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woodside
46 Posts |
 Posted - 05/18/2015 : 11:30:03 AM
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Help! Can anyone give me a good solution for fly control? Last year I tried several kinds of simple fly traps you put water in and caught several flies in each one. I tried fly bait, fly tape, etc. with not much impact on the overall population! The only success I had was with spraying marigold spray on the alpacas, which repelled flies well, but the alpacas absolutely hate being sprayed. I didn't consider chasing a bunch of panicked alpacas with a spray bottle and having half the costly spray end up in the air a good solution either, This year in desperation I purchased a cedar fly trap. I followed the directions to a T and after three days caught half a dozen flies. The only thing I haven't tried is the fly parasites, but another alpaca owner told me they're not very effective unless you let huge piles of manure accumulate and I clean up twice a day. The flies are driving my alpacas crazy--and their owner too!
Carolyn Martin
Woodside Alpacas
356 W. Reliance Road
Souderton, PA 18964
215-272-7742
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Edited by - woodside on 05/18/2015 11:34:42 AM |
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renfarms
469 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2015 : 1:38:51 PM
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Carolyn,
We have used fly predators for quite a few years with nearly a 90% reduction in our fly problem. You do not need to have huge piles of poop in order for them to work. The only real downside to them is that you need to order a "subscription" service, in order to receive them periodically during the fly season. This is done in order to replace them as wind storms and natural migration out of your pastures/barn area will occur, reducing their numbers as time goes on. There are 2 types of flies that the fly predators don't work on - horse flies and black biting flies.
There are 2 major providers of fly predators:
Spaulding Labs - www.spalding-labs.com
Arbico - www.arbico-organics.com
Good luck!
Bill
Bill and Louise Goebel
Renaissance Farms
McArthur, Ohio 45651
(740) 596-1468
bill@renfarmsohio.com
www.renfarmsohio.com |
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ard
1844 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2015 : 3:37:45 PM
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Hi Carolyn,
We tried all of the above, but have found that free range chickens do the best job on bugs of all types.
Robin Alpert
Alpacas 'R Diamonds
15163 W 323rd
Paola, KS 66071
913-849-3738
www.alpacanation.com/alpacasrdiamonds.asp |
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Judith
4103 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2015 : 1:36:24 PM
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My alpacas also hate to be sprayed with repellent. I've often wondered whether it would work to use one of those spray-through bottles that attach to an outdoor hose (like the ones you use to wash third-floor windows), and mix the repellent with the water we're hosing them down with. They'd just think they were getting a cool belly but they'd also be getting some fly protection with it.
I like the idea of fly predators, but with the chickens and ducks and geese, the predators would be the prey.
J
Judith Korff
LadySong Farm
Randolph, NY 14772
Cell: (716) 499-0383
www.alpacanation.com/ladysong.asp |
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woodside
46 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2015 : 10:34:47 PM
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OK...Do I purchase fly predators or fowl? Fly predators would probably be the simplest in my circumstances, but Robin, I do believe that chickens would be effective. Judith, that's a suggestion, never thought about trying that. I've read about people spraying their alpacas and wondered why mine are so terrified, so I'm glad to hear mine aren't the only weird ones! Thanks for the ideas, folks! I'd welcome more!
Carolyn Martin
Woodside Alpacas
356 W. Reliance Road
Souderton, PA 18964
215-272-7742
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