Help! I have a plague of houseflies.

[SKR8PN]

I don't know where your located Sunsaver, but we are in North Central Ohio and are having the SAME problem with flies this year. Every time the sun comes out(which this year hasn't been to often) we get a hoard of the little buggers. I have gone thru a couple dozen fly strips and 2 of those stinky water traps, and The Wife has worn out her flyswatter.

 

[Marianne]

I know this sounds weird, but those vanilla scented tree shaped car air fresheners will repel flies. Some people on byc use them in their chicken coops. I use them in the quail pen and also hang one by the back door.

Now that is interesting! Been a while since I had one, but aren't they yellow? The vanilla ones, I mean. I'd always heard that yellow would attract bugs, but hey, I believe you and am putting it on the list for when I go to the store. We have waves of flies every spring.

Don't bomb your attic. Since we have that here too, it's probably just a seasonal thing. We had them when we lived in town 30 miles from here, too. Most of the time, houses are too dry during the winter for insect eggs to survive.

 

[freemotion]

Guineas are a noisy bird about the size of a chicken. A couple of them will eat all those flies in a couple of days. Then you can eat the guineas.

 

[Wifezilla]

Ducks eat flies too. Of course they also attract them so guess that is a wash. Muscovies are the best fly eating ducks, and unlike guineas, they are quiet.

 

[sunsaver]

Took a closer look this morning. There are bronze, metallic looking. They look like they are made of dull gold or shiny copper. Bronze-colored flies would be the best description. There seems to be fewer today.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

There is a parasitic insect you can get that reduces fly populations. If you had a recurring problem that is a good solution.

Since this is a one time flair up, trapping and finding the source of the problem is probably your best bet. Good luck!

 

[Denim Deb]

There is a parasitic insect you can get that reduces fly populations. If you had a recurring problem that is a good solution.

Since this is a one time flair up, trapping and finding the source of the problem is probably your best bet. Good luck!

Fly predators? I'd say, don't waste your money. My boss spent probably hundreds on them last year. And, she STILL had a horrible problem w/flies. I was going to get some, but never got around to it. And, in spite of the fact that there were more horses (and more manure) on about the same amount of land, we didn't have the problem that she had. I finally figured out why, RU had some muscovies that, until the dogs killed all but one, just roamed all around the farm.

 

[lwheelr]

We had bad flies every fall in Wyoming. Except the last one. We got Muscovies, and they cleaned up the grasshoppers in the back yard, and apparently ate every fly that planned on coming in the house. We had those ducks just in the back yard, and a zero fly problem.

The grasshoppers were like a plague that year too, and they polished them off in three days flat. Their crops were dragging the ground for several days.

Gotta love Muscovies. Quiet, don't take much water, eat weeds and bugs like nobody's business, multiply well, and make the BEST steak you ever had!

 

[Wifezilla]

If it wasn't for their flying ability and razor claws of death, I would get some

 

[lwheelr]

We just clipped their wings. We don't get chummy with them, and they don't scratch us. Kevin holds them, I clip the flight feathers each year after they grow back.

They've been the best thing.