Flies in barn conversions

[YCCMB]

They smell like dead people. And I have the world's least sensitive nose..

[mint]

Looks like back to the fly-swatter then, Betty.....[:(]

[Rabbie]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]They smell like dead people. And I have the world's least sensitive nose..
[/quote]NNever met a dead person who could smell. Some of them can stink a bit though[:D]

[Jo]

[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="You can call me Betty"]They smell like dead people. And I have the world's least sensitive nose..
[/quote]NNever met a dead person who could smell. Some of them can stink a bit though[:D][/quote]

Having worked in a nursing home some of the live ones could give them a run for their money......

[Sashabel]

The traps only start to stink when they are really full. It all depends on where you put them in the first place. They should be placed about 2 - 3 metres above ground and about 8 - 10 metres away from the house. If you follow these guidelines and put the trap in a part of the garden you don't use much, you will not notice any smell.

Be careful to fix it well as it get quite heavy when full of 50,000 rotting flies.

Sasha

[HoneySuckleDreams]

Red Tops are the best.

You can empty them onto the compost bin when they are full.

Unfortunately this year one of our new kittens decided to investigate one of the traps and managed to grab hold....briefly...before the contents emptied all over him. Poor thing couldn't understand why we didn't want him anywhere near us. He was banned from the house for few weeks ... even after two baths

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Sashabel"]The traps only start to stink when they are really full. It all depends on where you put them in the first place. They should be placed about 2 - 3 metres above ground and about 8 - 10 metres away from the house. If you follow these guidelines and put the trap in a part of the garden you don't use much, you will not notice any smell.

Be careful to fix it well as it get quite heavy when full of 50,000 rotting flies.

Sasha[/quote]

2-3 metres above ground isn't a problem. 8-10 metres away from the house is also not a problem. Part of the garden we don't use much: problem. Unlike a lot of people, we opted to buy somewhere with a small garden.[:D] We also live in a place where there's often a stiff breeze.....

[andyh4]

 

QUOTE:

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

It's called living in the country.

And lving some 3000ft up at the start of what should be our winter and we still have lots too.

[sid]

Sweet, sorry about the late response. Certainly I'll give you an update, but obviously it won't be until next "fly season", ours have gone at last for this year (I hope).

[mint]

Thanks, Sid!  Mine you, it's soooo warm here that the flies are still about.

 Not only that, I have been waiting for the mulberrry tree to shed its leaves as it has an enormous quantity of leaves and OH nearly broke his back clearing them all up last year when we moved here on Christmas eve.

I have been picking up the leaves a couple of times a day but, you know what, the thing still has this crowning glory of very large, very green and very healthy looking leaves!

Then, the buds for next year are already coming through!  I am girding my loins ready to scoop up the leaves but I have been waiting for weeks now for the grand deluge but it seems to be yielding only about 10 or so leaves every morning and every evening.

How contrary can trees get?

[sid]

Fantastic weather and I've been using my leaf blower! In previous years the leaves have fallen and immediately got soaked with the rain and then they're inpossible to blow!

I have a mental image of Sweet, girding her loins! [6]

[mint]

Nevermind girding my loins, Sid;  a string bikini would not have been amiss.............er....that is but for the flabby, overhanging bits that are not fit to be seen outside of the privacy of one's bathroom[:(]

Could have had lunch outdoors; not a breath of wind and the sun fierce in a sky as blue as larkspur.  Only trouble was that OH had already stored all the outdoors furniture.[:(]

Meanwhile, the south-facing verandah under glass was 28 degrees and lunch was a sweltering affair, not least because I'd decided to reproduce a recipe introduced to me by a French professional chef last week; this recipe requiring some turmeric and some curry powder and lashings of cream.  Of course, I HAD to tweak the recipe; adding grated ginger and some garam marsala and so I got hot and bothered both cooking it and then eating it.

Just as well that the friend I'd arranged to go for a walk with couldn't make it.  I then decided I'd do some weeding in the garden.  What did I find?  Buttercups, violets and all the tips of the newly-planted bulbs poking out of the soil.

There were FLIES, butterflies and all sorts of flying and (for all I know) stinging insects.

Repaired indoors, feeling quite overcome and thought I'd go and have a sieste after all!

 

 

[sid]

It's a lot colder today! No sunshine here and very overcast. I think the Indian summer has passed.