FLIES, FLIES & FREAKING FLIES!

We have a backyard coop, the girls are allowed to free range. There is so many FLIES. What the heck do I do! Someone save my sanity!

Where, generally, do you live? This can help for making suggestions.

Where are the flies mainly? In coop, in run, in compost?

Do you have other animals besides chickens?

Acre4Me said:

Where, generally, do you live? This can help for making suggestions.

Where are the flies mainly? In coop, in run, in compost?

Do you have other animals besides chickens?

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Northern California, I have a husky and the flies are hanging around the patio, not really in the coop.

There are fly traps with bait- add liquid in bottom, flies go in and die. Many people have success with this.

Fly zappers may work well.

Some people with horses or many animals will buy “fly predators” which are tiny insects that hatch and basically feast on the grubs. But, most effective when you start early in the season - just Google fly predators bc several companies offer them.

You can use sticky fly paper, but not so attractive in your patio-best in other places.

The dog and chicken poop may be attracting them. If possible try to keep the dog and chicken poop farther from the patio or clean it up before fly eggs can hatch.

Acre4Me said:

There are fly traps with bait- add liquid in bottom, flies go in and die. Many people have success with this.

Fly zappers may work well.

Some people with horses or many animals will buy “fly predators” which are tiny insects that hatch and basically feast on the grubs. But, most effective when you start early in the season - just Google fly predators bc several companies offer them.

You can use sticky fly paper, but not so attractive in your patio-best in other places.

The dog and chicken poop may be attracting them. If possible try to keep the dog and chicken poop farther from the patio or clean it up before fly eggs can hatch.

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I will look into the life cycle of a fly. I thought I was doing great then BAM heat wave and we have 1000 flies lol its been great fun

Iaseye said:

We have a backyard coop, the girls are allowed to free range. There is so many FLIES. What the heck do I do! Someone save my sanity!

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You need to find the source of where they are breeding. Just look around your place, flies must have something rotten and moist, like old food or vegetation to lay eggs. I had a fly problem too and learned they were laying eggs in the bottom of my recycle bin. Some containers had been thrown in there without pre-rinsing, and it got really stinky. Just what flies love!

Cackel Shack said:

You need to find the source of where they are breeding. Just look around your place, flies must have something rotten and moist, like old food or vegetation to lay eggs. I had a fly problem too and learned they were laying eggs in the bottom of my recycle bin. Some containers had been thrown in there without pre-rinsing, and it got really stinky. Just what flies love!

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Oh man I would be so mad haha I'll go look there and see. I will gut my entire backyard haha my husband said it's the chickens but If that were the case there would be 100 flies in the coop.

Iaseye said:

I will look into the life cycle of a fly. I thought I was doing great then BAM heat wave and we have 1000 flies lol its been great fun

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I hate flies too. Yes, only takes a few….eggs to maggots, then BAM! An invasion. Yuk.

We had quail. They were in the barn in cages. They require high protein game bird crumble. They are messy eaters, so feed in the poop tray below, along with poop. We did a pretty good job of taking care of the poop trays, but still a gazillion flies. We got rid of the quail bc too many flies, and clearly we were going to have to solve the messy feed issue before getting quail again. We get flies now, but it’s not that bad.

When you find the source, then clean it up (obviously), but you can also spray permethrin to kill the flies. Spray again when eggs hatch (4-10 days?). Permethrin is an ingredient in many things, but you can buy the concentrate too.

Iaseye said:

We have a backyard coop, the girls are allowed to free range. There is so many FLIES. What the heck do I do! Someone save my sanity!

Click to expand...

The flies in our area love to live in the grass. I have 4 captivator fly traps that have really helped a lot. You can get them at Tractor Supply, Lowes, Amazon. They are the best I've found so far.

If you have more animals than just chickens, you can get a type of parasitic wasp that lays eggs on the maggots, then hatch out when the maggots pupate. They eat the pupae, pupate themselves, then break out to lay more eggs on more maggots. It won't eliminate flies, but it will cut down on their numbers. I know someone who has used it with success.
This may help.
To get you started:
https://www.ipmlabs.com/animal-fly-management/dairy-fly-parasites/biological-controls/
Note: I am not promoting this company or its products, this is only for educational purposes.