Thinking ahead: homemade chicken-safe fly traps for the coop?

[Castlemaid]

So what's an effective fly trap that I can make for nothing or very cheap and something safe to put in the coop? Where I live we have black flies, small flies that give painful bites, and of course regular flies always cover the coop windows. They don't seem to bother the chickens, and often they'll pick off the ones they can reach, but that's just a drop in the bucket. Tired of the coop windows just covered with them. Any good tips for keeping them out of the coop?

 

[David61]

A two litter coke bottle cut in half and inverted to where the cap opening is off the bottom an inch or two, drop some bait.
works good but what works better than anything i could have dreamed of to get rid of flies is 13.3% permethrin spray and some sweet PDZ stall fresh lightly cast about every 4 to 6 weeks in the hot months .
Traps are just not needed for me now.

 

[Wrooster]

Use any container with at least one flat side. Those little square plastic tubs for leftovers are perfect. If the top edges are flared out, cut them so it will sit right up next to the glass. Put some water in it and set it on the window sill, touching the glass. Flies will drop off the glass, hit the water and stay there. A trace of dish soap in the water will reduce the surface tension and make it even more likely that small bugs will sink and not walk away.

I don't know if this will co-exist with your chickens but it's extremely effective in a garage or anyplace you can just leave it undisturbed. The water gets disgusting after a while and you can float a little oil on it to keep it from evaporating. And the traps might be more effective with the oil.

 

[Folly's place]

Fly traps are fly attractants, and need to be placed away from places where you don't want the flies!
Permethrin spray in the coop will kill them, and the Spalding fly predators work very well using no pesticides.
Mary