fly control outside the house

21 years ago

We live in a rural area on 60 acres. No animals (except a dog and cats). We have so many flies! In the spring they cover the West side of the house (thousands of them this year) and the barn. Then later they seem to move to the ground, you can just hear them buzzing when you are outside around the house, IT is creepy! You would think there were piles of rotting bodies everywhere. We keep things quite neat and tidy, no piles of garbage or manure or any of the usual suspects. What can I do to eliminate them? Do flies winter over, maybe under the siding on the house? We moved here one year ago, but it has been many years since there were farm animals on the place. Any suggestions on what to use to control or eliminate the nasty things?

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kayva

21 years ago

I work in a boarding kennel and we have a terrible fly problem. When you have 200 dogs, you can't run the poop out to the dumpster every time you scoop! We keep everything as neat and sanitary as possible, but the flies hang around the poop cans (with lids) and around the dog kitchen where we prepare the food.
In the past, we have used the fly traps with the bags that you put water and pheremones in. They are great until you go to empty them. They end up spilling dead flies and pheremones all over your hands! This year we are trying the jars, and so far they have worked well. Two makers are Vector and Farnham. We were late in putting them up this year, but the fly population has gone down considerably since we put them up a few days ago.
The thing we like the most about this kind of trap is that they are safe to use around animals, and we don't have dead flies on the ground. (You'd be surpised at what some dogs think is a yummy snack!)
Kay

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Comments (11)

sewcrazynurse
21 years ago
Try an electric bug zapper. My grandparents had one for there hog farm and there were piles of dead bugs under it. But beware if you get a moth in it it will sizzle for ever. Yuck Moth ala King.

Caren
orcuttnyc
21 years ago
Electric bug zappers kill beneficial bugs as well. Try this...

http://ufinsect.ifas.ufl.edu/deerfly_trap.htm

I love the baseball cap!
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Poochella
21 years ago
LOL the baseball cap would raise some eyebrows here, right along with the mower and decked out 'trolling' truck. But whatever works against biting flies, works for me.

Dog Dolls, are you SURE there's not a body buried outside your house? That just sounds weird and I hope you find a solution to your fly invasion.
Pams
21 years ago
I would try several options....a zapper, hang fly strips where you can and also use fly bait. There are also jars that you can hang with bait in them. Keep your pets in mind when doing the fly bait. We cut milk jugs and keep it off of the floor so the cats and dogs don't get into them. Good luck.
Tomato_Worm59
21 years ago
Here's something that really works, too. It kills flies and not beneficial or non-target insects. It's called "Quick Strike" and is made by StarBar, the golden Malrin people. We use these plastic strips at the farm. Follow instructions.
The ones we use at the farm I work at, will kill enough flies every day to completely fill a dustpan each day when the floor is swept. Sweep all the flies away, come back in 2 hours and see how many more have dropped dead! This is for those with a lot of flies! Our fly problem in the bars is very minimal now.
AlchemyAcres
21 years ago
Here's a benign means of control that works very well....

Here is a link that might be useful: Peaceful Valley Wood Fly Trap....
cjbrady
21 years ago
We have this problem too - particularly this year. What's strange is that the flies all congregate around our front door where there ISN'T any farm poo! We were told that they do so because that area is warmer - the house is L shaped and the front foor catches the warm air. Probably the west side of your house has the same thing going - late afternoon sun warming it up?
I bought these fly traps that smell quite bad but you just remove the lid, add water and hang them. They are working like a charm.

I also heard that there's a small, predatory wasp that you can purchase that don't bother people but they prey on the fly larvae. Since flies have such short lives, its not long before you are fly free, so I har. I might try that too.

Also, we had this prob down by our small barn until we got ducks and they just eat them all up - its funny to watch ;-)
smokey27
21 years ago
you can get 6 sticky fly strips in 1 package for a buck.
PRO
studioTD3
11 years ago
Here's our solution-super icky, but it works! I've tried the bag + pheremones (expensive, smelly), fly paper, etc. but by far the 2 best lures I've found are cooked and eaten corn cobs, and dog poop. I bought Catchmaster brand window fly traps and lay them on top of either lure (we have 2 dogs and a compost pile) and within 2 hrs, they're full. I'd estimate it catches 4-500 flies per clear paper. It's disgusting but affordable, no toxins and efficient. Grossest part is collecting the buzzing/vibrating paper!
mersiepoo
11 years ago
You may be seeing 'cluster flies', I believe they are actually pollinating flies, not filth flies. We get them in early to mid spring as well.