Does anyone know a safe but [u]effective[/u] way of getting rid of cluster flies ... other than staying up all night beating the $%&*))) out of them?

Cattle country is a new entity to me, and these flies are really something else. I've tried those little "eggshell coffins" -- and they don't work; useless, of course, to try fly strips because they are absolutely loaded within the first half hour; beating them to death is causing serious frustration, which may end up in divorce ... I also have to ask ... when does it all end? Day and night, night and day, they never seem to shut up, they never stop buzzing. The first time I saw them in the window, I had serious flashbacks to Amityville Horror. What are these things? Why won't they die???? :_| Can anyone help? Pulllllllleeeeeeeeeeze??!! :_| :_|

OMG..that's awful.Do you have good screens on your windows?How do they get in?I'm thinking about when my boys were little.They were constantly coming in and out,sometimes they shut the door,usually not.
Here is a link I found.Good luck!!

http://www.theinsectivore.com/

You will get many more replies if you repost this in "Over the fence"

One way would be chickens which will eat the flies and larvae. but you will need to use other methods as well like fly paper, screens, baited fly traps, etc. And it sounds like for anything until you get things under control you will have to change the traps/srtips/etc frequently.

Research what eats these flies naturally and creat habitat for the beneficials.

to daizy and ohio ...

I guess I'll move the question to OTF, thanks. And they certainly aren't letting up. We are closed up tighter than a drum (windows, doors, etc.) but somehow they just keep coming and coming and coming. I've heard tell that one should never kill a fly, because 50 always come to the funeral. :^O . Well, you can only imagine what happens when you kill 50!! :O (That was my expression after the first 500.) thanks to you both.

(I'll also be checking out that web site, thanks, daizy. And the spiders are getting nice and fat -- but how many of these do I really want around. :|

Yup, same boat here. DH has been bitching about leaving doors open until I finally showed him an ad for cluster fly removal. They are horrible. I am not sure what to do either, we just moved and it is our first time with them. If you find out anything, let me know!

Hi BiscuitQueen

I can't say I have any [u]super[/u]-effective answers, but I did find fly-paper, in sheets, at the local farmers' co-op. In Canada, it is sold by www.vetoquinol.ca. This particular sheet is approximately 11" x 17" and you can cut it into any shape/size. What I find works best for us is cutting it into thin strips about 4 inches wide, and quite long -- as far across the width of the window as you wish, and putting it at the very top, where the flies seem to congregate, catching all the heat of the sun. Guaranteed, you'll catch 50 flies in a wink. It's quite disgusting, but most of these strips are hidden behind curtains, so you don't have to look at them. It doesn't eliminate them, mind you, but it certainly reduces the numbers tremendously ... 50 flies on the paper, after all, is 50 less flies buzzing around your head and falling into the soup.

I find this one of the most disgusting things of living near livestock -- I don't even mind shovelling the manure pile -- but these things repulse the &**( out of me.

I haven't found anything else that is actually non-toxic. Even at the farmers' co-op they were trying to push one or the other of some deadly nerve gas :^O ... And then there are all the farmers out here who think, 'oh, it'll pass'. "them's just flies". yeh ... and now I know why "them's all crazy as loons!" :^O :^O

In any case, that's our solution for now. If I find anything else more effective, I'll post it on the forum.

We have been re-siding our old farmhouse and I get cluster flies in the bathroom. I think they come through the ceiling vent. It is usually in the Fall that I noticed them. I use my vacuum on them