I hate flies

Flies were one of the things I was concerned about when we got chickens. The fly population has quadrupled around here. Does anybody have a solution?

muscovy ducks are the best fly catchers, even at a few days old. We have fewer flies in the country now, with all the animals than we did in town. eat slugs, mosquito, moths etc as well.

I find the flies are attracted to the manure and not the chickens. Perhaps a change in poop management is the solution.

I am wondering about making dropping boards so I can clean them off once a day instead of once a week. Just not sure what to make them out of so that they are easy to clean. I noticed that when we had a rooster the chickens were traveling further afield. Now they are sticking pretty close to home. Our roosters are still pretty young and aren't venturing very far.

If you add diatomaceous earth to the feed, the fly population will drop. It kills the maggots growing in the faeces. It is not instantaneous though...

Today I noticed there are hardly any flies. We have had sunny warm weather in the last two days(finally summer has arrived)Before that it has been rainy and cool. I am wondering if they are worse when conditions are wet and damp? I will definitely add the diatomaceous earth to the feed. I had one bird that was skinny and sickly and covered with crawly things. I doused everywhere with the stuff. No more bugs and the bird is now fat and happy.

I think, too, it may be the heat exploding the fly population. I find them 'sunbathing(?)' on the sides of our outbuildings a lot lately. They burst from the walls in a buzzing cloud when you get near -- so gross. My old house, every summer, would get a massive amount of flies on the attic window and I could never find where they came from -- grossed me out so much.

Deer/horse flies seem to be a real problem right now as well. Might have to get me some Muscovies I think...

I am thinking of getting one of those blue lights that attract then zap insects. I was thinking of it for my horses but it would work in the chicken house too. And yes, wet conditions result in more insects...