Beware the sticky fly strips.

[The Sheriff]

My husband hung two of these from trees in our yard. I went down to the coop to check for the night. I found my blind hen, Lucy with that strip stuck all over her. It was twisted around her leg and then around the rung of the ladder she roosts on. She must have fallen off and gotten back up on the opposite side. Poor little thing. That must have been so scary for her. I am so glad I went in and turned on the light and looked around. We were able to pull it off her but the sticky stuff is still all in her feathers. I dusted her with cornstarch to keep her from sticking to everything and we'll deal with it tomorrow.

If you use sticky fly strips make sure you secure them completely. It was windy here today and it probably blew down and Lucy got caught in it on her way to bed.

Mary

 

[Tala]

I like the sticky cardboard tubes better. When they are full, the chickens will eat the flies off

(the box promises to be 100% nontoxic and I never saw any ill effects)

 

[easttxchick]

Poor thing-I'm so glad you went and checked on her and rescued her.

 

[OccamsTazer]

Sticky anything is a huge pain...

I once caught a keet with a glue rat trap

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Any of those sticky traps are bad news, for flies or mice or anything else.

My wildlife group gets in birds every year that have been caught on the sticky traps, and it's very difficult to get them off. Most of the animals that get stuck on those traps gradually starve to death. Not a humane death at all. Steer clear!

Also, excellent point, The Warden, on the safety of keeping these with poultry. I had a sticky fly trap get stuck on one of my chickens. Thankfully it was covered in dirt and hardly sticky any more, so it was more comical than anything else. I'm glad Lucy is okay, and I hope she recovers quickly. Poor sweetheart, must have been terrifying.

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Oh poor thing

Last summer I hung one in the garage and heard my DD 18 yelling she had it caught in her hair

I stick with the fly bags...

 

[Soccer Mom]

We don't use them outside, but inside the house sometimes. I once had a chick escape from the brooder and get caught in one. She was fine, but it was very icky. I'm much more careful now.

My outside flycatchers are called "guineas."

Maybe I need guineas in the house too.

 

[Biochick]

I hung a sticky paper on my back patio a few years ago. Never will I use them again, I don't know what I was thinking.
The next morning there were bats stuck to it. It was so awful I couldn't get them off and they were still alive.
Never Never Never again!!!

 

[77horses]

Quote:

Poor little bats!

I would have freaked out, although I don't use them anyway. I just find them cruel, whether you use them for flies or mice. It's just a horrible way to die, really. Being trapped and covered in a suffocating sticky material and dying because of it? No, it's just not right to me.

My dad bought some sticky fly strips and I eventually talked him into getting rid of them. Then he bought a sticky mouse trap (like a small cardboard box and the inside smelled like peanut butter or something to mice, and the inside was covered in sticky stuff) and I got really mad at him. I just can't imagine a tiny mouse getting trapped and then dying in there, and then you might find it still alive...

It's just plain cruel-sounding to me.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

I would recommend that you put cooking oil where the glue is stuck to her. Its a trick some exterminators use to remove mice and rats from sticky traps without hurting them.