Fly traps – the good, the bad, the homemade!
The battle against flies and pests often feels like a lesson in futility. The goal is to attack all stages of the fly life cycle, and traps can help with that. You can even make your own.
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In a nutshell, fly traps are awesome. You can buy them, or make your own.
- I have never hung a flytrap and had it remain empty for long. The downside is the smell, and they are not so appealing to look at. But – fly control at the horse barn is a multi-pronged approach – you need to attack all stages of the fly life cycle.
- So you have attacked the source of fly food and egg-laying goodness (manure) and provided your horses with a breeze, from fans or the wind! But you still have flies. So time to work on getting rid of the adults flying around.
A sticky trap version of things.
This bag holds 40,000 flies. This is a lot of flies. A LOT.
How to make your own fly traps:
- It’s easy – you only need a few things. A container, some bait (AKA really stinky stuff), and also a place to hang it. Away from the people. A location far away does a few things – keeps the stink away, and lures the flies away from the horses.
What you need to make a bottle type fly trap:
- A two-liter bottle. You can also make smaller traps with smaller plastic beverage bottles, but then you may just be making more of them more often.
- Some bait. This is what lures your flies to their doom. Insert ominous music here and also maybe some diabolical laughter. You have a few choices for fly trap bait:
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- Decaying fruits and veggies
- Manure of some sort. Horse, dog, cat. It may not be effective when dried out.
- A sugar-water solution. Add vinegar or not, your choice.
- Some sort of meat product. This makes the biggest stink, so good luck with that.
A craft so simple even I can do it.
It’s that simple. The how-to of making your trap:
- Cut your bottle so that you can separate the top from the bottom, about 1/3 of the way down.
- Fill the bottom with your fly bait of choice.
- You may want to fill the trap with some water and a drop of dish soap to really mix things up. The water and soap will also drow the flies. Fantastic, right?
- Put the top into the bottom upside down and secure with tape.
- Hang your trap!
Do you use fly traps around the barn? Why or why not?
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