Flies!

[Kate Lawry]

Hi,

I just got 2 chickens this week and its been a really hot few days.
Today there are so many flies (blue bottles) flying around the chicken coup. What can I do to get rid of them?
I have been trying to rake up the poo each day, but there are still lots of flies!
Thanks.

 

[MissPrissy]

Keeping things dry dry dry is one way. You can hang some fly strips and traps. Swt PDZ (stall dry) can help. Food grade DE helps too.

At times it may seem like an upward battle but you can eventually get some control over it.

 

[warren]

My hens love eating the flies when they can catch them.

 

[spook]

If you take a milk jug, poke holes in it (no bigger then a pencil) 1/2 way down on its sides, add 1 peice of fish (2"x2")
around 4 tbls of water, put the milk jug cover back on and set it out near your chicken house, up high, the girls do not need to get at it, the flies will go in, and they will try to fly to the top to get out and there is no way and they will eventually die. Empty and reuse. I have seen these used around barns and in a single day they CAN be 1/2 full of flies! Good luck!

 

[justusnak]

Quote:
Thats a great idea...and if and when the "maggies hatch" They will crawl out the holes, and the chickens will get free protene.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Fly traps and sticky strips work really well.

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

If you take a milk jug, poke holes in it (no bigger then a pencil) 1/2 way down on its sides, add 1 peice of fish (2"x2") around 4 tbls of water, put the milk jug cover back on and set it out near your chicken house, up high, the girls do not need to get at it, the flies will go in, and they will try to fly to the top to get out and there is no way and they will eventually die. Empty and reuse. I have seen these used around barns and in a single day they CAN be 1/2 full of flies! Good luck!

Doesn't the rotting fish stink?

I use a hanging trap that you add water to. I got it at TSC, I think. It works very well, and I not only have my 14 chickens, I have my neighbors cows in the pasture right next door. Sure there are a few flies in there, but I mean less than 1/2 dozen during the day.

I hate the hanging strips. They look gross and one time I got my hair caught in one. I was grossed-out for weeks.​

 

[SterlingAcres]

This place was a kennel before we moved in, so there were flies everywhere. I bought 2 8 packs of those fly strips and filled them until bugs couldn't possibly get stuck if they tried. That's how many we had. Disgusting. But the downside, I walked into them all the time. You haven't lived until you've washed fly tack out of your hair. Gross.

I like the water jug idea. I might try that near the barn, so the chickens can't fly or bump into the strips.

 

[Kate Lawry]

Thanks for the ideas,
I will try the milk jug one, but probably substitute the fish for something else- as in this heat I think the neighbours may complain!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm having fly issue too. My coop/run are placed under this huge tree that apparently drops berries all summer. Dime sized purple berries that the chickens and flies LOVE! I have one of the disposable hanging bags and it's working okay. I just made two of the milk jug traps with the TSC fly valve thingie on top. Those aren't working well at all. I think they need more attractant.
I dust with DE once a week. I rake the coop every morning and scatter shavings in both run and coop about once a week. When I went out this morning to let the girls out there were about 50 flies having a field day in the run (and probably another hundred thousand buzzing around elsewhere!). You can hear them when you open the front door. Part of the problem is that the chickens throw food all over the place and then it gets rained on. It's a big mushy mess and the flies love it. I'm in the process of building a covered food area, but until then, any thoughts. Should I dust with DE every day? I put it down and it looks like it has snowed in the run. But the flies just come back. Arggg!

Is there something I can haze the area with that won't hurt the chickens? How about one of those little bug lantern things? Not the zapper, but the one with the insertable pads.

The flies are making me nuts. And dont' get me started on the wasp/hornet/jellow jacket infestation I've got going. At least the flies don't bite me!