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Flies in barn conversions


Oboulez
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We are house hunting in the Charante area at the moment and have viewed a couple of barn conversions, one occupied, the other 'lived in' but empty for a couple of months. One thing which has struck us are the huge amount of both dead and alive flies in both. Has anybody any suggestions as to the cause and solution? there did not appear to be anything dead around. We live in our ex holiday home a bit further north, and you could return after several months away and not find any flies.
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From my own experience of living in a converted barn is that as the walls are so thick it stays much cooler inside ,on hot days if I open the windows the flies come streaming in for the cooler temp... I need to fit fly screens like all my neighbours just havnt got around to it yet .....

Yours may have other reasons but this is what I put it down to in mine
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We are inundated with flies around here at the moment. I think it`s because the weather is so mild still. They congregate on windows and the south facing wall of the house getting the last vestages of warmth they can. A couple of sharp frosts should see off the last of the little blighters though.

Dexter
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We have loads of the little blighters at the moment, but to be fair it seems this year has been particularly bad for them at this time of year, certainly the worst I've seen and someone on another forum was saying it was the worst they've seen in 25 years!!! So don't let it put you off if everything else is perfect!!
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Funnily enough it has been on the south sides of the properties. One barn was better suited to Tackville Tennessee, however the other might be a runner. We were just concerned that they might be an indication of something nasty lurking below the surface.
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Here are a couple of good articles which might give you some ideas and reassure you that, whilst unpleasant, cluster flies aren't actually much to worry about:

[url]http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/David-McEvoy-374/cluster-flies-29217.php[/url]

[url]http://www.drbug.ca/insects/cluster_flies.php[/url]

If you're actually inhabiting the house, you may find they're less of a problem anyway. We get them in one room in our holiday home. A bit yucky, but usually just a simple matter of vacuuming up a few dozen dead flies all in one place next to a south-facing window (where they seem to congregate despite closed shutters). Given their life cycle, they cease to be a problem in summer... unlike other flies!

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[quote user="sid"] Manchester Utd 1 - Manchester City 6 [/quote]

love it[:)]

[quote user="Théière"] [quote user="LouiseNGary"] Would one of those 'butcher shop' blue zappers do the trick?[/quote]

Yes if you want two halves of dead flies scattered everywhere, consider that when you eat in a restaurant that has them in the kitchens [+o(][/quote]

 

We have these and they zap 'em and then they fall into a tray in the base for disposal (or biscuits) but they never seem to get their target, that is les moustiques, (nor the swarms of blinking flies in the conversion next door, which we have to sweep up after they have committed Seppuku against the windows trying to get out)

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When we lived in the Charente we used the Red Top Fly Traps and they were brilliant. We'd put the first one up about 25 feet away from the house at the beginning of June and when it was full, we'd take it down (it really stinks at this stage) and replace it with another which would last until mid October.

Anyone else used these?

Sashabel
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When we moved here four years ago we had a terrible problem with flies - not surprising as we are near farms and have horses in the next field. I had tried everything - spent a fortune on sticky papers, window stickers (they work well if the flies are in the house, but you're trying to stop them coming in the first place!) and also these 'repellent sprays' which you spray around the door and windows to keep flies away. Now they DON'T work at all, waste of money.

So we got some Red Tops. Each one holds about 50,000 flies apparently. Well within a fortnight two of them were full! So more went up, full within a few weeks. That's how bad our problem was.

According to the publicity, getting rid of flies is a three or four year programme, so I bulk ordered 20 of them. Anyway, the second year they were bad, but not as bad. Last year we had a few. This year .... (fanfare, roll of drums ... ) none. Well, a couple here and there, but nothing - absolutely nothing - like we'd had before. We can now sit out with a drink in the garden and even eat out.

I'd recommend them. It has to be Red Top. Not the copies that you get from the Outiror or DIY wagons that come round in France, they're useless and don't contain the same chemical. Red Tops do really work and I can't recommend them highly enough.
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I must confess to never having heard of Red Tops! They sound as though they'd be well worth a trial, so where do you buy yours? I can see them on Ebay, but how do you know which are the genuine ones?

EDIT The genuine ones say "Genuine" on the label!! [:D][:)]  They're around £10 each, could last 12 weeks, or maybe only 3 days in a bad infestation, but I reckon it's worth a punt!

Ebay for me.

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Red Tops are good. The slight downside for us (and they're lovely people who do loads to help us, so that sort of eclipsed the schaudenfreude I felt momentarily) was that all "our" flies promptly went next door. As "next door" are the farmers whose cows probably exacerbate the fly problem, and who kept saying "Oh no, we don't have that many flies", it was quite funny, but the damage was soon repaired when I gave them one of our Red Tops and we have all lived happily ever after since then!

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Just Google "Red Top Fly Traps" and you'll come up with several suppliers. The more you buy the cheaper they get.

They apparently work by attracting mainly female flies, which reduces reproduction over a period of time.

We had much the same result as Nectarine and by the third year we could leave windows open and sit out without any bother. Not to forget the reduction in bites!!

Can't recommend them highly enough.

Sashabel
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A friend who lives near a sheep farm ( as we do....[+o(] ) recommended Red Top traps so I have bought some and intend to try them next year. I was very impressed that they charge the same postage for delivery whether you are in France or the UK[:D] nice not to be ripped off for a change!

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yes I get mine from Ebay, about £10 a go but well worth it since I think in the first year we must have spent over £200 on fly sprays, insecticides and fumigators. I can't recommend them highly enough. You do have to get the situation right ... not too close to the house but not too far away. We have ours dangling from a wall in between us and the farm. Be warned - they STINK! Really really pong! Very very rarely we get a faint whiff when we are sitting out in the garden but that's when the wind is in the wrong direction. In summer you need to top up with water as they evaporate - that's a real clothes-peg-on-the-nose job but a small price to pay for no flies. To get rid of them, get a carrier bag and hold underneath the flytrap, snip the suspension cord and the whole lot plops with a disgusting splosh-gurgle into the bag. Wrap the bag tightly, put into another and then drive (with all your windows open) to your poubelle and chuck it there.
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Sid, could you please come back here and let us know how you get on?

In particular, describe the pong as I want to know how your sense of smell compares with Nectarine's.  No, I'm not being funny, I am not good with smells so I'll have to be reassured.

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