I've found that the rectangular clear plastic sticky traps that you stick on the window glass work very well. I must have gone through dozens last summer. I supplement that with a vacuum cleaner with a long nozzle and that combination was very effective.

I also have ladybugs here and, although I dont really mind them, the do get into everything. They aren't really attracted to sticky traps but I find a glass with a couple of inches of water in the bottom set out on the counter works pretty well. The aforementioned vacuum cleaner also does double duty on the ladybugs.

Flies really seem to be attracted to a window with the sun shining on it so I don't usually have to chase them all over the house. They gather very conveniently on the warm window and are easy to vacuum up.

 

QuickBayt by Bayer. Get it at the feed store. Be prepared to sweep up piles of dead flies.

 

Brand new screens on every single window and a screendoor that slams shut fast.

 

#4 and #5 work for us. We use both in the barn and # 5 in the house.

 

Is that Quickbayt good for outside?? The warm weather yesterday had my house covered with flies. they are pounding against the windows, trying to get in and I'm trying to figure out how to kill them outside, first. I'm going to get fly masks for my horses this year, they were so bad last year that I really though one of the horses would go blind from the masses of flies.
P.J.

 

There is a pesticide called TEMPO it is in a clay base. You can get it in a premixed concentrate or in powder form. You spray it on hard surfaces, when bugs touch the treated surface they die, it's awesome. It's odor free and relatively safe, it can be used in kitchens. The only downside other than cost is that it tends to clog spray tips.

 

Don't forget to add butt bomb in a pile of dog carp;-)

 

We have Chloe the cat for such pest control. She is our newest - around 6 months old and a complete maniac when it comes to chasing Slow Flies. We call them Slow Flies because they are a little groggy this time of year, but she is a dead eye and quite entertaining to watch. (except of course when shes hanging on the wooden blinds swaying back and forth because she can't reach the Slow Fly on the upper part of the window. Shes a nut case. Our other cats could care less about the flies.

We don't notice them too much outside. Our ducks (Rouens and Pekins) seem to do a pretty fine job of pest control - along with the chickens that roam the yard.

 

We actually bought venus fly traps for inside last year and they worked pretty well, but we have never had an over abundance of flies inside.

 

Hmmm, noticed the picture of cattle in one of your posts. If you have cattle are you using a lick that contains a fly control component?

If you can put up with them, you might consider putting some bat roosts up outside. They love to swoop around in the evening. There is a bird that does the same thing (I forget the name).

 

One of the forms of QuickBayt is a white powder you mix with water and spray on the walls. We put it on the walls outside the main door to the house. HUGE improvement.

 

Harry,

Purple Martin or Swallow may be what you're thinkin'.

RF

 

What exactly is QuikBayt? Is it an insecticide? Wonder if you can get that up here in Canada?

What I would REALLY like is something that will catch the problem before it starts, rather that wait til we're swarmed! Not sure if there is such a magic bullet though.

 

I have been trying to figure out how to get ahold of those blowers that are on top of the doors at groceries store. You know when you walk in you get this blast of air, I wouldn't mind having some for my house. ~Barb

 

http://www.bayerdvm.com/products/quick-bayt/quick-bayt.cfm

 

We picked up a "Zapper" at the garden center. It is battery operated and looks like a tennis racket. Works great, just don't let the kids use it (well little kids that is), and whatever you do don't touch it, it gives you a hard jolt!!! Yeah, I accidentally hit myself! It's kind of cool to see them light up and sizzle when you swat them. It cost about 15.00 and It works great!

 

Well....I know you need instant gratification, but Fly Predators really, really do work! If you can get started with them, in about a month, your fly problems could be solved.

I speak with the voice of experience. :rock:

 

I did not see any accurate information regarding cluster flies. They hibernate in your walls and attic during the winter. Now is the time of year they begin to emerge. They can come through a very tiny gap, like between the window molding and the wall, etc.
They will continue to emerge until the spring when they leave the winter harborage, mate and lay eggs on the soil. The eggs hatch and become a parasite of earth worms. The larvae leave the worm and become an adult fly in the late fall. They can sense heat from a long distance and find your house if it leaks any warm air. They can fly miles, so you cannot stop their reproduction. You can stop their invasion by closing the gaps in the exterior of your structure. You don't need pesticides or traps. While those suggested above may kill those which are contacted, it will not stop the invasion. A vacuum works as well and is cheaper. Those you are seeing now are already living in your walls. They are not new invaders. They invaded last fall. Stop next years invasion by methodically closing their doors before they emerge.

 

3/House bombs. Haven't tried that yet, either, although it's interesting! Another chance to enjoy intense pleasure at coming home and seeing the house littered with dead bodies. YAY! Downside: coordinating getting out 4 dogs, a cat, 2 kids, a husband, and a tank of fish could be one royal pain. Also, we have asthma sufferers in the house, and while we already do use Raid and air the house out, a bomb sounds a lot more severe.

House bombs ARE severe, but they work, and you don't have to do it very often. We bombed our house about a year ago, and we're still pretty bug free. Getting the animals out and keeping them somewhere safe for several hours or up to a day is gonna be a pain, you're quite right. Remember that you'll need to air the house out before letting humans and other animals back in for good. This means that someone is gonna have to open up a few doors and windows in the house, and then leave it for anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours, depending on how well your house airs out.

The thing is, drastic situations need drastic treatment. And it sounds like you have a drastic situation there.

I have pretty bad asthma, but as long as someone goes in and airs the house out first, I do all right. Remember, all the bug poop aggravates asthma, too, or at least it does for me.

We find that we only need to bomb the house every couple of years or so. Between times I use flypaper strips and the occasional bug spray. The cats will catch some bugs, but they don't catch them all, unfortunately. I've heard that guineafowl are excellent at spotting and eating ticks and such, I don't know how they are at airborne bugs. I'm pretty sure you don't want them in your house, though.

Good luck.

 

I did not see any accurate information regarding cluster flies. They hibernate in your walls and attic during the winter. Now is the time of year they begin to emerge. They can come through a very tiny gap, like between the window molding and the wall, etc.
They will continue to emerge until the spring when they leave the winter harborage, mate and lay eggs on the soil. The eggs hatch and become a parasite of earth worms. The larvae leave the worm and become an adult fly in the late fall. They can sense heat from a long distance and find your house if it leaks any warm air. They can fly miles, so you cannot stop their reproduction. You can stop their invasion by closing the gaps in the exterior of your structure. You don't need pesticides or traps. While those suggested above may kill those which are contacted, it will not stop the invasion. A vacuum works as well and is cheaper. Those you are seeing now are already living in your walls. They are not new invaders. They invaded last fall. Stop next years invasion by methodically closing their doors before they emerge.

This is pretty much what the exterminator I called said! We have a 100 year old house and sadly, closing every single little gap/crack is not practical right now! It's one big house!

Not even sure if things like bug bombs would help much, because if like you said, the flies emerge from the walls, the bomb wouldn't get to them, right?

I think some people here don't realize just how bad the flies can get.......letting your cats eat the flies, using a fly swatter, putting in little window strips, etc.....LOL This problem goes WAY beyond needing just that! I'm talking maybe sometimes 50-100 flies in a window, 20 flying above each light fixtures, and probably easily a few THOUSAND on our porch. You can swat them all you like, but within a day, they're back just like you never even killed them. We're talking an INVASION!

And yeah, don't get me started on the ladybugs. I guess I should at least be grateful they aren't earwings.......ewwwwww.......

So far, though, the only things I find have any noticeable effect is the Raid Double Action (has residual effect) and the big unsightly fly strips. The exterminator said that spraying inside the walls and attic will control NEXT YEAR's invasion. We'll see....................

 

I had an invasion last year, 50-100 flies in the window, etc. It was pretty bad. Out of desperation (since at the time I had come home from work and I live 20 miles from the nearest store to buy insecticide) I tried Adams Flea and Tick Spray for cats. I have cats, and they get Revolution to control everything, so I had this sitting around and had never used it.
It works amazingly fast, the flies literally drop dead out of the air, and the residual spray on surfaces dries and when new flies land on it, and taste it, it kills them too.
I'd recommend that you spray the door and window jams that are affected with this stuff, and then just vacuum up the carcasses.
Its about $12 a bottle, has IGR in it, and it does knock down the fly population, and since its an approved spray for cats, I figure it won't kill me to use it.
I also use sticky traps and those nasty smelling meat-bait traps and predator flies to control the flies on the farmstead. The predator flies really knock down the horse flies - I don't spray my horses as it wears off pretty fast. Waste of $$ and time.

 

.

The fly bait sold at the feedstore has its good uses.... but be carefull... it will kill ANYTHING if it gets in their feed. I guy around here (admittedly with no good sense) Put some on some meat scraps to kill the *****. He lost both his dogs.

 

"I think some people here don't realize just how bad the flies can get.......letting your cats eat the flies, using a fly swatter, putting in little window strips, etc.....LOL This problem goes WAY beyond needing just that! I'm talking maybe sometimes 50-100 flies in a window, 20 flying above each light fixtures, and probably easily a few THOUSAND on our porch. You can swat them all you like, but within a day, they're back just like you never even killed them. We're talking an INVASION!"

Yeah, I know what you mean. One year in Vermont the landowner next to us sold his topsoil and then had a cheese plant dump their whey on the land to try to renovate it. That many flies can drive you insane. I feel your pain.

 

A cluste fly is a completely different critter than a house fly. You've got to deal with them differently because they live differently.

Cluster flies lay their eggs out in the dirt of your yard so their larvae can dig down and find a worm to get in. So, spraying pyrethrin on the ground works fairly well. It also works well in the spring as they come up.

Because a cluster fly is so prone to hanging out on south facing light colored walls outside, spraying pyrethrin on those walls will work well.

Inside, a timed spritzer squirting out, you guessed it, pyrethrin, works well. Especially in the attic, which is a favored place of cluster flies.

 

About the fly predators: I guess you buy them and they hatch out? What keeps them from flying away? I mean, how do you get them to stay around where they are needed instead of just taking off into the fields and forests? I guess they only hang around as long as they can find flies to eat? Do they just eat flies, or do they eat other insects....do they leave after a certain season, or will they stick around until autumn?