Hi all, any suggestions? We are constantly being troubled by flies we a picking up dead flies all the time, I cleaned upstairs two hours later I have just picked up another dozen or so. If we leave the windows in the loft closed I will find loads on the inside after a day or two. Last December they were in their hundreds. Any ideas please?
Absolutely regarding permethrine when wet, once dry, applied in its correct dosage, it does not cause a problem. Which is why I'm fully kitted up before and during use, combinasions, A2P3 breathing mask gloves goggles etc. re-entry into the treated room should not be allowed for a minimum 4 hours after the product has dried.
If in doubt, "RTFL" Read the Label!
Rob
The damned things have found out how to get round my made to measure fly screen!
Hello Anthony
If the flies you are refering to are the blue bottle type I'm sure the problem is a dead rat somewhere, the reason I know is this is what we have experience. They die under the floor or in the loft, for the next five days there are flies everywhere then all goes quiet until another one dies. We have had cameras down our drains, and all ground drains checked as this where they tend to get in. With a stone wall with a rubble cavity, they can probably get in through there.
I cannot really offer a solution apart from check your drains and any small holes in your walls.
Kind Regards
Catherine
Cluster flies arnt quite the general house fly in as such they lay their eggs in the usually on worms who then host them until the eggs develop and eat their way out of the host they will congregate on a sunny south facing wall stables old buildings stately homes ours were behind a closed shutter during the winter months before we lived here, literally 10000s of the buggers. I contacted a firm in the UK who explained in detail also said we would probably never get rid of them as the young always return to the congregation site, 3 years we had them until i got a spray from Strikeback a permethrine.based spray which is active for a few weeks constant praying got rid but i suspect we have them elsewhere we as you do Anthony find them dead on the floor or in the well of the closed windows always in the room where they were outside behind the shutter which is now always open .
While permethrine is relatively harmless to humans it is fatal to cats and aquatic life kills all insects bees fleas what have you also constant exposure can lead to respiratory problems
No flies on you then SM ?
Donna you need to get new more sensible friends they sound completely stupid the ones you have now. I have screens and love them, at night no itchy bites, no listening for the buzz, wondering where it will strike next. and of course no flies, I have enjoyed france a lot more since fitting the screens but I also stopped using brilliant white paint like Dulux which uses titanium dioxide powder as the do in football and tennis courts for white lines as that reflects more UV light making the whole room appealing to insects.
It always amazes me how in Europe people are willing to put up with insects of any kind in the house, having infestations of flies and mosquitoes that carry filth and diseases, and resorting to spraying toxic chemicals indoors, rather than installing screens on their windows. My European friends would rather suffer mosquito bites, or suffocate indoors on summer evenings with closed windows, than have screens that they claim cut down 20 per cent of the light coming in. Since these same people often have curtains or blinds on their windows, I never really understood the rationale. Can someone explain it to me? I once thought I could make a million importing screens to Europe, but I've since realized that many people view them with the same skepticism as other practical household inventions such as a shower curtain around a bathtub.
I realize that an infestation of insects in rooms where there is no opening to the outdoors is another problem entirely.
All suggestions so far seem a tad long, complicated AND toxic...
I simply put up netting...you barely see it and it works a treat . My other half (who is French and lives amongst various farms) says its the best thing ever !
To be honest, i went to a wee cloth shop in Rugby and bought tulle - the stuff they use for ballerina skirts and just cut it to size, pinned around outside of door/window frames with that velcro stuff -the tulle attaches straight to it - and Bobs your uncle.
Simples :)
Firebugs, the red ones, aka les gendarmes, are coming out of hibernation from nooks and crannies you never know are there. Worse is punaises, stink bugs, who do emit a pong. The green and grey/brown ones make a smell like coriander but a bit less pleasant, the red ones a generally sweetish, almost almond like mix in the coriander. The red ones are the same shape as the green, but at first glance might be taken for them. Get them out of the house in that case. The stink bugs can destroy a vineyard, at the least do serious damage whereas the firebugs live on the seeds of a few trees like lime, but are generally harmless.
I have noticed Red beetle like flies,i just get them in the one room,but can`t work out where they are coming from?
Two summers in a row we have had cluster flies. One day I got home after 48 hours away, rest of the family was away as well. In one room there were thousands of them, the floor was crawling. I actually got a vacuum cleaner out and spent a couple of hours sucking them up but for weeks it continued, never as bad as that again. Fumigating, no luck at all with that because we would need to douse the whole house, ultimately the old fashioned fly tapes did best! The vacuum cleaner wins over all else.
try Barrage spray it round the windows
If you read the previous edition (March I think) of The Bugle www.thebugle.eu you ’ll find an article I wrote regarding cluster flies. Hope this helps.
Admin, I won’t be offended if you cut this post. I apologise in advance!
Rob
We have electronic insect killers by the windows - UV light bulbs attract the insects and the metal mesh zaps thousands of them - mount zappers where you can reach with vacuum cleaner every few days. Doesn't completely solve the problem - we hope that cladding the rear wall this spring will reduce their chances of hibernating in the wall joints. Zapped flies can niff a bit as they burn. First warm day last year I found them queuing to enter the bedroom via a hole in the plasterboard and jammed vacuum cleaner hose over the hole for a couple of hours - killing several hundred - it's a losing battle really. At least all the neighbours have the same problem......
Cluster flies…welcome to country living. They exist in France and in other rural settings. I had them in upstate NY. Fumigation is a poor solution. Old houses will always have them since they nest in crevices. When the temp warms and the sun shines, they come out. In the summer they nest in the fields so you are experiencing their wakening from the winter slumber. When you open your windows have a vacuum at the ready…it may be a scene from a horror film! Vacuum thoroughly…the frame, jamb, all parts. It’s one of the cons of living in a charming, old country house.
Hello
personally I don’t think fumigens are the solution. I have years of experience in treating cluster flies all over France. Fumigens have little residuel effect, like aerosols, after the smoke has dispersed, they are useless.
Preventing them getting in in the first place is the solution, easier said than done though! I use a professional powder which is mixed with water to form an emulsion. Sprayed on and around the windows, has a lasting effect of 4 to 6 weeks. It will not prevent the flies getting in, but will greatly reduce their numbers. The active ingredient is permethrine.
Red Top fly traps are good, other brands are available, and can capture up to 40,000 flies. They are for outdoor use only, as thousands of drowned flies in a bag tend to whiff a bit.
Please feel free to pm me if you need any more info.
Regards Rob
I know the feeling, we just bought a property near Chalais and suffer the same.......
It's probably cluster fly .... as suggested buy a fumigateur (you can get from bricolage shops) and use one of those. The flies are dormant for a period and then warm weather brings them out. Check your window frames as well since they can squeeze into the spaces between the windows and frames. If they're inside the house, then a fumigateur. And if your problem is flies outside the house and in the garden, then RedTop Fly Catchers are the best for that.
Fumers are pretty good if your house is infested: http://www.pestcontrolsupplies.co.uk/flying-insects
If you're not infested, but being visited then you probably need something else.