~~Flys!!! :/~~

[Tripp16]

Hey guys.
Well I was out putting wood chippings my girls house and I hear a loud buzzing noise.

So I look out into the run and see at least 50 fly`s if not more!!!

I watched to see if my girls would eat some, they tried but they arent fast enough.

What Im trying to ask is, how can I get rid of alot of the fly`s in the run??

They are really annoying!

Thanks!!!

 

[Tripp16]

Anyone?

 

[Grand-hen-ma]

I see a lot of flies also but only when there is a need to clean out the pens. If there are poop piles or any left over food or wet feed, the flies will come. I try to clean up some every day to help keep the flies down. I used to use different things as a bedding, hay, shavings, mulch of ground leaves. They seemed to hold more "stuff" and more flies so I just use sand. It makes it easier to clean up and keep clean.

Hope this helps.

 

[mandelyn]

We bought the Fly Bots to scatter around the compost area, fly traps (reusable plastic jar style traps to hang in "problem" areas, and stay on top of cleaning the runs. I keep a fly swatter out there too, so that when I see 7 of them sharing a fresh pile of poo, I whack them all. Happy to say, no more audible buzzing or swarms.

We put a load of gravel into the duck run, so I can hose the poo away, and we're going to do more sand in the chicken run soon. The girls have pretty well blended the sand with the dirt. Needs another 1.5 tons or so. I pick up poo as I see it daily in the coop, never any flies in there.

I'm wondering how much the horse farm up the road contributes to our fly issues here.

 

[the-bird-man]

my plan is to use a bug zapper that i got at a thrift store. de keeps them down too i have found. you can also make a cheap trap by taking a soda bottle and cutting the top off and sticking it upside down in the bottle so it acts like a funnel and add some apple cider vinegar and a little dish soap to the bottle, the flys go in to drink the vinegar and cant get out because the way the top is and the soap makes everything slick.

oh and you can get a electric fly swatter at harbor freight for around $2 that allows you to kill them in mid air so you do not have to wait for them to land. they work very well

 

[dawg53]

Sand in the run is the way to go. It also absorbs the rain and dries quicker. It's easier to scoop poop too.

 

[AlienChick]

I don't have a fly problem inside my coop.

I use the dry deep litter method, so everything stays real dry.

But outside where the fresh, oooey, gooey, wet poop is laid . . . YUCK!

Wherever the poop is the flies seem to find it like poop-radar!

Sometimes I hose the yard down a bit, but the chickens keep pooping and the flies keep feasting.