Flies are among the most common farm pests and can be found around the world. Fly infestations can cause considerable economic damage to poultry operations, including reducing the quality of eggs, irritating livestock, and spreading diseases.

We’ll share tips for keeping your poultry houses free from fly infestations.

Monitoring & Identifying Poultry Barn Flies

Successful poultry fly management begins with diagnosis. Before you can address a pest issue, you need to identify the type of flies and their life stages.

In poultry houses there are most commonly two types of flies that can damage your operation:

●House flies (musca domestica linnaeus)

●Stable flies (stomoxys calcitrans linnaeus)

Both types of flies infest and damage poultry operations in different ways.

House Flies

House flies are commonly found in barns and poultry houses where they feed on livestock waste, such as manure and decaying feed. Adult house flies typically live for 15 to 25 days, but this can vary based on the climate and their immediate environment.

Like other types of flies, the house fly goes through four distinct life stages:

●Egg - White and about 1.2 mm in length, eggs are often laid in small groups.

●Larva - Off-white in color, hatched larva begins around 3 to 9 mm in length and grow into maggots that are 7 to 12mm long. In the maggot stage, the larvae begin feeding on surrounding waste.

●Pupa - Range in color from off-white to red or brown as the pupa case develops. On average, pupa are about 8 mm long.

●Adult - Reddish eyes and 6 to 7 mm long, with the female usually larger than the male.

House flies pose a number of risks to poultry operations. They often act as disease vectors, spreading pathogens among poultry flocks, including Salmonella.

Stable Flies

Stable flies typically attach to the legs and bellies of poultry where they feed on blood. Similar to house flies, the stable fly can live up to 28 days.

Stable flies pass through four life stages:

●Egg - White, about 1 mm in length, and sausage shaped.

●Larva - Pale yellow to off-white, larva begins around 1.25 mm in length and can grow to 11-12 mm.

●Pupa - Skin hardens and turns reddish-brown. Pupa are around 4.5-6 mm in length.

●Adult - 5-7mm in length with seven circular spots in a checkerboard pattern on their abdomen.

Stable flies are known to take blood meals from poultry. This can cause irritation to the chicken, affecting its behavior. More significantly, stable flies can also transmit diseases, and large infestations are known to even lead to anemia in livestock.

Maintain Poultry House Sanitation To Prevent Infestations

Prevention of a fly infestation is more effective and efficient than treatment. Prevention should begin with sanitation.

Sanitation inside of the poultry house should focus on two components for fly and pest prevention:

●Wastewater management

●Poultry waste management

Both types of waste provide flies with an ideal breeding ground.

Manage Waste Moisture

Excess moisture can create ideal conditions for breeding flies. To control flies, lower the water content of the manure - manure that is less than 50% moisture content makes it a poor environment for fly reproduction. Be sure to walk the poultry manure pit daily to identify wet spots.

Ways to reduce the moisture content of poultry include:

●Identify and repair leaks from water lines and systems, including drinkers and founts.

●Prevent dysentery by keeping the water clean. If dysentery develops, treat poultry with the recommended antibiotics.

●Keep poultry house temperatures cool, which encourages birds to drink normal amounts of water.

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Keep Poultry Houses Clean

If waste is left in poultry houses this increases the probability of house fly infestations. Flies thrive in moist conditions with available waste: from decaying feed and plant matter to animal carcasses

A thorough farm waste management plan will help maintain sanitary conditions in your poultry houses. Some additional tips include:

●Quickly dispose of dead poultry or broken eggs. Consider burning carcasses in a poultry incinerator or by using another safe management method.

●Immediately clean up feed spills, especially if they are wet.

●Remove weed and other debris from water drainage ditches to prevent moisture build-up in or around the poultry house.

Treating Active Poultry Fly Infestations

Once a poultry house experiences a fly infestation, it may be difficult to eliminate them. There are several methods for controlling fly infestations, including both mechanical and chemical means. Let’s review each in more detail.

Install Fly Bait Traps & Screens

Mechanical fly management include:

●Screens

●Bait stations

●Glue traps

Fly glue traps and bait stations can be strategically placed around the poultry house, catching flies for disposal. For smaller infestations, particularly in tighter, enclosed areas like egg rooms, traps may be sufficient in controlling and eliminating fly populations. However, larger infestations require additional treatment.

Utilize Chemical Insecticides

In more severe fly infestations, poultry houses may require chemical insecticide treatments to adequately address the problem.

There are two types of insecticides:

●Residual insecticides

●Non-residual insecticides

Residuals have a long-term effect, treating both active infestations and future infestations. While applying residual insecticides, the poultry house should be empty and clean, and adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) must be worn. Once the insecticide dries, it won’t be harmful to birds.

Non-residuals are fast-acting, but have no residual effect. These insecticides are an option for immediately eliminating a large fly infestation. The poultry house should be empty and clean, and PPE should be worn while applying. Because these insecticides lack lasting effects, they are most often used before applying a residual insecticide to a poultry house.

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