, but I will say you have to have it quite a bit away from the coop! And for the first two days after you put it up you will swear it is just bringing in more flies and not catching any. I think it takes that long for the flies to figure out just where the trap is. I clean my run out every evening when I let the ladies out to forage too. We also just got Diatomaceous Earth because we saw some mites! Let me tell you this stuff is AWESOME for the mites, but it really has helped in keeping down the flies as well. As soon as I sprinkle some in the run after a clean up the flies just disappear!
I wish I could move the coop to grass, but living in the desert I don't have that option. The bottom of my run is all purpose sand (very cheap at Lowes or Home Depot) and just the desert gravel that makes up my backyard naturally. Using a cat litter scoop to clean out the poo has helped as well and the sand helps to suck up the moisture along with the DE. I would recommend if possible for anyone having a fly problem to put down some all purpose sand. (it makes clean up so much easier and keeps everything dry) The chickens use it as grit too! My fly situation has calmed down a lot since my first post!! I hate flies! The less the better for us all! Good luck to everyone having a fly issue.

 

[rosesm]

It's nice to hear that everyone has got a hold of their fly situation. My friends don't put sand on their floor either. They live in the high desert and don't put anything down. There are a few flies but I guess it doesn't bother him too much. He does have a few flay traps hanging around. Maybe that's why he's not too worried about flies, and how to get rid of them.

 

[zanderfamily]

I tried the vanilla freshners and saw no success. Next I will try the DE...we will see.