Help, maggots!!

[Lastchancechicken]

I have a sand base run with DE and PDZ mixed into the soil. I rake the run and coop everyother day. i keep geese and chicken together in the run and free range during the day. I have a bizillion flies and they are all over the food dishes. The grese have a small bucket of water for dunking and when I picked it up tonight there were maggots under it!! How do I kill them and what have I done wrong?? This is my first attempt at chickens and I am very discouraged.

 

[PP Calls]

I bet your chickens would enjoy eating those.

It's a bad year for flies. Just try to make sure any spilled feed is cleaned up, and you could try hanging some fly paper in the coop to catch the adults if you can hang it where the birds won't have access to it.

You might also try hanging a fly trap that has an attractant away from the coop so the flies are drawn away. And they will end up in the trap and will die so that too will help reduce the fly population.

 

[Lastchancechicken]

I bet your chickens would enjoy eating those.

It's a bad year for flies. Just try to make sure any spilled feed is cleaned up, and you could try hanging some fly paper in the coop to catch the adults if you can hang it where the birds won't have access to it.

You might also try hanging a fly trap that has an attractant away from the coop so the flies are drawn away. And they will end up in the trap and will die so that too will help reduce the fly population.

 

[Lastchancechicken]

Thanks for your answer. Do chickens eat maggots? I am terrified they will get fly strike from the flies. Good to know that it is a terrible year for flies somewhere other than my place!

 

[BirdGal]

Yes , chickens love maggots !

 

[cottontail farm]

I'm suprised the chickens didn't knock you over to get to them, honestly. Mine love any kind of "bug".

If you want to add a couple of ducks they LOVE flies. But i wouldn't worry - I think you only have to worry about fly strike if a bird has an open wound?

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I use Rescue brand bag type fly traps. They smell awful and are beyond gross when full but they work!

I hang them just outside the run area.

 

[aart]

I think you only have to worry about fly strike if a bird has an open wound?

Fly strike can also happen when a bird has poop built up on their butt feathers.
Flies will lay eggs in that poop then when the maggots hatch they can create a wound as they feed.

a small bucket of water for dunking and when I picked it up tonight there were maggots under it!!

The spilled water mixed with the poop particles in the sand makes for a prefect wet dark incubator for flies. Might try putting dunk bucket up on a screen of some sort.

 

[staceyj]

Regardless of wether or not chickens and ducks eat flies and or maggots, it’s not an infestation you want to court.
Any small wound can quickly become riddled with maggots causing pain and possibly death to a bird.
Fly paper and ribbons work, but are dangerous if a bird gets tangled up in it.
You best step is to knock down the population as quickly as you can.
As @FlyingNunFarm stated, the hanging kind do smell like a rotting corpse but man, they work so well and so fast.
Here are just a few.
I’ve used the captivator with incredible if not disgusting results in just a few hours.

 

[WVduckchick]

I couldn't believe how fast this thing filled up!
The pics were taken after just a couple days of it hanging. I've since moved it further away from the coop, and replaced the bait.