Are flies in the coop normal?

[pauleberly]

This is my current coop setup. It has a layer of Sweet PDZ on the entire floor. I then layered about 1.5 bags of pine shavings, and then topped it off with DE for pest control. I also sprinkled a heavy dose of DE around the legs (4x4 post) of the coop frame.

I am cleaning out the tupper ware poop buckets (plastic totes in the back). The coop its self does not stink. There is a slight water issue since the vertical nipple does leak a small amount. Are flies normal, or should I be worried that they will start to lay maggots and such in the coop because of the small water.

The chickens are not stirring up the pine shavings, I am doing it manually. They are actually compressing them by the water leak (as expected)

I have horizontal nipples that I was going to use (all 4) on a 5 gallon bucket for their run. Do they need all 4 or should I use one of them for their coop till the run is constructed?

Am I doing the bedding correctly?

For those that do not want to read my blocky paragraphs

1. Is my bedding correct (Sweet PDZ, then Pine shavings, then DE)
2. How many horizontal nipples for 10 chickens on a 5 gallon bucket
3. Are flies normal or should I be concerned?


Thank you all

 

[pauleberly]

Anyone?

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We haven't had a fly problem, not sure if what we do/don't do has anything to do with it but maybe it will help you...

Our water is in the run, this keeps the coop dry. It's well ventilated, with deep bedding (pine shavings) and a poop board filled with PDZ which is sifted out daily. We also hang those little vanilla scented trees in there. Read on here that flies don't like vanilla, figured 'what the heck' and tried it. Rather that helped to keep flies out, I don't know, but it's easy & cheap.

The run is covered, so it stays pretty dry. We do deep litter out there so the poo drops down to the ground below to decompose. It doesn't sit on top to smell or draw flies. If rain or snow blows in we fluff it with a stall fork. The chickens keep it well stirred as well.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

Wanted to add - we have 2 vertical nipples on a 2 gal cooler for 6 chickens.

 

[Cacique500]

Just a thought...

I had a horrible fly problem when I was using sand everywhere in the old coop/run...the poop just wouldn't dry up and even cleaning every couple of days it still got crazy amounts of flies. For a small coop like yours you might want to consider 100% pdz for bedding. It will dry out the poop and make it very easy to clean with a kitty litter scoop. The pdz pretty much lasts forever as well.

Can't tell from the picture but is there a run for the chickens? If so, I'd think about moving the food and water out of the coop and into the run. Keeping everything dry will really help with the fly population.

I also have put up a couple of the big fly bags (away from the coop/run) in the corners of the yard to draw the flies away...absolutely amazing how fast those bags fill up (we have horses behind us which I think is causing a lot of the problem).



Here's my roost area...100% pdz in the coop and run. Expensive initially, but makes cleanup soooo much easier.

 

[pauleberly]

Our verticle nipple leaks just slightly, make the bedding a little wet. I do stir it every now and then. I think may be I will run out and grab some of the vanilla air freshners

 

[pauleberly]

We dont have the run finished yet. I am still hardware clothing the entire thing. I do plan on moving all food and water into the run once it is finished. I had thought about 100% PDZ, but its very very dusty and it Its my understanding I would have to clean out entire coop every day if it was only pdz

 

[veganurbanfarm]

The only concern I would think you would have with flies in the coop is the possibility of flystrike should one or more of your girls be "messy poopers". We just lost one to flystrike and it is not pretty.

That being said, do you have a lot of flies in the coop regularly? If so, you are probably getting too much poop build up somehow. Adding more carbon material, like wood chip bedding, might alleviate the issue. It will absorb the moisture and also create a carbon heavy situation which will counteract the high nitrogen levels of the manure. I'm no expert, but we have used plain old straw as coop bedding and never have a big fly issue. Everything is always dry and never smells bad inside. We keep the food in the coop and the water outside in the run, but we are planning to move the feeder outside soon too.

Good luck! Keep us updated!

 

[robdog]

Moisture from the leaking water + shavings + poop = Maggots will start laying .. especially they don't shift it themselves and let those wet poopy shaving sit
Also DE helps with fly problems but if there water then the DE won't be that effective.

 

[BruceAZ]

it's normal

but if you have flies in the coop it means maybe it's time to do some adjustments or time to clean out the bedding

wet and smelly manure will attract flies..

cleaning out the coop and put in new bedding will help with flies