You can try hanging some of those bag-type traps that flies crawl into and then cannot get out of. I had to use some of them last year for the first time ever. For some reason we had a horrid fly problem last year. FYI, the bait in those traps STINKS. But it works, so...I'd hang them where the chickens can't reach them and downwind of where humans are. :) If I recall they are non-toxic (no poisons, yay!) to animals and people, they simply attract the flies and trap them.

Velvet ~:>

I would need "vetting" for this idea, as I don't know if it would be safe for chickens or not (I would imagine yes, but don't want to say for sure, I don't know) - but a friend had good luck cutting down on the fly population in her barn by mixing Rid-X with water in a watering can, and sprinkling the stalls, manure pile and close-in paddocks a couple of times a month. Rid-X is a bacteria mix, intended for use in septic tanks - seemingly the bacteria kill off the fly larvae, so no flies hatch. It won't do anything for adult flies, so the population won't shrink overnight, and any that fly in won't be affected, but the hatched-out ones will be fewer. You can buy Rid-X in grocery stores, hardware stores and possibly in the big box stores. If you can't find that brand, something similar should work also. I would think that a weekly application couuld be done, too.

Those bag types Velvet mentioned work great but saying the bait stinks is an understatement. But that's what we used when we had chickens in the barn. Tom

I've used the disposables and the rechargeables for years around horses and chickens. The disposables are around $4 each. The one quart rechargeable is about $7 initally and costs about 50 cents to recharge. When they start stinking, then change them out. There is also a dry fly trap that you can make from a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't tried it. Google Dry Fly Trap if you're interested.

Bob

Mimi,

Your local farm supply store should have the good old fashioned sticky paper fly traps. (They look like a shotgun cartridge that when you pull one end off has a strip of double sided sticky paper inside it. You just pull the strip out and hang it up from a beam inside the chicken house.) Many years ago there used to be ones which were impregnated with some sort of insecticide and they worked pretty good, but I haven't seen them for awhile. You can also get the fly catchers that look kind of like a chick water which you hang from a beam. These have a compartment for a "smelly" bait for the flies, and because of the shape the flies can't get back out. I have also seen some that a timered/metered insecticide sprayer. They operate off of 110 or batteries and use an aerosol can of spray which it sprays on a timed basis, giving a metered amount each time. I don't know if you would be able to use this where your chickens are feed/watered or roost, but I do know they are used by a lot of folks in horse barns.