Kate - my MIL used to make her own soap using lye, ashes and lard! She was a pioneer woman, so knew about these things. She’s 90 yars old now.
I’ve had no flies with cedar sawdust in my paddocks. If I could find cedar oil I’d use it as a spray on the walls.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;6400594]
Kate - my MIL used to make her own soap using lye, ashes and lard! She was a pioneer woman, so knew about these things. She’s 90 yars old now.
I’ve had no flies with cedar sawdust in my paddocks. If I could find cedar oil I’d use it as a spray on the walls.[/QUOTE]
Cedar oil
So, if you use cedar oil what do you cut it with or use just straight?
[QUOTE=Eventer55;6400912]
So, if you use cedar oil what do you cut it with or use just straight?[/QUOTE]
It looks like the product I found is meant to go on straight. It would however be quite pricey to use in a barn though
Cedar oil can be irritating to some horses with sensitive skin.
Ok so I sprayed my stalls this morning with this to give it a try. Of course I have to work so I don’t know how it will work.
However, I now have three horses that are super suspicious of their stalls! It was very entertaining watching them prance around while I was spraying and then watching them looking in the stalls afterwards like something was going to jump out and eat them…
Seems as if some use apple cider vinegar and some use white vinegar. Has anyone tried both and noticed a difference? Any reason you can see for one over the other?
Last night I conjured up some Pine-Sol, Apple Cider Vinegar, and some Dawn dish soap.
I mixed 1 cup of Pine Sol, 1 cup of Vinegar, 1 cup of water, and a large squirt of Dawn.
I went to the barn and sprayed down the walls. I left to throw hay in the paddocks, and when I walked back in…boy could you smell that stuff!
I’m looking forward to see how this helps when the horses are in. Judging by the smell, I think it will work great! It was strong enough that you could smell the vinegar and pine sol, but not so strong that I was gagging or my nose was burning 
I am picking up the ingredients tonight! My little can of automatic fly spray is empty and if this stuff works it will save me a $10 can of stall spray, $ for batteries and $13 for horse fly spray!
So far, so Good
OK - I mixed up PineSol/White Vinegar/Water in equal portions and sprayed the stall walls at feeding time this evening.
Since the sun has been up for hours by then, the flies seem to congregate inside the stalls.
I sprayed before the horses came in and noticed the flies present adiosed, and while the horses were eating there was noticeably less tail-swishing and stomping.
I’ll recheck in the morning to see how long the effect lasts, but it sure as heck seems like a very affordable answer to flies in the barn.
HOWEVER:
The most ringing endorsment so far:
I’ve had a rat problem in my chicken coop.
I finally got some poison baits a couple weeks ago and there has been a decrease in the vermin population.
Of course, as a result of baiting their holes, the rats have died underground. This morning I noticed the smell of decomp in the coop along with a marked increase in the number of flies (dropping in for the buffet :dead:).
I sprayed the coop walls and when I got back from feeding horses the coop was a lot less flyridden, if still a bit odorous.
Anyone have a recipe for masking the smell of dead things?
I tried the pine sol/vinegar/water so far and although it works great while I am gagging from the overwhelming smell, as soon as the smell wears off, about an hour, the flies were all back. Tomorrow I will try adding Dawn, but does the blue work better than the orange or green? If this fails, I am debating Quikbayt vs quick strike? Or is there such a thing as a citronella barn wash?
Just My 2¢
Read this thread with much interest but have to add a few comments:
Dawn dishwashing liquid is no better/worse than any other dishwashing liquid. All “cut” grease and are concentrated, so don’t use them without water. Dawn just donates their product for cleaning wildlife after oil spills and it’s had the desired effect of “positive advertising”.
If you like the smell of cedar & want it’s insect repelling benefits, why not buy a few bales of rabbit bedding? You can add as much or as little to your horse’s regular bedding as he’ll tolerate. I add cedar shavings to all my dog’s beds and my house (& dog) smell great.
If the “pine” in Pine-Sol is part of the repellant, what about Creolin? I know it’s tough to find these days, but it seems to have all other sorts of mystical healing qualities like deodorizing your dog if “skunked”. I remember another strangles QT incident where the stall was disinfected with Creolin. No flies, mosquitoes, nothing.
I love white vinegar and keep a big jug handy at all times. It’s great for eliminating odors except then your house smells like a big salad!
Reviving this thread. I need this to spray on stall walls. (maybe on horsey)
I can’t handle the smell or chemicals of Dawn or Pine Sol.
I can handle vinegar and water.
What could I use for a soap substitute? For dishes I use 7th Generation no chems/no fragrance.
ditto i/o Pine Sol or Lysol?. I have various bottles of essential oils (that I use carefully…)
Thanks.
Also Pine-sol has changed from real pine oil to a manmade formula (apparently with fake fragrance added to mimic the original), and I’m not sure if that was before or after this fly recipe was created. I see post #37 explicitly mentions “pine oil.” So even if it worked great before, if you made it up now following the same instructions, it would be a different product and may not work the same. So an alternative formula might be needed on those grounds.
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