The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Pedwardine on July 21, 2013, 12:26:10 pm
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Seems like everyone in our village is infested with the things at the moment. Thought it was just the squalor we live in ;D . Just wondered if is it a nationwide thing.
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We have loads too :(
I bought one of those bead blind things that go over the door, well actually mine isn't beads but bamboo. I can't say its fool proof but it has definitely made a difference :)
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yup, over run with the things.
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I wonder why? Is the apocalypse on the way do you think? Have I spelt that completely wrong? Not a word I often use ;D
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We are OK, no flies on us :innocent: but I suspect its to do with the farmers cutting grass etc, there is certainly lots of dust and pongy smells around in the fields due to much spreading..yuk
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Aye , the end is nigh!
Keep seeing these four horsemen about the place .
As for flies almost none here as yet , just a few midges and some mosquitoes . Strangely , i haven't been bitten yet ? I normally get eaten alive this time of year .
I did think it strange the other day though , hardly a fly anywhere to be seen .
No bees and only one or two wasps too , mind you i have seen a few bumble bees !
I always think the apocalypse sounds like a carribean night club ! , and start singing Billy Ocean's Carribean Queen , and thinking of Miami vice ?
Why does my mind do that ?
And why did they put their suits in the washing machine ? .
And why no socks with shoes ! Wtf ?
And why no flies ?
One of lifes imponderables , perhapse you have them all ?
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We have squillions. They like to rest up between the window and the frame on the south facing windows so when you go to open a window they all come buzzing out.
Now I close the curtain before I open any windows so they fly out rather than into the room.
There's carcasses on all the windowsills.
Oh well - they are good pollinators so as long as they service the polytunnel aswell I'll lump it.
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I'm all for the end times, just not to keen on the flies. Mebbe the nuclear winter will kill them all off, that's something to look forwards to.
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We have loads too - I have been cultivating the spiders and their webs but it seems that they are not paying their keep!! :innocent:
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Russ, I am not that far from you and I have loads of flies. I will send some up if you like :roflanim:
I am also being eaten alive, not by midges but by horse flies :( Each time I go out to feed the animals I have to put on a full suit of body armour. Not the best idea when its so warm.
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Horse flies on walks are killers, my legs have some lovely bites on that still itch, even bit me through thick leggings so I must put that potion on.....we used to get a lot of flies when I lived near a farm and had a hawthorn bush outside, flies love that.
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Call for the executioner! :excited:
http://www.theexecutioner.co.uk/html/about.html (http://www.theexecutioner.co.uk/html/about.html)
(I really want one of these!)
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Thanks Sally , no need to bother though mate , i have no doubt they will arrive here soon .
I hate horse flies . I am sure they eat me a few times over in a year .
The amount of garlic i am eating now is helping me against being bitten i think ? , 2-6 cloves per day .
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Call for the executioner! :excited:
http://www.theexecutioner.co.uk/html/about.html (http://www.theexecutioner.co.uk/html/about.html)
(I really want one of these!)
We've got one of those, I love seeing the critters FRY!!
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Plenty here in Powys.
My daughter does her "fly check" every night at bedtime. She's discovered that they settle for the night along the tops of the curtains so she goes up and flicks them all out ;D before bed. Can't stand them coming out and buzzing when she puts the lights on.
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No more than usual here but they are the only reason I ever put out sticky fly papers. I hate the slow ones which fly around your face and get in your eyes. The huge ones appear through the walls when a mouse has died in the attic - you can fill up a whole fly paper with one hatching :roflanim:
I also encourage spiders - they're not so good at catching the giant flies, but great for smaller ones and for daddy long legs. Also provide hours of entertainment :innocent:
The next few days are forecast to be more humid and less windy so we will probably have loads then. I've got big reserves of sticky fly papers at the ready. And Crovect too of course as the sheep will be bothered by flies too.
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Our fly exterminator had a working light but the electrodes didn't have any voltage. Bought a cheap replacement from Aldi and it broke in a few weeks. Went to the DIY store and they wanted silly money. So we bought a 'Destructeur des Insects' for €24 from ebay.fr. The 20W version had far better reviews than the 30W so that's what we got. Fantastic! Kills everything with a real crack and works in the daytime. Only problem is the lights are rather bright and it keeps our pet cockerel awake. We empty the corpse tray onto the path in the morning- breakfast for the lizards.
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Not too many flies in the house. I think they are all in the goats shed tbh.
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Big buggers here too, they're tormenting me right now! I can't escape outside and work out there cos of the midgies, occasional horseflies and swarms of tiny weenie flies that hang around any water on the ground, where animals spill, tap drips etc although they don't bite or anything.
The cats's think it's great sport flinging themselves at the windows and give them their dues they are catching some flies for me, just as well.
BUT the worst thing I'm struggling with here is fleas :o never had such a problem ever and only on the cats, nothing on the dogs. This house has tiny windows so poor airflow, it's obviously got warm and humid and they're loving it. Upstairs is always hotter than downstairs and it's all carpet up there, makes me want to rip it all up! Poor cats have been frontlined as often as allowed, then flea powdered with DE, and I've treated the carpets with the same. Got a flea bomb to try later, and sent for a different spot on thing, the frontline doesn't seem effective now, hope it arrives before it gets really out of hand >:(
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Oooh poor you. Been there. Not nice at all.
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BUT the worst thing I'm struggling with here is fleas :o never had such a problem ever and only on the cats, nothing on the dogs. This house has tiny windows so poor airflow, it's obviously got warm and humid and they're loving it. Upstairs is always hotter than downstairs and it's all carpet up there, makes me want to rip it all up! Poor cats have been frontlined as often as allowed, then flea powdered with DE, and I've treated the carpets with the same. Got a flea bomb to try later, and sent for a different spot on thing, the frontline doesn't seem effective now, hope it arrives before it gets really out of hand >:(
We had to give up with Frontline as the vet said some fleas are now resistant to it. We use Advocate, only available on prescription, but it works. The benefit is that we can use it on the ferret too.
And yes we have hundreds of flippin' flies too :(.
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All I have in our sitting room is one huge bluebottle driving me mad. Plenty of midges outside though. :(
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They have been terrible here this year too. We have gone back in time and invested in fly papers. I hate the idea of sprays in the house and breathing in, or eating, the insecticide. Mind you, having a strip of sticky tape festooned with fly carcases is not the most pleasing sight in the kitchen or living room (But is does mean you don't get the fly cemetery on the window sill)
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I know I am not the only TAS member who thought it a good idea to put fly paper in the hen shed :innocent:
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Maybe I should get some for the goats.
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I must admit that after living in Scotland over the past 4 years we hardly notice the midges down here - but the horseflies are making a right meal out of us :o