*Fly Problem*

[jessiduck]

Thank you all so much! Looks like I'm going to have to go and order some DE!

Hopefully, there will be no more flies

!

 

[OldGuy43]

Something else that you might want to try and may be available in your locale is Sweet PDZ.

http://www.sweetpdz.com/index.html

 

[Amiga]

When I use DE, I make sure the ducks are not in the area since the dust can cause respiratory problems. Not a show stopper, just a caution. As with many things, some ducks seem more sensitive to dust particles.

I have also used traps, I used the plastic bell jar type last year and it took a while for the flies to get caught, eventually it trapped many. Doing what I can to remove nutrient laden, moist material to a compost pile where it is mixed with drier material helps, DE has helped, and this year I will be trying fly predators.

The ducks take out a few, themselves.

I made a pretty decent fly trap out of a 2 liter pop bottle a couple of years ago. That worked as well as the commercial kind. The instructions are online.

And like mandelyn, I bait mine with wet cat food and duck poo.

 

[jessiduck]

Thank you both! Everyone on here is always so sweet and helpful!! Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[wildpeas]

When I use DE, I make sure the ducks are not in the area since the dust can cause respiratory problems. Not a show stopper, just a caution. As with many things, some ducks seem more sensitive to dust particles.

I have also used traps, I used the plastic bell jar type last year and it took a while for the flies to get caught, eventually it trapped many. Doing what I can to remove nutrient laden, moist material to a compost pile where it is mixed with drier material helps, DE has helped, and this year I will be trying fly predators.

The ducks take out a few, themselves.

I made a pretty decent fly trap out of a 2 liter pop bottle a couple of years ago. That worked as well as the commercial kind. The instructions are online.

And like mandelyn, I bait mine with wet cat food and duck poo.

Please let me know if the fly predators make a difference. When we used to board our horses in California one of the barns would get fly predators every year and add it to our board bill. The didn't do a darn thing about the flies that I could tell. We still had to use traps, sprays, fly sheets, and masks.

 

[mandelyn]

We tried the fly predators last year but started too late in the season. They eat the larvae, not the flies themselves. Once the flies are adults and hatched, the predators do nothing against them. They're great if you get an early start and keep going through the season with them.

If you already have flies, the predators won't help until the flies start reproducing.

I use the Sweet PDZ and DE both, not sure how well they help but it certainly smells better. No smell at all this year.

The DE is VERY dusty, I kick all the birds out before using it.

Out of everything we tried, the traps really helped the most when combined with eliminating the breeding area.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am picking up the vanilla car air fresherners today and will put them up in both coops, we'll see.

 

[Beekissed]

When I first used them I went out the next day expecting to see no flies...when I saw some flies I thought they were useless. But as the days went along and I noticed that the fly population was less than it normally was until finally there would only be a few here and there. Same in my house...went from killing many flies a day to maybe seeing a couple now and again. In my truck it was more dramatic. It was nothing to have 20 or so flies buzzing around in the truck...talk about miserable driving! After the tree, a couple of days went by and I noticed that the flies were gone. Like magic!

Everyone else all around me complaining about the flies and I was sitting there enjoying the vanilla-scented peace of no flies!!!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

When I first used them I went out the next day expecting to see no flies...when I saw some flies I thought they were useless. But as the days went along and I noticed that the fly population was less than it normally was until finally there would only be a few here and there. Same in my house...went from killing many flies a day to maybe seeing a couple now and again. In my truck it was more dramatic. It was nothing to have 20 or so flies buzzing around in the truck...talk about miserable driving! After the tree, a couple of days went by and I noticed that the flies were gone. Like magic!

Everyone else all around me complaining about the flies and I was sitting there enjoying the vanilla-scented peace of no flies!!!!

Sounds good to me and inexpensive too. What a combination!!

 

[Going Quackers]

Vanilla scented pine tree car fresheners? LOL ok.. now that is a new one! how over-powering of a scent though? As a migraine sufferer i tend to avoid heavy scented anything... I have some DE i still have yet to add it.. i have to many broody hens in the barn to put that dusty stuff out..