post your secrets for eliminating flies

[onthespot]

flies don't like wind, so you can put a fan on the shady area where your chickens rest in the heat. Dual benefit is the flies don't buzz around in the air, and the fan helps keep the area dry and speed the drying of droppings, which is less inviting to flies.

 

[cajunlizz]

I have about 6 - 8 inches of sand in my run areas and I rake sand over the droppings regular and DOES control the smell and flies ....


I read where alot of people put hay and straw even pine shavings in their run area , I DO NOT for that very reason . they get wet from rain , ETC. then they start stinking and flies start gathering ....

I only use pine shavings inside my coops and I never have any smell or flies ... KEY WORD is plenty ventilation


and I DO LIVE IN THE DEEP SOUTH

 

[chickiebaby]

Only an issue here in the summer - but plain old flypaper strips work absolutely great and cost about 20 cents in a big pack of ten. Once again, granny knows best!

 

[DDRanch]

I have been stunned at the huge number of flies I have had this year. I bought the fly sticky strips that you unroll and hang them from the ceiling. They work but I am using several a day and it could get costly. It looks like I will have to scrub down the entire inside from all the fly s_ _ _. Disgusting.

I clean up poop in the coop EVERY DAY so don't know what else to do.

 

[LynneP]

No-pest strips are fabulous too and can be used in homes, restaurants, barns, coops...but hang in a cage or where birds can't access them and avoid hanging over food/water. (dichlorovos)

 

[Jessika]

I just clean clean clean. I have never used DE or anything out there. But we stay pretty cool and it's nothing compared to the fly population in the south.

 

[momofdrew]

I used old fashion fly paper strips and DE I didnot see an increase in flys

 

[cyrixlord]

Lucky for me, I have about a bazillion spiders. the upshot is that I dont have a fly problem. the downshot is that I have to walk with my hand in front of my face every morning when i go out to the coop so I dont get webface

I also use deep litter method and make sure that its very dry and pick up dog poo every sunday to keep the bugger population down. I also release praying mantids in the yard

 

[chickenpicken]

Type in fly predators and get some. We had probs with them around the dog kennels and I won a gift cert for some at a dog show. They work real well. You may want to fence off an area or two to dump them in.

 

[BeardedChick]

I applied fly preds to my horse corrals several years ago and didn't think they did anything.

However, over the years, I still find fly pred. wasps now and then and every year the fly population is not bad esp. considering we have horse corrals in the back yard.

Hopefully you will see a big improvement next season.