Pest plz help

[Tlco]

What can I use to keep Ants out of my coop....I have tried D-earth which only the chicks seam to love and don't really help with the ants. I have used 5% 7dust which only helps for short periods. Does anyone have an ideal or ideals to get rid of the ants. It's fire ants and big red (cow?) Ants.

 

[Dmontgomery]

I have had really good luck with Black Flag Home Insect spray. I get ants around the feed storage area in the coop and sometimes in the nesting boxes. I spray those areas while the chickens are out free ranging during the day, so they aren't exposed to the smell or wet spray. My coop is very well ventilated also. This may not work for you, depending on your setup.

 

[sunflowerbee]

I have been told to put a vanilla scented air freshener in coop to get rid of flies. Little weary of that. What do y'all think?

 

[Flock Master64]

I have been told to put a vanilla scented air freshener in coop to get rid of flies. Little weary of that. What do y'all think?

I've tried that and I think it works well

 

[Dmontgomery]

We tried it too. It definitely did not work for us here, but the coop smelled pretty for a while. We had much better luck at keeping flies away with zip lock bags filled with water. I don't know why it worked.

 

[sunflowerbee]

Okay explain the bag of water trick please

 

[Dmontgomery]

Ziplock sandwich bags filled about 3/4 of the way with water. Then use either nails or thumbtacks to hang it up. Make sure the nails go through above the zip together part so the bag doesn't leak. It looks extremely trashy (to me anyway) but for some reason it works, I had seen it done for years and years but never even considered using it because it looks terrible, but we had an awful fly problem earlier this summer down here. We were desperate for anything that would work. We tried the vanilla air fresheners but they did nothing for us at all. Then I let my wife hang the ziplock bags and we saw virtually no flies almost immediately. It does not run the mosquitoes or gnats away but it absolutely got rid of 99% of the flies. After a month or 2 they come back and we change the water in the bags, then they are gone again.
It doesn't have to be the name brand ziplock bags, we use Walmart brand. Like I said, I don't understand it, but it has worked for us.

 

[Tlco]

You fill clear zip lock bags with water hang them around coop and inside. Flies don't see .like we do so when they look into bag see a larger fly and scars em off. Some people put a few marbles in bag to make the image look even bigger. Works around your house, patio anyplace you don't want flies to gather.

 

[sunflowerbee]

Gee thanks that's amazing. I will do in the morning

 

[Dmontgomery]

You fill clear zip lock bags with water hang them around coop and inside. Flies don't see .like we do so when they look into bag see a larger fly and scars em off. Some people put a few marbles in bag to make the image look even bigger. Works around your house, patio anyplace you don't want flies to gather.

I always assumed it had something to do with reflections but I wasn't going to be the one to say it. That would probably mean it is important to hang it in a way that light is shiny through the bag. Ours hang underneath rafters around the edge of the porch so the sun shines through all the time.