About 4 months ago I started having an infestation of small black flying insects inside the henhouse. They didn't seem to bother the hens but quickly increased in numbers. After the bugs appeared inside my home (brought in on my clothes) I discovered they were fruit flies.
In the henhouse, underneath the roost, I have several large plastic bins with hay in them to collect the poop, which works out great because I just empty them into a cart and put the poop and hay into a compost pile. As it works out the fruit flies love chicken poop and the damp hay they eat the poop and lay billions of egg in the bins.
I tried everything the get rid of the fruit flies, fly strips, fruit fly traps, spray bombs electric fans, etc. to no avail. I did not want to use insecticides in the bins because I compost the material. There were clouds of the little bugs so thick I had to cover my face when I went into the henhouse
I started dusting the bins every morning with food-grade diatomaceous earth. Within 2 weeks they were gone. Apparently they will not eat or lay their eggs on the diatomaceous earth.
In the henhouse, underneath the roost, I have several large plastic bins with hay in them to collect the poop, which works out great because I just empty them into a cart and put the poop and hay into a compost pile. As it works out the fruit flies love chicken poop and the damp hay they eat the poop and lay billions of egg in the bins.
I tried everything the get rid of the fruit flies, fly strips, fruit fly traps, spray bombs electric fans, etc. to no avail. I did not want to use insecticides in the bins because I compost the material. There were clouds of the little bugs so thick I had to cover my face when I went into the henhouse
I started dusting the bins every morning with food-grade diatomaceous earth. Within 2 weeks they were gone. Apparently they will not eat or lay their eggs on the diatomaceous earth.
