Fly Predators not working

[going_gray]

Hi, all! We live in western North Carolina and seem to have more of a fly problem this summer than what we had last year. Last year we started off using Simplify feed through fly control in May (that’s when we brought our two horses down from MI). We added Spaulding’s fly predators in June as the flies were still a problem.

Our fly situation got much better after I started spreading the predators. To the point that I needed to use less fly spray each day on our two horses. This spring we started using Simplify in March as we started seeing flies then.

Vet came out in early May to give spring shots and we discussed what we used last year for fly control. He told us that we should use one product but not both as the Simplify will kill the fly predators. And save some money!

Made sense so we started off with just using the Simplify. It didn’t seem to make any difference at all. I decided to order the fly predators in May in hopes that it might help like it did last summer.

I have received one order and spread them out in our horses’ run in shed and paddock. We are not seeing a decrease in fly populations at all.

So, anyone else using fly predators? Are you seeing less flies? Or, like me, not a change at all? Thanks for any feedback!

[Bluey]

They are working for us and we are in a terrible drought.
I think the fly predators are carrying their own water bottles to have any moisture at all.
We tried one year without them and were ordering by June again.

Also have heard of others thru COTH that it didn’t work for, so you never know.
Will be interesting to see what all others answer.

[SusanO]

They never worked very well for me ( central Alabama). I am in a humid hot environment with lots of rain. So I am also fighting gnats, stable flies, deer flies, yellow heads etc. I think there are too many places for the flies to breed for them to be effective and I think they work better in drier areas. We have had a lot of rain this Spring which has made the bugs exponentially worse so that might be part of your lack of effectiveness.

[GreyDes]

Remember that the Fly Predators only target larva, so you won’t see an immediate impact on the adult population. I’ve had good but not perfect results using them for several years now.

[going_gray]

Thank you all! We had a lot of rain back in April but have gotten less in May and June. But we certainly have humidity and heat right now!

I’m hoping that the fly situation will be better once I get my second order of predators in the mail and spread them out. Time will tell!

[GoodFortune]

We’re in SoCal and in the middle of a drought. We started in April with predators, get a bag every month, with an extra in July and August, and go through September. This has been our routine for a few years and it works for us. We still have flies, but not a lot.

[trubandloki]

I agree with @GreyDes. Once you have a problem, it takes a bit to see improvement with predators.

You have to be careful where you are spraying fly spray while using them too. You can kill off your predators using that too.

If you are using the Spalding Fly Predators, their customer service is helpful. Give them a call to discuss your timeline and the amount you used, etc.

I used Fly Predators for years, and we always had the flies under control. When Mr. Trub lost his job when Covid started the Fly Predators were one of the things we cut to save money. We definitely noticed the ever increasing fly population. We started them again this summer, but a little late so we are behind. We certainly are not to the level of fly control we had originally (having used them continuously from the time we brought the horses home until Covid started) but things are getting much better than they were.

[spotnnotfarm]

I used them and only saw a small difference. I remember reading that if you have other horse/cattle farms around you, you may not see a huge difference unless everyone uses them. I have two other horse owners around the corner and some cows.

[trubandloki]

@spotnnotfarm does make a very good point.

How well they work does depend on what is around you.

A large cattle operation right next door it is unlikely you will ever win the battle of the flies.
A house next door with a couple of horses, you should be able to handle that with your own program.

[clanter]

We have been using the fly predators for a few years but this year paid to get the overhead fly spray back to work which had not been used for fifteen or twenty years with immediate, dramatic reduction in flies…at least 95% fewer flies,

We are still placing the fly predators into the remote compost pile (which is not being added to as all manure and bedding is being deposed offsite)

[WildGooseChase]

I’ve used them and never had an issue, but you really should be getting them out earlier than May. They kill the fly before they reach their adult stage, so if they’re already there, Fly Predators won’t work. Adult flies are only about 15% of the fly population according to Spalding.

I’ve also found that neighboring properties with fly problems take a toll on any fly prevention system. So if your neighbors have a fly problem, you will too.

[going_gray]

I agree with you, Wild Goose Chase, that May was late for this year. But, going by what our vet told us, he thought we should really choose between using Simplify or the predators. (To save money and not kill off the predators.)

Thus, we continued with using Simplify as we had started using the feed through control back in March. I added the predators again because last year we really had less flies and that’s with us adding the predators in June.

Our neighbors whose land borders the front of our property back in March put up a fence around about two acres and have their goats and chickens enclosed within that field.

Their animals are rarely up close to our horse paddock and our fencing sections are ten feet apart. I wondered if we have more flies because of them.

This hobby farmer doesn’t have good animal husbandry skills. (His potbelly pigs were loose last year a lot and I eventually had to call Animal Control on them. Pigs were on our property and in our garden!)

So, maybe neighbor’s goats have added to our misery? I don’t know.

[Simkie]

I found a huge improvement in the effectiveness of my predators when I stopped spraying fly spray on the horses in the stalls. Keeping it out of the bedding is important, in my experience.