The Battle of the Flies

[CAGILLIES]

Hey Friends,
Less than 1 year into chickens, the first full southern-summer with my gals, and the battle of the flies is on. I have 4 gals, a relatively large coop filled with wood chips, and a 10' x 8' run with sand within the city limits (#urbanfarming).

The flies are a little intense in the run.... Meaning, I have several sticky traps, 1 stinky Captivator trap (that works great and is outside of the run) but there's still a fair amount of flies hanging low to the ground in the run.I keep it pretty clean (as clean as I can) by scooping it regularly, avoid giving them fruit in the run (just veggies, bread, etc), but the flies still seem to win.

I'm thinking an old school bug zapper near the coop/run, but I don't know if the light will bother them at night, and if it will even help since the flies seem to hover near the ground and poop.

Any suggestions? Or is this just part of the deal...

Thanks!

 

[azygous]

If there is fresh poop on the ground, the flies will come and party. The key is to remove the poop. You say your run is sand. So is mine. I love the sand and so do my chickens. I scoop the poop with a cat box scooper several times a day. There are practically no flies except for a few "lookie-loos" passing by.

 

[Toothpick]

Just part of the process for me. My 8x10 coop is pine shavings roughly 2-3” deep. There are flys in there but I don’t worry about them.

 

[townchicks]

I had more flies than usual this year. I bought a fly trap and hung it near the coop, but I couldn't stand the smell, and there were still a lot of flies. I moved the trap about 15 feet away from the coop, and the flies followed it. I still get a whiff of it now and then, but the flies are filling it up, and they don't bother me in the run now when I'm trying to enjoy my "girl time". I'd love to find something that works but is not so offensive to my nose, though. And god forbid the neighbors think that stench (if they smell it) is coming from my coop.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

We live in a rural area, and there are flies everywhere, not just around the coop. The funny thing here is that we had two orb weaver spiders move into the coop and run, and the chickens don't bother then, and they are taking care of the flies and gnats. Those spiders have it made and have gotten fat! I leave them be and it has been beneficial to all of us.