Nothing like heat and moisture to bring in every fly within a 5 mile range! I have ducks too so the moisture is chronic.
We scattered the fly bots into the compost pile (awesome!)
Set up plastic jar style traps that are reusable, and instead of getting more packets of the stinky stuff I drop in a couple of rabbit pellets and about 3 chicken droppings. Add water, set in a sunny spot, flies come running.
One fly trap, by the front door of the coop, was getting so much action it was solid with flies. They started reproducing in it! Gross! I about threw up when I saw what was in that jar. I poured bleach in it and let it sit, dug a deep hole (about 3ft) and dumped it in there and buried it. Better in the jar than around where they could finish their cycle.
We have several kinds, the shiny metallic colored ones, big house flies, biting flies, and a couple others. But I haven't heard buzzing, been bit, or really beaan bothered since taking the new measures.
When my fly strips are full (they almost are!) inside the coop, I'm going to try those vanilla air freshners.
I also clean every single day. I spray down the duck gravel with the hose, rake the chicken run, and scoop out the poo in the coop kitty litter style.
What kick started my efforts, since having some flies is normal and bearable, was coming outside one hot afternoon to literally thousands of them that came from no where, trying to all settle on the rim of the duck pool. The duck pool was 2 days dirty (I cleaned it every 3) and I guess it must have been one heck of an attractant. 25 flies easy on one little pile of poo. I stuck fly strips all along the edge of the pool (so many, so fast, I thought they would fly away with the strips!) the buzzing sound was something out of a horror movie where flies take over the world.
I sat there with a fly swatter and did my best, with a circle of traps around me. It was flymagedeon! The next afternoon, it wasn't nearly as bad. Nothing like it since.
There must have been one good hatch from the flies, then the fly bots kicked in and eliminated the new larvae/eggs, and with the traps, the stragglers have been kept at bay.
It was so tempting to spray the area during the flypocolypse, but I didn't want to use the chemicals anywhere near the birds. It happened once in my house, I have no idea why, I didn't have inside animals at the time, no stinky trash or inside compost bin... nothing! But the windows had flies everywhere! I sprayed every window with a fly spray and left for a couple of hours. Came back and aired out the house and vacuumed hundreds of dead flies. Never seen it before or since! Up until the duck pool invasion.
I took the duck pool away while dealing with this, and then bought them a much smaller size I could dump daily and keep cleaner without wasting lot's of water.
