My BSFL farm got taken over by houseflies….

[Debbie292d]

Only thing I would worry about with fly bait is the house flies will get contaminated with poison and return it back to solider fly if they don't die on contact of poison. And what would stop the solider fly from getting it also if they aren't contained.

My experience, they die within a few seconds. I had a dot on one of our windows in the house and watched a couple in action. Pretty cool!

My other experience was walking in the coop once and not being able to open my mouth the flies were so thick, came back with the PT Alpine, held my breath and sprayed a spot on the window they had covered, on the wall next to it, and a few feet over. I came back an hour later there was not a fly in there and they must've just fell to the ground as the chickens had the pellets all scratched away near the window. I didn't see any as they ate them all.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

PT Alpine is Dinotefuran. Its a neo-nicotinoid, and shares broad similarities with the rest of that class of insecticides.

 

[Perris]

Black Soldier Fly Larvae. More nutritious than regular meal worms

Not necessarily; it depends on what is fed and what is measured. You might find this interesting

The use of yellow mealworm (T. molitor) as alternative source
of protein in poultry diets: a review
Tropical Animal Health and Production (2020) 52:7–16
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-02033-7

Mealworms also don't generate the problem you encountered, as the adults can't fly, and their dry habitat doesn't attract other insects to fly in.

 

[Blingchix6]

That's...odd. BSFL produce an enzyme that generally results in a reduction in housflies, not houseflies overwhlming your BSFL farm. I don't have any useful advice, I couldn't get a successful BSFL farm running (likely too hot), but from all the reading I've done, something was wrong with your set up or the houseflies could not have successfully colonized. Usually its the oppsosite, BSFL displacing houseflies.

I did not know this. I think the houseflies were attracted to the decomposing food. They DID lay some eggs (maggots) in the BSFL bin, but it seemed like eventually the houseflies disappeared and the BSFL took over. There were a lot more of them in the container than I originally thought. When I dumped out the container in the back yard, the chickens were back there scratching away, getting the remaining BSFL. Maybe I was just too panicked about the whole thing. I will try again this year and attempt to just let the insects sort it out among themselves. Lordy, the things I DO for these chickens!!!