Shoo Fly! Don’t Bother Me
Upon my return from New York, one of the first things that I noticed is we had developed a fly problem. I have read that in hot weather flies can multiply in 2-3 weeks. The weather has certainly warmed up in Texas.
Flies are not only a huge nuisance to animals and people alike; they can spread disease. Flies are attracted to food, trash, and excrement among other things. I have set out to eliminate our fly problem.
We empty our trash can everyday. We make sure the lids are on the large trash cans outside. We purposely rinse our dishes off upon use so that food is not sitting in the sink. We do not leave the door open, but close it as quickly as possible.
I believe that our main problem is because of the animals we have in the front yard. Our ducks wanted to spend their day on our front porch. They were leaving unwanted “presents” for us all over the place. My husband and Jake drove them down to the lake not far from our home. Lucky for us, the ducks now enjoy spending their time away from our home. Then my husband pressure washed the porch.
We also have cats with kittens. They attract flies, too. We gave away our last three kittens that were old enough to leave their mother this weekend. Unfortunately we had a cat just give birth to five more. She got pregnant so fast that we did not have time to get her fixed. This is now one of our priorities.
In my research to correct our fly problem, I immediately reached for a book my sister-in-law gave me last year. It is called, 1001 All-Natural Secrets to a Pest-Free Property, by Dr. Myles Bader. There are great tips in this book, but sometimes I feel that Dr. Bader really stretches to get 1001 secrets. I think that the book would have been better if he only attempted to write 501 secrets. Some of his tips are a little on the silly or completely obvious side. However, there are great tips to be found in this book and the best part is that they are all-natural.
Diatomaceous earth (DE) are the fossilized remains of diatoms or a hard-shelled algae. We use it as an all-natural wormer for our larger animals. Now we are going to feed a small amount to our small animals, too. Dr. Bader writes, “For cats feed 1/2 teaspoon every week, dogs should get 1/2 tablespoon each week and horses can get 1/4 cup added to each meal. The flies won’t go near the horse manure.”
This would be a rather simple fix to the problem. You can purchase garden grade DE at a good gardening store. I buy DE from Producer’s Co-op in Bryan, Texas. If you are not comfortable feeding DE to your animals, you can sprinkle it on the problem areas of your yard or barn. It should be effective in eliminating your fly problem.
Borax can be sprinkled into your clean garbage cans. According to this book, flies hate some of my favorite essential oils. Oils of lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus help repel flies. I put some drops of the different oils on cotton balls and put them in different parts of our house where the flies were the most bothersome.
After a little while, I did notice that the flies were not buzzing around me. My mom asked me, “Where did the flies go?” She should not have asked because then they started bothering us again. I wonder if the oil only initially affected them and should be reapplied every hour.
I hope that you are not enduring an invasion of the flies on your property. It is not fun. Flies are not called pests for nothing. If you are unlucky like us, I hope that you find these tips useful. Until the diatomaceous earth has a chance to work for us, I will be armed with my faithful fly swatter.
Flyswatting is an art, Lara. Be prepared to swat as soon as the fly lands so as to take him off guard. Also, swat from the front so that when he flies off he flies straight into the swatter.
Another tip, the DE can ruin your lungs. Wear a dust mask when handling it so as not to breathe in any of the fine powder.
Have a great week,
Carol
We’ve been feeding DE for over a month now, but I can’t say I’ve noticed that the flies stay away from the manure! Our two horses and cow in the field have a real fly problem. I’ll have to check out Dr. Bader’s dosages because my literature says 1/2 – 1 c. of DE each day per horse (I started with 1/2 c. and give the same to our small Dexter cow), 1 tsp. per day for small dogs and 1 T. per day for large dogs. That seems to be what most of the websites I looked at suggested. I’m now looking for a good solution for the animals out in the field, especially the cow which we can’t catch & spray like the horses. I’m open to suggestions!
Susan and Carol,
Thank you both for your tips. I am disappointed that you have not seen a difference, Susan, after feeding DE to your animals. I had such high hopes in that remedy. I am still going to give it a try. For cows, my husband bought canvas-type bags that he purchased from a feed store. He fills them with DE and hangs them by the mineral feeder. The cows rub up against the bags which actually apply a coating of DE to their skin.
Carol is correct; DE is bad to breathe in. Take her precautions. I am getting quite good with a flyswatter. I have even killed two at a time several times now. But I do not understand the saying, “Dropping like flies.” Killing flies just isn’t that simple
Thank you again, ladies.
Lara
We’re definitely going to try the canvas bag idea! After looking at the flies covering my pitiful animals, I was getting desperate enough to think about buying one of those long things impregnated with insecticide that the cows can walk under. The only thing that held me up was needing my husband to dig and set two fence posts to string it between. But now we’ll hold off on the insecticide and try just hanging bags of DE from a pre-extisting fence post. Crossing my fingers! I will say that I’m not seeing any worms in any of the manure, and my animals haven’t had a chemical wormer yet this year. And yes, I wasn’t careful when I started using DE, and I made the mistake of wrestling each one of my 4 chickens into the DE dust bath they were shunning. Of course, I breathed in more than they got on their feathers, and my sinuses and lungs suffered for days. I mix it very carefully now & make sure not to breathe it in. But why doesn’t it bother the animals when they snuff it up in their feed?
We also use DE for our horses. I am going to try it on my chickens-they have to be in a yard due to dogs-the flies are awful.
I’ve used DE on chickens and if you know where their favorite dust bath is in the pen, you can just mix it in with the loose dirt in there and as they take turns “bathing” in it each one will apply her own perfect coat of DE.After a rain, pour more in. Also, the nesting boxes are a good place to sprinkle some of it. Hope this helps.
I was thinking– why not apply the De to your horse’s favorite rolling spot, as well and let them coat themselves a couple of times a day!
I have read that DE is rendered ineffective in the garden by moisture, so if this is true, it might be why ingested DE doesn’t work. Or if it DOES work, then I am really confused!
Also, never use swimming pool DE for pest control.
Maybe I’ll try dusting the thirteen kittens we have been blessed with this year. It is FLEA city at our house. Kittens anyone?
No thanks. We are turning into a regular kitten factory around here.
I read about a large scale fly trap in one of my homesteading magazines. It’s called the “Epps Trap” in the “FarmTek” catalog. It’s a simple design that most people could mimic for a fraction of the cost. It’s shallow dish tubs filled with soapy water, and surrounded by heavy duty black tarp, landscaping fabric or black plastic. It works by heating the water by day and releasing the heat at night as a lure. Flies go in and drown in the soapy water. No chemicals, no fuss. It claims it can trap 1lb of flies per day, and they recommend one unit for 5 acres! It’s black to resemble large black cattle, so I read, as it was developed by a cattle rancher. I’m sure you could do an internet search for a lot more information on this.
Colleen,
I think I saw that very same fly trap, but it was in Countryside Magazine. I was actually interested in it because my husband is a ranch manager. I will ask him to figure out if he can majorly downsize the contraption. Thank you for reminding me about this all-natural fly trap.
Lara