Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[Debbi]

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clean flies?? Sounds like an oxymoron to me!

I know huh....but tis true. You know how the regular flies are nasty filthy little creatures....well these flies don't have that problem.

MORNING VICKI!

Do you have to build them a jar like feeder? I have a hard time using YouTube with my stinkin' dial-up!

 

[sewandgrow]

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I was already thinking YUCK Kim. I live in Cow country & between them & all the chickens I have flies all the time & couln't imagine wanting more. I wish the chickens would eat flies more....the little ducklings I used to have went crazy eating them. Maybe I ned to put a duck in eat pen.....LOL

 

[flgardengirl]

I love that silkie pic! That probably freaked thier little pea brains out! Wow you got quite a few silkie colors there. I have 1 dark blue, 2 splash, 4 partridge, 1 buff (my fav) and 1 white. Most of mine are from Bobbi Porto here in FL and a few from another byc breeder. Most of the ones I got from this other byc breeder did not hatch for some reason even though he shipped them very well. I really want to get some more lavender silkie eggs. I had one lavender pullet and she is the only one that died of a head injury when she was little (of course). My dark blue male also has a head injury from getting pecked by another chicken when he was young and he made full recovery...

I will have to research the soldier flies. That sounds really interesting. We had a major fly problem here this last summer. Alot of the flies were huge biting horsefly types. Alot of our nieghbors have horses but not sure if that's where they were from. I wonder if the soldier flies would kill off the horse flies. We also have these little yellow flies here in FL that bite and are evil....it would be great to have a natural predator against those things.

I grew my own black oil sunflowers this year and they were doing good too but then the turkeys knocked down my garden fence and went and hogged up most of them before I got them picked. I guess they are stuffing themselves so I won't have to come Turkey Day lol.
Did I tell you guys that something got our big tom turkey? Broke his neck!!! No other signs of trauma...I'm still trying to figue that one out. He was the sweetest thing too.

 

[Debbi]

Yes, me too Karen. We had a booming fly year here, and the horseflies! I can't remember the last time I saw such big horseflies, they were about 2 inches long! Just like a Bot fly, they get on the middle of the animal's back, (and mine!), and bite! When I did manage to swat one, the chooks loved them!

 

[pinkchick]

Nope....if you look up the link that I posted it will take you to a DYI reactor bin and collection jug. I will have to try and get you the link for the individual self feeders for each coop. I think there is a link that shows those feeders here on BYC...you know those ones that the chickens stand on and it opens. I will look for those links later for you.

 

[flgardengirl]

I hate bot flies. That little squirrel we rescued last year had a bot fly larvae buried in its side. Talk about hard to get out. They are the sneakiest little worms ever. You have to cover the hole they are in so they can't get any air and then uncover it and wait for them to come up for air with tweezers -trying to grab it and pull it out of the squirrel. Yuck! I have pics of that somewhere LOLOL.

 

[Debbi]

Lynette ~ Let's see, I have 3 Whites, 1 Splash, 1 Buff, 4 Blues, and 5 Partridges. Two of the blues were born looking like chipmunk Partrdige, but are now all blue? One is pet quality, the other is quite nice, can't wait to see the end color of it. The blues are all very dark. I seem to like the Partridges the best, the Buff is cute too, reminds me of a Creamsicle! Too bad she only has 4 toes on one foot. If I do end up getting any more Silkies, I will be ordering from Bobbi, love her birds!

Too bad about your turkey! Sounds like my hen, did he maybe run into anything??

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
I was already thinking YUCK Kim. I live in Cow country & between them & all the chickens I have flies all the time & couln't imagine wanting more. I wish the chickens would eat flies more....the little ducklings I used to have went crazy eating them. Maybe I ned to put a duck in eat pen.....LOL

Well maybe it would help knowing that the compost bin that they will be laying eggs in will attract regular and other flies....but the nicey nice thing here is that in the fecal matter is something that kills them...hence the regulars and other nasty's can't breed and reproduce and gives the Soldier fly larvae more food to eat.

Seriously if you look up a photo of them they are not like other flies. I will admit the first thing I thought of was....."geesh, more flies.....no way," then I researched them and trust me...we had a horrible fly year here this year too. You know how they like to hoover under covered spaces or areas....everytime I walked out my front door or walked the length of my front porch, I had to dodge them or they smacked me right in the face. I just got accustomed to walking with my head down across the porch. I also learned the hard way to keep my mouth closed at the same time.

That was seriously gross. I would have much preferred a clean Black Soldier Fly.

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
Have you tried spraying Screw Worm spray on them?? Works with maggots, surely it would work on them. They just boil right out of the wound! It's gross, yet very fascinating to watch!

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Have you tried spraying Screw Worm spray on them?? Works with maggots, surely it would work on them. They just boil right out of the wound! It's gross, yet very fascinating to watch!

They don't like perioxide solutions either.