Fly Control, anyone find something that works, and is chicken safe?

[renovationmom]

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Where do you get those? I was just at Tractor supply, they have a plastic container, you fill with attracant, but that was all I saw there. I have an equine & barn spray, but it does not seem to be working either.

 

[renovationmom]

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Thank you for the help. I am sure some of these can work for me. I use DE in the coop(great for drying out poop, keeping flies away, and dust baths for mites&lice, but when the mister is on, it does not work. Will the DE be harmful to the Fly Predators?

 

[renovationmom]

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Wow, it seems the flies are bad this year everywhere, no matter your climate.

 

[chkn]

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Where do you get those? I was just at Tractor supply, they have a plastic container, you fill with attracant, but that was all I saw there. I have an equine & barn spray, but it does not seem to be working either.

Walmart, Lowes, Farm Supply....I'm sure Orchard and Home Depot have it. What it is is a plastic bag about 6' x 8". Inside the bag is this yellow thing. You cut a round hole at the top and pull the yellow thing through. So in other words, the packaging IS THE BAG I'm talking about. It's a good design. I blew the first one and cut the bag straight across (don't do that). Anyway, look for the plastic bag fly trap. I know there's a big plastic tube one and some others but just one that comes in a bag as far as I know. You fill it with water and there's a little package inside that dissolves. It's non-toxic. You hang it wherever the flies gather. I hung two about two feet off the ground on the sunny side of the run. The little yellow thing you pull through as a place for the flies to crawl in and the idea is they come in but they can't figure their way out and they drown in the liquid. It is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Love it, love it!!!

 

[secuono]

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These are the best, nothing else works so well! Get only the bagged ones, with the attractant already in there, all you do is add water and hang! They catch 2,000 flies if not more. Don't bother w/the milk jug adapters, jars, etc. Only the yellow bag. Hang one where most of the flies are at, then another far off to attract the rest away from the coop.

 

[chi-rn]

Have to ditto the bag/water fly traps. Get them at our local farm supply store. Smell something awful, but boy do they get rid of the flies! Found 'em only cause to0 lazy to go all the way across town to TSC to get the fly hotel I was going to try. Am I ever glad for that! Flies be gone!

 

[lengel]

I use the Big Stinky Fly Traps and swear by them. They are absolutely amazing.

 

[Saltysteele]

man, you ain't kiddin' they're stinky!

don't know which is worse, the stinky bag traps or the idea of using dog doo as an attractant for the poison!!

 

[mandelyn]

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.

 

[one slick chic]

Too funny, I bought the stinky bag thing too and cut it open by mistake too. My husband laughed since I am notorious for not reading instructions. I ended up putting it in a ziplock and stapling it together...I have to get a few more and see if the really work.