poop board and fruit flies

yomama

Crowing
10 Years
Nov 6, 2009
5,206
46
251
outside, except when I'm inside
After hearing so many good things about using poop boards under roosts, I went ahead and put one in yesterday. Up until now, I have been using pine shavings a couple of inches deep and just stirred everything around, then cleaned it about once a month. I've only had this coop up and running since May, but it has always stayed pretty clean. Well, I went out to clean off the poop board, man was there ALOT of poo, and there were fruit flies everywhere!!! I've never had this in my coop. I cleaned off the poop board, went to go dump the poop in my composter and when I came back, all the flies had migrated to the window. Anyone have any ideas why there would be so many fruit flies in my coop all of the sudden? I thought maybe it was because the poop wasn't covered by the shavings, but even when the poo was in the shavings, it wasn't always covered up and buried. Any advice is greatly appreciated. The last thing I want is bugs in my coop!!
 
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I use a poop board and lightly sprinkle shavings and a little DE and Sweet PDZ or Stall Dri also on the board. I clean off the the board every 3 days or so and have not had a problem with flies of any kind.
 
Can't imaging FRUIT flies in your coop-poop... I have 4 birds and use a vinyl-covered poop board under their roosts. I clean it every 3-4 days and there's a lot of poop, but I never have flies. I do have some DE sprinkled in the coop in the wood shavings (deep litter) but nothing on my poop boards. Could fruit flies be attracted to their poop from something you're feeding them? Just a guess...
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Not sure, they free range and get layer feed. Other than that, they have had some tomatoes from my garden and some left over granola that no one in my family was eating. I sat there and stared at the bugs, to make sure they were fruit flies, and they were. We are having alot of rain today, but we have had it off and on the past two weeks. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.
 
I too put in a poop board but hated it.

I'm back to the deep litter method layering white shavings, wood pellets, and DE or stall dry and like it so much better for the damp Pacific NW.
 
I went out to the coop to see if the flies had disapated since the poop was gone. They were still there! I wiped down the poop board with vinegar water, just to get rid of any smears of poo. Most of the flies were in the window, apparently not smart enough to turn a little to their left to fly out the vent. I just don't understand where they all came from and why all of the sudden!!!
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That IS odd...don't know whether it's coincidence or not.
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I've had little black gnat things swarm around my poop bucket when I haven't emptied in a few days and it's half full, but never my dropping board poop... I keep DE in an old coffee creamer container with holes punched in the lid so that I can squeeze out DE powder like talcum powder. You might try that, and give the board a quick dusting (squeeze or two) after scraping it...
 
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Weirdest thing. Went out this afternoon, about an hour or two after cleaning the poop board with vinegar water, and the bugs were all gone! Every last one of them. Go figure. I guess I will see if they are there tomorrow. It has to be the poo, but not sure why. There is nothing else in the coop besides their food, which is dry and clean, just filled it the day before from a new bag, and their pine shavings, which are clean and dry. I even spent alot of time researching fruit flies, or bugs that look like fruit flies and what they are attracted to. The pics I saw of fruit flies definately looked like them, but they didn't look like the little black ones you see in your house. These guys were very small, but had rounder brown bodies and red eyes. Yet, when I looked them up on line, that was the picture for them, though. Too weird. I just hope they don't come back. I don't like unexplained things.
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Speaking of fruit flies (this having nothing to do with chickens) but for the last month or so, I have been having a big problem with them...everywhere... places I never had them before. Even in my bedroom...go figure. Anyway, my mother (NH) and my sister (NC) have both been complaining about them too lately. So maybe it's the year of the fruit fly?
 
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