# This fly war has gotten serious.



## AllThePrettyHorses (Dec 15, 2010)

Subscribing. It's still too cold for the flies to be terrible here, but they're starting to come out and I'm dreading the hot, flies-buzzing-around-my-face days ahead.


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## Magaidh (Apr 13, 2011)

If I knew the answer, I'd probably be a millionaire. :-(
We get really, really bad deer flies here (eastern Ontario). Not as many horse flies thankfully, those suckers are nasty, but the deer flies are almost as painful. 

I just bought Absorbine Ultrashield EX. It's beating the blackflies pretty well. We'll see what happens when the mosquitoes and deer flies hit...


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

Only thing to do if you live in an area over run by flies is to . . . live somewhere else! Not much help, huh?

I recently moved from Wisconin, home of Mega Millions of Mongo Mosquitoes, to Idaho, where I think I saw a mosquito last fall. Flies have bothered the horses in the corral a bit but I wasn't bothered while riding last fall. 

Of course, I haven't ridden through a summer here, yet, so I might be in for a Nasty Awakening. But I hope not!


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Sailor, You will get some deer flies in July, Usually in areas that stayed damp. Mosquito in early summer, again in areas where the snow melt has created wet boggy area. But for the most part we are pretty lucky here in the Intermountain West, our dry humidity doesn't encourage lots of the kinds of flies that really torment us or the horses. I do get face flies around the corral. But not many of the biting variety.


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks Painted. That's about what I'm expecting. Not expecting too many tics, either, once we get past the spring damp. Wisconsin was Tic Heaven! Pulled 'em out of my hide pretty much every weekend. Haven't even see one here, yet, tho a friend took the school kids to a park and they found a couple.

Sure is nice to be able to sit outside in the evening enjoying a Tall Cold One and not have to worry about needing a blood transfusion to replace what was sucked out of ya! ;-)


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

I have a biting fly trap which helps greatly with the size of the biting fly population at my place. It obviously does not help when I ride off my property.

When my normal fly spray is not working I use Deep Woods Off. Great stuff. (Though it does not seem to work well for stable flies, just everything else.)


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## AllThePrettyHorses (Dec 15, 2010)

What's a biting fly trap?


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

AllThePrettyHorses said:


> What's a biting fly trap?


Lots of options:

Literature

Green Head Trap


Mine is very similar to the second link.


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## Magaidh (Apr 13, 2011)

Alwaysbehind, does that thing capture different types of flies or just Greenheads? What types do you find it helps control?


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Ugh...Flies are disgusting. We had plenty of those - a deer fly bit the snot out of me Saturday and they were chewing Biscuit's back in one spot so I started putting SWAT on it to keep them from making a sore. Since he is a palomino it is easy to see the blood bites on his legs poor guy. I am spraying him with Pyranha spray but flies and mosquitoes go hand and hand with se Texas!


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## Indigosblue (May 9, 2011)

I rode outside today and it was brutal, swarms of mosquitoes everywhere. I was doused in bug-off spray and the horse in two loads of fly-spray and we were surrounded! The only thing that worked was quickly galloping away, but you don't really want to teach your horse to gallop away, so it's not a good solution.... I think the whole summer's supposed to be like this, which means it's gonna be miserable! I'm itching so much as a write this =( Would love to find a solution!


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Magaidh said:


> Alwaysbehind, does that thing capture different types of flies or just Greenheads? What types do you find it helps control?


Mine catches all kinds of big biting things. Lots of horse flies.


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## RhondaLynn (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi Brighteyes. Where in Georgia are you? I live in N.W. Georgia near Calhoun.

We rode Saturday over at Dry Creek and was swarmed by switchblade mouth deer flys. They were like attack jets getting us. We had sprayed lots of fly spray, and used eared fly bonnets. We ended up cutting limbs with leaves and putting them under the bridle and letting the leaves flop around in front of the ears and behind the ears. That helped. I also cut a longer limb with leaves that I swished around her neck,head/shoulders/butt. She never spooked with the swishing and seems to KNOW I was helping her with the flys. I sure wish they would come up with a fly spray that actually did what is said it does. THEY ALL LIE!!

Rhonda


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## Whisper22 (Jan 2, 2011)

I'm having an especially horrible fly problem, but mine does'nt have to do with my horses or even outside. I have a cluster fly problem in my house. I have a sliding glass door and two floor to cieling windows that stretch about 20 feet across the entire room. The flys gather behind the curtains. When I pull them back, to massacre the bunch, it's absolute mayhem until I've killed every last one :shock:. Doesn't matter though, because a couple hours later there will be a new bunch to take their place. Then there's at least ten at a time that escape their safe place to buzz around the house, in your face, land on your food, all that fun stuff. I'm probably going to order the Cluster Buster. Funny name, but it's gotten good reviews.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

We had a cluster fly problem. It has gotten to be much less of a problem.

Fly predators say they do not know they work on cluster flies but they have heard they help. Not sure if it was the predators or something else but we bought extra predators and put them around the house and now our cluster fly population is 1/16th what it used to be. Those cluster flies are a pain, cluster flies make me want to scream.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

I rotate fly sprays. Just like with wormers, flies get desensitized to particular wormers and it's best to keep switching so they can never get too used to one particular scent.

I also have these bug bands, they're like bracelets that you wear on your wrist. Tried them yesterday on trail for the first time, and that in combination with fly spray left me with not a single bug bite or fly infestation!


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## Whisper22 (Jan 2, 2011)

Alwaysbehind said:


> We had a cluster fly problem. It has gotten to be much less of a problem.
> 
> Fly predators say they do not know they work on cluster flies but they have heard they help. Not sure if it was the predators or something else but we bought extra predators and put them around the house and now our cluster fly population is 1/16th what it used to be. Those cluster flies are a pain, cluster flies make me want to scream.


I don't live on the farm, I am actually in the city, and the only poop around my house is my dogs. I don't know if fly predators would work in that kind of environment. Although that seems like a good idea for the property that my horses are on, there was a bad fly problem last year.

Upon closer inspection and a little research, I think I might just have the common house fly, as their wings do not overlap behind them but go out to the sides in a v shape. They are displaying the same behavior that I read about the cluster fly though, in that they collect by the dozens in my window.


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

Where do you put the Biting Fly Traps mentioned earlier? In the sun? Inside the barn? I think I might try one or two this summer and see if I can keep the Mrs from using rotten meat traps. I really don't like the smell of those things!


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I've had some success putting Bounce dryer sheets under my horse's bridle head piece. More recently I've heard of the development of mint based fly control. Supposedly flies hate mint. I'm thinking of growing some, smashing it up and putting in a little pouch to see what happens.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

SailorGriz said:


> Where do you put the Biting Fly Traps mentioned earlier? In the sun? Inside the barn? I think I might try one or two this summer and see if I can keep the Mrs from using rotten meat traps. I really don't like the smell of those things!


Ours is near a wet-ish spot (low spot of swale) in full sunlight. 

Rotten meat traps sound....yucky!

Fly predators do not require manure. They just require flies.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Today I will be going to the lumber yard as I plan on building a Manitoba fly trap. If you google it there are plans with dimensions. Friends bot the EPPS trap and are pleased as to how it has cut down on the biting flies. Last year I set up a Mosquito Magnet that uses propane and an attractant and for the first time we could sit out in the yard and I'm surrounded by forest and swamp. Also I bot a $10 wading pool and put a couple of inches of water in it plus a couple of drops of dish detergent. I emptied without fail on the third day and moved it. The mosquitoes want quiet water to lay their eggs which hatch in about 3 days. By dumping the pool the wrigglers die and don't become adults. The wading pool was about a hundred feet from the Magnet to get the ones the Magnet doesn't attract. The little basket in the Magnet was packed full of dead mosquitoes every day. A small fan dehydrates them. I have a couple of light blue trash barrels that store feed. I notice that when the sun is in the west the front side of these barrels were covered in biting flies. I plan on taping clear plastic to the barrels and smearing it with Tanglefoot (very sticky stuff). The flies will stick to the plastic film. Simple matter to remove it and replace with more plastic film and Tanglefoot. I'm trying to be pro-active rather than resorting to chemicals. A dark barn offers a reprieve from the bugs so do what you can to darken it and the bugs will stay out.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

We've had a lot of success with the fly predators. It seemed like it cut our fly population in half.
I also try to ride in the early morning and right after dusk to avoid the bugs.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

I have used a mosquito magnet. When it works it worked great. The problem was keeping it working. The darn thing went back for repairs so often it finally became less frustrating to not use it.


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## horselvr (Apr 5, 2011)

MyBoyPuck said:


> I've had some success putting Bounce dryer sheets under my horse's bridle head piece. More recently I've heard of the development of mint based fly control. Supposedly flies hate mint. I'm thinking of growing some, smashing it up and putting in a little pouch to see what happens.


 
I was going to suggest the same thing. We use fly spray in addition to the dryer sheets. My Aunts horse is super sensitive and will go to bucking if they get too bad so she puts them in the bridal, wipes them all over her, ties one in her tail, and puts them under the saddle between the saddle and pad. It helps out a lot...


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