Publication E-3
January 1976

Purdue University
Cooperative Extension Service
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907

Fly Control In Poultry Houses
David L. Matthew, Extension Entomologist
Fly control is an integral part of poultry management. With today's concern about environmental conditions, fly control takes on added importance. Besides their ability to mechanically carry disease organisms, flies may be considered environmental pollutants just by their presence.
Several species of flies are common in and around caged layer houses. The most common are the house fly and the little house fly.
The house fly breeds in moist, decaying plant material including refuse, spilled grains and feeds, and in all kinds of manure. Although it breeds in poultry manure, this is not a favorite medium. For this reason, it is more likely to be a problem around poultry houses where general sanitation is poor. The house fly prefers sunlight and is a very active fly which crawls about over filth, people, and food products with equal disdain. It is, therefore, the most important species from the standpoint of spreading human and poultry diseases and fly-specking eggs. This fly is also the intermediate host for the common tapeworm in chickens.
The little house fly is generally somewhat smaller than the house fly, but the size difference is not enough to be a good distinguishing characteristic. The little house fly prefers a less moist medium than the house fly in which to breed. Poultry manure is preferred over most other media. It prefers shade and cooler temperatures and is often seen circling aimlessly beneath hanging objects in the poultry house, egg room, and feed room. This fly is less likely to crawl about on people and food than is the house fly. On the other hand, it is usually the one that causes people living near poultry establish-
ments to complain about a fly problem. Because of its preference for shade, it may collect in large numbers in nearby garages, breezeways and homes. House flies and little house flies are capable of movement up to 20 miles from the site of development, but normally they move no more than a mile or so from this locality.
Blow flies (green or blue bottle flies) may occur in poultry houses. They breed in decaying animal carcasses including dead birds, dog manure, broken eggs, and wet garbage. Any reasonable sanitation program is usually sufficient to hold them in check.
Soldier flies are large (about twice the size of a house fly), blackish flies commonly found around poultry manure. They are not pests in that they use the manure only as breeding medium and do not bother anything else. They may even be considered beneficial since their larvae appear to render manure unsuitable for production of house fly larvae.
Fruit flies (Drosophila sp.) are sometimes produced in large numbers where there is a mixture of manure, wasted feed, and water. Nearby homes may become targets of these flies with resulting complaints to the poultryman. Elimination of large amounts of wasted feed and repair of leaking water systems usually solves this problem
BIOLOGY OF FLIES
All flies go through four life stages.
These are the egg, larva, pupa, and adult fly. Eggs are deposited on the breeding media, and larvae or maggots develop in this moist or wet material until ready to pupate. Generally, the mature maggots