The great experiment...

It's July and the flies have descended upon us in the masses!  We have ordered our fly predators, but in the meantime I decided to try a couple of experiments I have read about to try and give the horses some temporary relief.  

I've always been curious about the "ziploc bag" theory. You will find it all over the internet in different variations, some say just the baggie full of water will do it, others say to add pennies, others say bits of tinfoil.  I opted for pennies.

The theory behind it is light refraction "refraction takes place when a clear or opaque object, such as a piece of glass or a bag of water, alters the course and velocity of light. The rays of light, which normally travel in a straight line, bend. This effect is responsible for a number of optical illusions, such as mirages, that occasionally baffle humans as well. This can be just as confusing for some species of insect, especially the housefly. It boasts a highly sensitive array of eyes which allow it to see in multiple directions at once."  Seems believable enough, right?!  Worst case scenario I am out $1.99 in Ziploc bags and will have some nice clean pennies when I take them down.

So, I went to work...

I was encouraged!  There definitely seemed to be less flies around Sadie
in her stall!

This wasn't quite as encouraging, this fly didn't seem confused at all!  I convinced myself it's because it was inside the barn...not enough sunlight.

Next I decided to try the "Pop Bottle Flytrap". This simple trap is done by cutting off the top of a pop bottle and turning it upside down inside the bottom half.  Using fly "bait" at the bottom, the flies get in the bottle and can't get out.  

What to use for the bait?  I decided on Gobbie's famous fruit cocktail (Gobbie is what the Grandkids call my Dad), after all, who can resist that sweet syrupy juice?!  My 5 year old nephew was here last weekend and he cleaned us out of it!  I put two in the barn, one by the chicken coop and one in the main aisle.

Come on flies, try the delicious fruit cocktail!

I figured I would try one more, possibly a more proven solution, Raid Fly Ribbons.  All products like this have to be kept far away from all animals, so I hung these away from the stalls in the main barn areas.  This had some immediate success, my first victim was caught immediately as I hung the first ribbon.  

We'll be testing these solutions over the next few days as we eagerly await our fly predators.  Maybe I'll be able to prove or disprove the "ziploc" and "bottle trap" theories once and for all!  

Check out our poll and vote for which solution you think will be our most successful! We'll keep you posted!