Help Fly control

[mcarls22]

I'm having a lot of problems with flies near the chicken tractor . The chickens are moved every two days and they are let out in the early evening. We pickup the poop in and round the coop every day . How can we control them ?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Starbar Golden Malrin fly bait.
Be careful to follow directions. Your bait station can't be where pets or livestock can access it.

 

[mcarls22]

Any ideas how to hang it where animals and livestock can't get to it here is a pic of my coop

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It doesn't have to be right by the tractor. It will attract them wherever you put it.
It doesn't have to be complicated or perfect. Just put something up high that you can sprinkle the bait on.

 

[dheltzel]

Starbar makes traps for flies also. That seems like a safer thing to me, at poisoned fly could die in the run and be eaten by a chicken. Plus, with traps you have the satisfaction of seeing all the dead flies in one place.

 

[Big Cluck]

I have on more that one occasion sat in my run with a jar. when I find a nice big fat piece of manure that the flies are loving, I sit patiently with the jar suspended over the piece of manure. I very slowly and gradually lower the jar (so the flies don't get suspicious). Then after they are used to the jar just above them, I slam it down over them, trapping most of them in the jar. I then cap the jar, and shake it as hard as I can stunning the flies (this takes a lot more shaking than you would imagine!). Then I take the stunned flies out of the jar, one at a time being careful not to let any escape, and feed them to my girls. They LOVE IT!
I know most people don't have the time for this and its not effective for a large scale fly problem, but I dislike flies enough that if I find a spare hour on Saturday afternoon, its not a bad way to spend it!

 

[starman]

I use a hanging fly catcher that I put near the run and near by tree. It catches tons of flies, but it does smell like fish emoltion.

 

[Folly's place]

Fly traps ATTRACT flies, so if you use them, far away from anyplace you want to be. I like the Spalding fly predator wasps, which get delivered once a month during fly season, and really do help. I agree about the nasty poisons mentioned here. Permethrin dust under the bedding helps a bit also. Mary