Question about flies - neighbour isn't happy

[Ken Macfarlane]

A great neighbour of ours, who we hay their land runs a large campground and have been overrun with house flies. They hired someone to look into it and they believe a larger farmer up the road who spreads chicken manure from layer barns twice a year is the source of larvae and the flies. There are also frequently dead chickens etc in the manure.

My sister has a few horses, sheep and chickens next to the campground but the consultant looked into it and said it wasn't the main source.

The neighbour is now organizing some kind of petition to request bigger farmer compost his manure under tarp for a period of time before spreading to kill the larvae or break the fly cycle. Despite haying their land and having a good relationship with them I'm reluctant to sign anything as I know the other farmer is going to blame my sisters farm as soon as he's asked to do something.

I've started reading up on filth flies and it is common house flies that are so terrible in our area (I live here too). You can't leave a window open in a car 5 minutes without 100 or more flies entering. From what I read they hatch in manure that is 50%-70% moisture content then going looking for richer food so they can mate then lay more eggs in rotting material.

The manure pile at my sisters place is dry shavings bedded horse manure, the chickens (20 or so) are on shavings and sand, and the sheep are mostly on pasture or if they go inside, bedded on deep pack manure.

I don't find the flies any worse at her farm than a mile away. I do find there seems to be a hatch after mowing a hay field, say a day or two after baling but this doesn't seem to line up with anything I've read.

Anyone have any experience? Trying to stay good neighbours, help with this fly issue and retain use of fields!

 

[Larry NEIL]

I use fly predators from Spaulding labs in California. I couldn"t imagine the cost for that size operation though. They work great on house flies, but don"t do anything for biting flies.

 

[notjustair]

I don't notice the flies bad in any of my chicken houses, but they aren't packed to the gills with chickens. The bedding dries out instead of stays wet. That's what happens when you add more chickens and reduce air flow. Wet environments are bad for the chickens and cause all kinds of problems.

I'm more concerned with the dead chickens in the mix. They should be burned or composted. That's just not right. I have a feeling that they will find other regulations that aren't being followed.

 

[RodinNS]

I think you'd want to avoid getting involved in this for as long as possible... No good will come from it for anyone involved. I don't particularly see why composting is going to kill all of the flies anyway. Dung flies do what dung flies do.
I don't imagine there's any way to force the guy to compost the manure because he's probably using reasonably acceptable practice... so it sounds to me like the neighbour needs to just suck it up.

Rod

 

[hrRoss]

we use a larvacide (clarifly) in the summer to control flys. mixed in the mineral for steers

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

Flies are bad everywhere this year. I would not sign the petition

 

[Allan in NE]

I noticed that too.

Allan

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Yea guess what when you're in the country you'll find hogs,poultry,flies,manure of all types etc etc etc if that offends there are nice subdivisions where those things commonly found in the country aren't found.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

It's been about 7-8 years the flies have been so bad. I don't know the other farmers practises but he's fertilized with chicken manure longer than that. One change is the 100 acre field that is closest to the campground started being leased about the time the flies got bad. Changed from 2-3 cuttings per year for silage to max of 2 cuttings of hay.

 

[dr sportster]

I will tell you a quick story of why I never sign anything of this nature. There was two builders called The Magee Bros. They wanted to develop some land . A group of neibors against this started an organizaion say Citizens Against Development [or whatever] . One member of the group slandered the Magee Brothers through a group mailing or materials. They sued and won a two million dollar settlement against the neighborhood group. All members of that group were now liable and responsible to the Magee brother for the settlement. If anyone ever wants you to join in on some legal fees ,group against whatever , or joint lawyer hiring DECLINE THE OFFER.

 

[dr sportster]

Sorry for the typos and mis-spelling in my post. I somehow tried to change my font style which led to an illegible font style [which I now corrected] The point Im making is when you sign on with a group you may be liable for the behavoir of any member of that group and most if not all of these signature request things should be declined for that reason.

 

[farmer boy]

New Brunswick, like every other province, has some form of right to farm legislation. If the neighbours farming methods are normal and reasonable, there isn't much they can really do about it. I seriously doubt that anything will be done about it, even with a petition. When you move to the country, you agree to put up with the farming.

 

[samn40]

I would be concerned about the dead chickens in the manure being spread on the fields. We have had a big problem around here on farms where chicken manure was spread and the grass was then harvested for silage. Cattle started dying...the result of tests on the cattle showed they died from Botulism....caused by eating part of the chicken carcass that had been chopped into the silage.
Sam

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

I agree, its just that say 15 years ago there was just as much or more farm activity with 100 milkers next to the same campground with not anywhere the same fly problem. In head of cattle equivalent there are only about 20 cows worth of stock now.

If there is something simple we are overlooking I'd love to help reduce the problem.

I should note there aren't the same amount of dead chickens now, and the flys aren't the ones associated with meat/dead animals/corpses.

 

[36 Coupe]

Make sure your sister makes every effort to control the flies by using big fly papers and fly baits.look into using diatomaceous earth.most feed stores carry this.We had a pit for dead chickens in the 60s.These days propane fired incinerators are used.Spreading manure with dead chickens in it is the work of a fool.