Flies

[TexasTimbers]

I hate them. Worse than cockroaches because cockroaches are easier to deal with and they generally avoid you. A steenking fly is incessant. Relentless.

How do you deal with them? My shop is a breeding ground all of a sudden. Do you use bait? Which one works best?

[sharp edge]

Smear bacon grease all over the place. It keeps bears away so should work for flies too.

In the fall of the year we get lots and lots of big lady bugs. To get them out of the shop i will start a wood fire in the stove, leave the door open,shut the damper and smoke them out, might work for other flies too.
SE

[TexasTimbers]

Yep I have always wanted to smear bacon grease and start a fire in a steel building, in Texas, in June. It will definately work because the flies will still be eating the bacon grease and I will be unable to enter the shop. Problem solved.

[Coon]

We have many of them freakin things too.  You can simply make your own fly traps out of a quart jar with a lid.  I use quart cealers with the metal lids.  Take a 2 1/2 inch spike and make four or five holes in it with the lid on.  I use an over ripe banana in the jar for bait.  Every couple of days change the bait or like I do throw the jar away before you get a bunch of maggots.

[Gary_C]

The easiest method is prevention. Every fly you have at the start of the season will reproduce into gazillions later. Eliminate all breeding areas for flies like wet areas, manure piles, dead and rotting organic material, etc. Flies need undisturbed manure  or wet organic material piles to reproduce.

Second, there are now some premise sprays that are available that really work. You spray on the building walls and let it dry. It will wash off with repeated rains so it needs to be reapplied periodically. The stuff really works. In past years when we had dairy cows we hired a guy to come and spray the buildings about every 4-6 weeks starting in the spring and had practically no flies all summer. I believe the product he used was called Tempo and can be obtained at farm supply stores. However for best results, start early before they get out of control. I just sprayed the outside of the house this morning.

Last resort is the aerosols that contain Pyrethrin or the synthetic version called permethrin. The are only effective in closed areas that you can seal off and hold the spray for some time. If you can't enclose the area, you will kill some and the remainder will become partially immune to the spray so it will lose it's effectiveness. Best place to buy again is farm supply stores. Look for the highest percent of active ingredients.

Yes, the baits, traps, and strips will catch some, but they will keep coming.  

[Captain]

Predator flies.  Releasing a batch of 5000 today.  They feed on the larvae of other, less desireable flies.

Predator flies link

Captain

[Gary_C]

Predator flies. Releasing a batch of 5000 today. They feed on the larvae of other, less desireable flies.

Sorry Captain but I am not convinced these predator flies are harmless. Many people do not realize the problems we are now having with Lady Bugs and Japanese Beetles may have been created by the "approved" release of millions of these bugs by soybean farmers to control Aphids in their soybean fields. Now we have problems with all three bugs.

[Patty]

Yea don't get me started on those DanG lady bugs. These DanG bugs have ruined what used to be beautiful fall days in Iowa. Most days now, you cannot even go outside because of the huge swarms of ladybugs. Then they are in your house all winter, just in cse you didn't get enough of them in the fall. 

[Captain]

That's ok Gary.  We're pretty happy with them here.  The predators are tiny in comparison to the common horsefly that will just carry us away from this time of year until October.

Captain

[JAMES G]

have to try that tempo stuff. I live near tomatoe farms and cow fields and the flys and gnats  are a real problem in the summer time.

[Bro. Noble]

As usual,  I agree with Gary C., but would like to add a little.  If you have wet areas with organic matter,  sprinkle a little hydrated lime on them from time to time.  If you have animals confined,  move them as far away from your living area as possible (unless it's a coon then bury it ).  We have had very poor success with the 'sugar baits' but we do use the aresol spray cans in the dairybarn if there are a lot of flies after we have cleaned up.

Patty,  don't use spray on those ladybugs that get in your house-----they are really offensive to your nose and worse after they are dead.  

[Gary_C]

Here is one of the better web sites for pest controls. Pest Control Supplies

Bro Noble

Us old dairy farmers have to stick together.      But I gave it up last fall, how long are you going to keep putting up with that tail-across-the-face job?     If it wasn't for this logging and sawing now, I'd be a CBF farmer. Thats Corn, Beans, and Florida. 

[Tom]

The trap described of the jar and lid with holes in it is very effective.  I  have a different operating strategy though.  Place a small piece of meat in the bottom and some water.  The flies get in and can't get out, they drown.  Leave the dead flies in the jar, their body fluids add to the water and there body is more bait for others.  There is no need to tend the trap until it becomes too full to work.  Then throw it away.    ....unless you have the stomach to clean it and use the jar again. 

[limbrat]

I like the light traps they are low maintence and they dont smell your bug man should have one. If you can put your traps around the door facing in so that you draw them out of the shop instead of putting them in the back and drawing them farther in. If you watch them little maggot daddys they spend most of there time from the ground to about six or seven feet so traps work best at about chest high. They dont like a breeze if you have a steady breeze outside they may be taking shelter in your shop. If you can set up a cross breaze in your main work area they might leave you alone. Alot of the little resturant kitchens that i visited at a old job swore by zip loc baggies full of water hung around doors and windows in the sun. None of them could realy explain why they worked but they all used them and swore they worked. A citreanela candle or two till you find something more permanent.
All the rain yall had might have triggered a strong hatch.

[dundee]

No flies on me?   

[TexasTimbers]

. . . . .  if you have a steady breeze outside they may be taking shelter in your shop.  All the rain yall had might have triggered a strong hatch.

You nailed it on both counts. There is always a breeze on my little hill here, and it is raining again. Right now. I think we are going to outrain Hawaii and London put together this year.

[thecfarm]

I don't know what you have for a door opening,but there is a country store down the road that hangs up zip lock bags with a few inches of water in each bag.The top of the door is covered with bags in a sraight line.They get confused and won't go by the bags.There have been doing this for 5-6 years I guess.They claim it works.

[SwampDonkey]

Only thing I get in the shop are bumble bees. I don't like killing them. Now, since the past week, we have deer flies. They last a couple months and are gone. I only get squeeters at night outside and the black flies are quite sparse by the house. The deer flies are the only things that annoy me. Well...........no-see-ums swarming out of hay fields before daylight are hot to.  But, non here by the house. When the deer flies are gone it seems we have some kind of blow fly that doesn't bite but crawls all over.

[Larry]

Swallows and martens eat flies...not for sure how many but I bet there more efficient than me and my fly swatter for control.

Been watching a pair of barn swallows this spring.  They had 5 babies in the first clutch.  One fell into the mouth of the waiting cat, one was dead in the nest, but I think the other three made it.  They are working on there second clutch now...not for sure how many in it yet.

I fixed up a trap like Tom described, but I got in trouble cause I used one of the bosses canning jars.  Few days later she put up a similar store bought trap.  It was a plastic bag that you just add water.  When it fills up you throw it away.  Didn’t ask what the price was...and probably don’t wanta know anyway.

[SwampDonkey]

Bats man, bats.