While sanitation sounds like a simple process, it is still the best method of fly control whether you have a large kennel or simply have a dog that uses the back yard on a regular or semi-regular basis. The more immaculate the sanitation is the fewer fly predators that will be necessary for fly prevention and control. Immaculate may not be practical in every situation, so you may need to simply add more predators or add some fly traps or sticky tape to increase your chance of success.
Good sanitation practices should begin with the treatment of the most common fly breeding areas. This means you need to follow general sanitation practices in all outside trash and manure areas. In order to ensure proper sanitation make sure your garbage cans have tight fitting lids and have plastic liners inside. Keeping the odors from garbage maintained within secure plastic bags and will attract the numbers of flies looking for breeding sites. You also need to wash all food residues from feed dishes, prep stations and garbage cans on a regular basis. You also want to make sure to keep the cans as far away from the house or other buildings as reasonably possible. When you consistently dispose of garbage and manure every week, you will increase your success rate of fly control since it takes at least eight days for fly eggs to go through the entire life cycle from egg to adult fly. It is much better to send your fly problem to the dump than to keep it in your back yard or dog kennel.
It is also essential to get rid of any other potential fly breeding areas. Some of the possibilities include rotting mulch and vegetation in addition to any moist soil that has animal droppings in it. You should also avoid leaving moist pet foods outdoors for too long at a time.
It’s also essential to remove fallen, fermenting and over ripe fruits that fall on the ground is you are to maintain effective fly control. You need to remove any potential breeding material or spread it thinly so it is able to dry out—fly larvae need moisture to develop. The goal you want to achieve with this process is to dry the manure or other decaying material within a five day window as this is the minimum amount of time it takes a fly to complete its life cycle into adulthood. One of the best methods of fly prevention is making sure all potential breeding material is dry because fly larvae require forty to sixty percent moisture by weight in order to reach adulthood.
Another thing that is important is getting rid of any dead animals quickly during the hot summer months in order to prevent fly infestation within twenty four to forty eight hours. Keep in mind that even a small animal can draw as more than a thousand blow flies, so it is absolutely essential to remove all carcasses as quickly as humanly possible. In addition, flies can travel up to ¼ of a mile.
Fly prevention and control is a big issue for dog owners with the most important issue being management of the dog excrement. The reason for this is dog excrement is the largest attractant for flies and probably the single most “delicious” source in the eyes of the fly.
The type of facilities you have and the numbers of animals for which you are responsible have a great deal of impact on the type of methodology you to eliminate fly infestation. There are some tasks that are common to all situations such as keeping the kennels, pens, runs or yard clean and free of droppings or other types of decaying organic material that is attractive to flies. This is something that must be done at least every seven days in order to reduce the potential for new flies and to make sure you minimize any flies on the dogs. The reason this is so essential is because it takes flies at least eight days to develop into adults during the heat of the summer. It’s better if you can pick up the droppings on a daily basis, but as long as you do it before the flies break free of the pupae it will make a huge difference.
Backyard Dog
If your dog is a backyard dog, it’s important to pick up the droppings as often as possible but no less than once each week. Once you pick up the droppings, place them in a sealed garbage container to prevent fly infestation and ultimately to make sure there are no flies on the dogs. In the event you are unable to clean up the yard as often as you should or have neighbors who are not as conscientious as you are, the solution is to spread more fly predators –twice the recommended quantity. You also need to spread them within 50-150 feet of the location of the dog excrement. You may help the problem by spreading some along the fence line if the neighboring dogs are close.
Kennel Built on Dirt
If your kennel and pens are on dirt, you must collect it often, and if it must remain on the property put it in a compost pile; if it is going to the trash use a sealed container to make sure there are no flies on the dogs or other place where they are not wanted. Keep the compost pile as far away from the house and kennel as possible.
Kennel Built on Concrete
With a concrete-based kennel it is essential to wash them down on a daily basis. Allowing the wash to run into the sewer should reduce fly breeding substantially. On the other hand if you allow the wash into the drainage area, you will be creating more of a problem. You should place a good portion of your fly predators into this drainage area.
