When did the plague of flies begin!

[bobbieschicks]

I made the mistake of deep cleaning my coop last week. I say mistake because apparently it is so clean the flies thought they better move in fast. I've been swarmed every since the cleaning. I can't decide if it was the way I cleaned that caused them to be attracted to the coop or if maybe they were always there but cleaning forced them out into the open to feed because I got rid of their normal hiding places.

I cleaned out all the bedding, manure box contents, straw and stuff from inside. Power washed and then fogged with Oxine. Dusted with Sevin and replaced all the contents. Before I had finished replacing everything they swarmed. What did I do wrong?

I've since put down even more Sevin and fogged with Sevin. I hung a nasty strip that I keep bumping into. I have also put out a bait trap for flies and today I ordered a new sprayer and some Cyzmic CS to spray based on The Gentleman Farmers thread about eradicating flies. Am I missing anything?

I have deep litter method over winter, but I start with Sweet PDZ and shavings and build up. I have a wooden floor. My coop page shows the setup. My run is sand around the coop, but grass in the outer run.

Thanks
Bobbie

 

[Debbi]

I hear you! Plague is the way I would describe it here too, in Biblical proportions! I had read the article on the Cysmic Cs too, and plan to order some when I get some spare money. I really think that at least here, the very warm past winter we had gave ALL the bugs the extra time to reproduce! Then, to make matters worse, my neighbor brings in 30 head of cattle, and feeds them right behind my yard!

Going to have to talk to him about that. I've cleaned, spread DE, dusted with Sevin, hung the water bags, (ya, that one didn't work at all!), and have even taken to bringing a fly swatter with me to the coop! Fly tape was SOLID BLACK within 2 hours! Going to see if my feed store carries those big fly bands like they use in stables. Just hope I don't end up with a chicken getting stuck in one!

 

[bobbieschicks]

HAHA - now that would be funny. I've seen some of mine take flight when they get spooked - they could get up high enough to get caught in that gross fly strip. It's already covered in flies of various levels of dying. I'll post my experience with the stuff and whether it works once I try it. Sprinkling more Sevin and fogging with it helped a little, but there are still plenty of flies around.

I hear you! Plague is the way I would describe it here too, in Biblical proportions! I had read the article on the Cysmic Cs too, and plan to order some when I get some spare money. I really think that at least here, the very warm past winter we had gave ALL the bugs the extra time to reproduce! Then, to make matters worse, my neighbor brings in 30 head of cattle, and feeds them right behind my yard!

Going to have to talk to him about that. I've cleaned, spread DE, dusted with Sevin, hung the water bags, (ya, that one didn't work at all!), and have even taken to bringing a fly swatter with me to the coop! Fly tape was SOLID BLACK within 2 hours! Going to see if my feed store carries those big fly bands like they use in stables. Just hope I don't end up with a chicken getting stuck in one!