Need to get rid of FLYS!!! they are constantly on the chickens and ducks food. Any ideas?

[downsm75]

I heard you could use grass clippings in your run to keep flys away, no idea if it works.

flies LOVE grass clippings ...

 

[iarthur]

Sounds like you've got the problem under control already, but as I think someone else mentioned, the problem was probably due to moisture. I've avoided significant problems with flies, and I attribute that to two things: First, I use a droppings board to capture the waste that the birds create while roosting, and clean that off daily, collecting the droppings in a covered container until there's enough to haul away and bury in our compost pile. It really takes just a minute or two each day, and that alone goes a long way toward discouraging flies. Secondly, I use pine shavings for deep litter inside the coop, and make sure it stays very dry. The waterer stays up high enough that the chickens can't kick bedding into it. The coop has a wooden floor, and is elevated off the ground, but I've also had success with a dirt floor and a deep bed of straw. I do sprinkle a little Stall Dri on the coop floor before I add new shavings, but I don't think it makes a significant difference. The fact that the droppings from the roosts are cleaned out in the morning, and the droppings that fall inside the coop during the day dry out quickly as the chickens scratch around in the bedding, means that there's never enough "fuel" to get much of a fly problem going. If there was a way for the bedding to get wet, it would be a very different story, I'm sure. I haven't tried keeping ducks yet, but I imagine that would complicate things quite a bit. Still, any strategies you can come up with that would reduce the availability of manure and moisture should make a huge difference.

 

[capsicum]

No water, no maggots. A few flys will always buzz around due to the smell of even a few droppings attracting them, (they have finely tuned poo-dar) but they won't multiply if the maggots don't have a source of moisture. Keep the water many feet from the dry food. (chickens can walk, they don't need both in one spot.) Keep the food area up high and dry, not on moist ground. Maggots will not grow in dried poo, though it may contain dormant fly eggs for a later date, compost properly.

Common maggots(as opposed to some tropical flys like the bot fly) don't eat live meat, in fact they are used in some places to clean dead tissue and bacteria from open wounds while leaving the live tissue alone, an effective preventative for gangrene discovered by mistake in the south's field hospitals in the US civil war. (An eggbound hen is a different issue as there is it isn't an 'open' wound and if the egg breaks it's a huge amount of maggot and bacteria food.)

Oh and the red lake earth brand Diatomaceous Earth has naturally occuring Calcium Bentonite (also known as Montmorillonite Clay). this possibly reduces it's bug killing properties a bit .(And they won't specify the grind size saying it's proprietary, really they just don't know, any competitor could easily measure it. Perma-gaurd is around 10microns, right in the bug killing range.)
However bentonite is highly water absorbent and loosely binds positively charged ions. (like metals and ammonium)

 

[Yukonchick]

Try lots of Diatomaceous earth on the floor of the chicken house and in the food. It kills insects but not chemically. It kills them physically and is great for all farm animals and people. I don't have a bad fly problem up here but i use it to keep parasites and worms from getting in my flock.

 

[Aj1911]

Umm, really? I don't think you're on the right thread, we're talking about flies. For the record, fly maggots do NOT feed off of chickens or their blood unless your chickens are dead, in which case I think you have a bigger problem. Getting rid of the maggots will help the overall problem though.

if the chickens have a poopy butt they can get fly strike which is when flys lay eggs in it then they hatch, the maggots will then work their way in the hen and eat them from the inside out or outside in, its very deadly and if you dont catch it with in the first 1-2 hours can kill a bird, i had this issue a while back

best treatment is to bathe the bird to clean the butt and most the maggots off then dry and cover with poultry dust.

 

[ilovedragons2]

Penny in a zip lock baggie with water works when the sun is shinning. Walmart sells a trap that you hang in their coop/run. It works ok. You add water and it does help

I bought one at TSC for $5. They have both disposable and re-useable. It works great! It takes a day or two before you notice it filling with the annoying critters.

 

[aoxa]

Umm, really? I don't think you're on the right thread, we're talking about flies. For the record, fly maggots do NOT feed off of chickens or their blood unless your chickens are dead, in which case I think you have a bigger problem. Getting rid of the maggots will help the overall problem though.

That's exactly what I was going to say. Maggots only eat decaying or dying flesh amongst other bacteria. That's why many HUMANS get maggots (as a treatment) by adding them to terribly infected locations by.. wait for it.. A DOCTOR.

I am not having a lot of regular flies like this, but someone PLEASE tell me what to do about the darn horse flies! They are biting me like crazy and giving me panic attacks. They seem to thrive around the chicken coop.

 

[Lyssa]

If you want an organic fly control, Arbico Organics has a good program. http://www.arbico-organics.com/category/fly-control-program I haven't tried it, but I use several of their other products and I think the company is very good. But these fly parasites are pretty cool. I think this may work best with Horses, as they have more manure. )

Fly Eliminators are gnat-sized parasitic wasps that feed upon and breed within developing (pupal) stages of manure breeding flies, eliminating the adult pest fly. The adult female fly lays her eggs wherever there is decomposing organic material. Within a short period of time, the microscopic larvae (maggot stage) burrow into the manure and eventually develop into pupae (cocoon stage).

Fly Parasite
The female Fly Eliminator seeks out her host and deposits her eggs inside fly pupae. These eggs begin to grow and feed on the developing fly, thus stopping the adult pest fly from hatching. Fly Parasites reproduce in 2 to 3 weeks, constantly reinforcing the beneficial insect population.​

 

[Roxannemc]

maggots eat dead things.They use them in hospitals to put on burn victims or dead flesh not living to clean the wound they dont eat live flesh at all only dead and unless your chicken was prone and had dead flesh i dont think they can get on an animals unless eggs are laid in a wound unless that is some odd kibd of fly.like a wire worm etc

 

[FarmrGirl]

With the mild winter we had this year I had a really gross fly problem too. I used fly predators and they work great! Takes about a month after you release them but then I have ZERO flys. I get mine from Spalding Labs: http://www.spalding-labs.com/horses/WhatAreFlyPredators.aspx

If you want an organic fly control, Arbico Organics has a good program. http://www.arbico-organics.com/category/fly-control-program I haven't tried it, but I use several of their other products and I think the company is very good. But these fly parasites are pretty cool. I think this may work best with Horses, as they have more manure. )

Fly Eliminators are gnat-sized parasitic wasps that feed upon and breed within developing (pupal) stages of manure breeding flies, eliminating the adult pest fly. The adult female fly lays her eggs wherever there is decomposing organic material. Within a short period of time, the microscopic larvae (maggot stage) burrow into the manure and eventually develop into pupae (cocoon stage).

Fly Parasite
The female Fly Eliminator seeks out her host and deposits her eggs inside fly pupae. These eggs begin to grow and feed on the developing fly, thus stopping the adult pest fly from hatching. Fly Parasites reproduce in 2 to 3 weeks, constantly reinforcing the beneficial insect population.​