help!!!flies

[dan]

hello just wondering if anybody can help me i just moved near a farm and there loads of flies could anybody tell me what flies they may be and how i could control them

[honeybee]

Hi. Had this problem when I lived in a barn in the middle of a horse yard once. They come with the territory if you live near farm animals too. I don't know how to solve the prob but practical advice would be fly nets at the doors, tight fitting net type curtains at windows and some natural pot-purri (sp?) stuff. Cloves stuck in oranges and hung by windows and doors/bunches of lavender etc.

[Garden Carpet]

You might also try keeping some thyme plants near doors and windows as i believe they help keep flies at bay... good luck. I do know that you can make a tea of the leaves and use that to clean down worktops etc as it is antiseptic

PS.. grow your own spiders might be another option

Jaki

[Imaginos]

If they are craneflies (the big spindly ones-daddy-long-legs) then you needn't worry as they will be gone in the next week or three-they are very seasonal. If they are more like houseflies then you have more of a problem, the remedies given above are pretty good, otherwise you'll just have to put up with it-after all you did move near to a farm...

[Mr Mag00]

otherwise you'll just have to put up with it-after all you did move near to a farm...

helpful advice

if its really bad speak to your local EHO. it may be they are storing manure and the flies are breeding. they can take specimens and trace the flies to the muck, it may not be localised.
i have encountered this twice in different locations over the past 5 years and both were chicken sh** from awful farms. the smell was terrible it was carcases and waste piled waiting to be ploughed in, avoiding dispoasl costs, they deny it of course despite photographic evidence.
Initially they didnt plough it just spread it, it was horrendous. I believe it is illegal to leave it on the surface for this very reason. it was a huge plague of flies and it lasted months, really huge and yes really months. UV electro fly traps had to be emptied everyday. the flies would gather in corners of rooms where warm i assume it would grow to the size of a tennis ball and have to be vacuumed. they also chemically mark the area which encourages others back. try running a food shop when this is happening in the village!!

despite their reluctance if it is causing a nuisance they have to deal with it. move it, cover it whatever. i know b and b's who lost thousands during the following summers. They visited the farm i work on and checked compost piles and cow manure/bedding waiting to be spread, which was all too dry to harbour flies.

good luck

[honeybee]

Really good point made Mr Magoo... I spose try to find where they're coming from but you will always get a bit of an increase if you live by a field or something with animals in. I know of some nasty intensive chicken farm and the smell is attrocious and that's bound to cause an increase in flies.

Also try to get an identification of them, should help to find out where they're from/how to deal with them.