When keeping chickens or other animals, flies are an expected nuisance, and steps should be taken to reduce the overall fly population to limit the risks they pose to chickens. The key to eliminating a fly problem is maintaining a dry, clean coop and run. Flies thrive in warm, wet, “fragrant” environments and different types of flies require different elimination tactics, making a multi-pronged strategy necessary. So…let’s roll one out!

When keeping chickens or other animals, flies are an expected nuisance, but there are steps that can be taken to reduce the overall fly population, thereby limiting the risks of disease they carry. Flies thrive in warm, moist, 'fragrant' environments and different types of flies require different elimination tactics, making a multi-pronged strategy necessary. So...let's roll one out!

1. Remove the Poop: Promptly remove nightly droppings from the chicken coop. A droppings board is the best solution to eliminating this stinky fly attractant and it takes less than a minute daily to keep the coop poop-free! A thin layer of Sweet Coop® absorbs any residual moisture on the droppings boards, creating an inhospitable environment for flies and the generation of ammonia!


Sweet Coop® is a phenomenal aid in maintaining a dry, fly-free coop! I use it on my droppings boards every time I clean them to eliminate residual moisture. Bonus: it works as a slow-release fertilizer in the garden after being composted with droppings!

2. Sand for the Driest Coop Possible:

Use sand as chicken coop litter and in the run. The run must be covered. Sand coats droppings and without retaining moisture. Details on how to use sand as litter here.

Use sand as chicken coop litter and run ground cover. Sand coats droppings and dries them out, reducing odors and moisture simultaneously.

3. Plant Warfare? Can’t hurt, might help

While planting herbs around the coop makes for lovely landscaping, herbs like lavender, mint and rosemary do not repel flies, mosquitoes, mites or lice.

You can see from these photos that my mint, basil and thyme flourish in my chicken yard- my chickens don’t eat them..

Plant herbs around your coop and yard. Basil, lavender, mint and rosemary are all natural fly repellents. Grow some carniverous plants that eat flies.

4. Keep Drinkers and Feeders OUT of the Coop: Chicken drinkers and feeders should be kept out of the coop to eliminate the most obvious and avoidable source of moisture from the coop. Chickens don’t drink water while they’re sleeping, so keep it in the covered run during waking hours.

This insulated Premier 1 poultry nipple drinker keeps water cool in the heat and prevents freezing in winter with an electric heating element.

5. Clean Up After Snack Time: If giving chickens fruit treats, promptly clean up remnants before the flies find them. Limit treats to a maximum of 2 tablespoons per bird occasionally to avoid diluting the nutrients in their feed and prevent obesity. Better yet, skip treats entirely, they don’t benefit chickens who are fed a nutritionally complete feed, and create nutrient imbalance in the diet!

6. No Pooling Water: Eliminate stagnant, pooling water, which can be a breeding grounds for flies. Install drainage where necessary.

Keep it Dry: Eliminate stagnant, warm, pooling water, which serves as breeding grounds for flies. Install drainage where necessary.

7. Employ Helper Insects: Fly Predators are tiny, non-stinging wasps that eat fly larva so they have no chance of hatching & becoming adult pests. The challenge with Fly Predators is that chickens love eating them, so they must be strategically placed.

Compost manure vertically instead of horizontally in a wide pile. This increases the compost temperature, expedites decomposition and minimizes the amount of surface area exposed and fly-attracting odors.

8. Compost manure vertically instead of horizontally in a wide pile. This increases the compost temperature, expedites decomposition and minimizes the amount of surface area exposed and fly-attracting odors.

9. Dial up Compost Temperature: Cover compost with black plastic sheeting to increase the temperature inside the pile. Flies warm temperatures, not hot. Turning the pile also keeps the pile cooking because the process requires oxygen.

10. Relocate the Compost Pile: Locate compost pile as far away from the chicken coop and chicken yard as practical.

11. Keep It Moving: Install fans to promote airflow inside the coop. Air turbulence makes flying difficult!

12. Eliminate Straw: Avoid the use of straw with chickens. Straw is not absorbent and when it gets wet from droppings, drinking water, etc., it begins to decompose, creating a fly attractant. Learn more about what makes straw inappropriate for use in coops here.

Straw is not for chickens

13. Vanilla scented air fresheners. Some chicken-keepers swear by them. They can’t hurt and might help. Read more about using them here.

Vanilla scented air fresheners. Some chicken-keepers swear by them.

14. Fly traps. Each type of physical fly trap has its drawbacks: some are stinky, nasty to look at and some are costly, but most are effective to varying degrees. The type of inexpensive, disposable trap shown below should be hung no higher than four feet from the ground. They’re stinky, but they work. Never use hanging sticky fly strips with chickens– they inevitably manage to become tangled in feathers!

Fly traps. Each type of physical fly trap has its drawbacks: some are stinky, nasty to look at and some are costly, but most are effective to varying degrees.

  • The Epps Biting Fly Trap attracts flies that bonk into the unit, fall into soapy water and drown. My neighbor has been using hers for years and can’t say enough good things about it. A visit to her chickens and horses is remarkably fly-free. You can see my neighbor’s Epps unit in this photo behind Scooby, the white horse enjoying a dust bath.

The Epps Biting Fly Trap attracts flies that bonk into the unit, fall into soapy water and drown. My neighbor has been using hers for years and can't say enough good things about it. A visit to her chickens and horses is remarkably fly-free. You can see my neighbor's Epps unit in this photo behind Scooby, the white horse enjoying a dust bath.

15. Spinosad the Coop
My treatment of choice for flies, lice and mites is poultry veterinarian recommended Elector® PSP (the active ingredient is Spinosad). “Spinosad (fermentation product of Saccharopolyspora (a type of bacteria). Single use controls all stages of mites. Also kills flies, beetles, agricultural insect pests. Can be used directly on laying hens and to spray buildings.” Elector PSP has no withdrawal period and can be used safely on and around chickens inside the coop. Spray in a clean coop at the rate of 1 ounce per 5 gallons of water. To purchase single use bottles and to learn more about the use of Elector PSP, click here.

Elector PSP treats lice, mites and flies in the coop and on the chickens safely with NO egg withdrawal period.

Elector PSP available in 9 ml bottles here.

Kathy Shea Mormino

Affectionately known internationally as The Chicken Chick®, Kathy Shea Mormino shares a fun-loving, informative style to raising backyard chickens. …Read on

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When keeping chickens or other animals, flies are an expected nuisance, and steps should be taken to reduce the overall fly population to limit the risks they pose to chickens. The key to eliminating a fly problem is maintaining a dry, clean coop and run. Flies thrive in warm, wet, “fragrant” environments and different types of flies require different elimination tactics, making a multi-pronged strategy necessary. So…let’s roll one out!

When keeping chickens or other animals, flies are an expected nuisance, but there are steps that can be taken to reduce the overall fly population, thereby limiting the risks of disease they carry. Flies thrive in warm, moist, 'fragrant' environments and different types of flies require different elimination tactics, making a multi-pronged strategy necessary. So...let's roll one out!

1. Remove the Poop: Promptly remove nightly droppings from the chicken coop. A droppings board is the best solution to eliminating this stinky fly attractant and it takes less than a minute daily to keep the coop poop-free! A thin layer of Sweet Coop® absorbs any residual moisture on the droppings boards, creating an inhospitable environment for flies and the generation of ammonia!


Sweet Coop® is a phenomenal aid in maintaining a dry, fly-free coop! I use it on my droppings boards every time I clean them to eliminate residual moisture. Bonus: it works as a slow-release fertilizer in the garden after being composted with droppings!

2. Sand for the Driest Coop Possible:

Use sand as chicken coop litter and in the run. The run must be covered. Sand coats droppings and without retaining moisture. Details on how to use sand as litter here.

Use sand as chicken coop litter and run ground cover. Sand coats droppings and dries them out, reducing odors and moisture simultaneously.

3. Plant Warfare? Can’t hurt, might help

While planting herbs around the coop makes for lovely landscaping, herbs like lavender, mint and rosemary do not repel flies, mosquitoes, mites or lice.

You can see from these photos that my mint, basil and thyme flourish in my chicken yard- my chickens don’t eat them..

Plant herbs around your coop and yard. Basil, lavender, mint and rosemary are all natural fly repellents. Grow some carniverous plants that eat flies.

4. Keep Drinkers and Feeders OUT of the Coop: Chicken drinkers and feeders should be kept out of the coop to eliminate the most obvious and avoidable source of moisture from the coop. Chickens don’t drink water while they’re sleeping, so keep it in the covered run during waking hours.

This insulated Premier 1 poultry nipple drinker keeps water cool in the heat and prevents freezing in winter with an electric heating element.

5. Clean Up After Snack Time: If giving chickens fruit treats, promptly clean up remnants before the flies find them. Limit treats to a maximum of 2 tablespoons per bird occasionally to avoid diluting the nutrients in their feed and prevent obesity. Better yet, skip treats entirely, they don’t benefit chickens who are fed a nutritionally complete feed, and create nutrient imbalance in the diet!

6. No Pooling Water: Eliminate stagnant, pooling water, which can be a breeding grounds for flies. Install drainage where necessary.

Keep it Dry: Eliminate stagnant, warm, pooling water, which serves as breeding grounds for flies. Install drainage where necessary.

7. Employ Helper Insects: Fly Predators are tiny, non-stinging wasps that eat fly larva so they have no chance of hatching & becoming adult pests. The challenge with Fly Predators is that chickens love eating them, so they must be strategically placed.

Compost manure vertically instead of horizontally in a wide pile. This increases the compost temperature, expedites decomposition and minimizes the amount of surface area exposed and fly-attracting odors.

8. Compost manure vertically instead of horizontally in a wide pile. This increases the compost temperature, expedites decomposition and minimizes the amount of surface area exposed and fly-attracting odors.

9. Dial up Compost Temperature: Cover compost with black plastic sheeting to increase the temperature inside the pile. Flies warm temperatures, not hot. Turning the pile also keeps the pile cooking because the process requires oxygen.

10. Relocate the Compost Pile: Locate compost pile as far away from the chicken coop and chicken yard as practical.

11. Keep It Moving: Install fans to promote airflow inside the coop. Air turbulence makes flying difficult!

12. Eliminate Straw: Avoid the use of straw with chickens. Straw is not absorbent and when it gets wet from droppings, drinking water, etc., it begins to decompose, creating a fly attractant. Learn more about what makes straw inappropriate for use in coops here.

Straw is not for chickens

13. Vanilla scented air fresheners. Some chicken-keepers swear by them. They can’t hurt and might help. Read more about using them here.

Vanilla scented air fresheners. Some chicken-keepers swear by them.

14. Fly traps. Each type of physical fly trap has its drawbacks: some are stinky, nasty to look at and some are costly, but most are effective to varying degrees. The type of inexpensive, disposable trap shown below should be hung no higher than four feet from the ground. They’re stinky, but they work. Never use hanging sticky fly strips with chickens– they inevitably manage to become tangled in feathers!

Fly traps. Each type of physical fly trap has its drawbacks: some are stinky, nasty to look at and some are costly, but most are effective to varying degrees.

  • The Epps Biting Fly Trap attracts flies that bonk into the unit, fall into soapy water and drown. My neighbor has been using hers for years and can’t say enough good things about it. A visit to her chickens and horses is remarkably fly-free. You can see my neighbor’s Epps unit in this photo behind Scooby, the white horse enjoying a dust bath.

The Epps Biting Fly Trap attracts flies that bonk into the unit, fall into soapy water and drown. My neighbor has been using hers for years and can't say enough good things about it. A visit to her chickens and horses is remarkably fly-free. You can see my neighbor's Epps unit in this photo behind Scooby, the white horse enjoying a dust bath.

15. Spinosad the Coop
My treatment of choice for flies, lice and mites is poultry veterinarian recommended Elector® PSP (the active ingredient is Spinosad). “Spinosad (fermentation product of Saccharopolyspora (a type of bacteria). Single use controls all stages of mites. Also kills flies, beetles, agricultural insect pests. Can be used directly on laying hens and to spray buildings.” Elector PSP has no withdrawal period and can be used safely on and around chickens inside the coop. Spray in a clean coop at the rate of 1 ounce per 5 gallons of water. To purchase single use bottles and to learn more about the use of Elector PSP, click here.

Elector PSP treats lice, mites and flies in the coop and on the chickens safely with NO egg withdrawal period.

Elector PSP available in 9 ml bottles here.

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Tasha Thornhill
Tasha Thornhill
10 years ago

I am not currently having a fly issue so for that I am thankful. Tonight I did put some fresh mint, sage and lemon balm into my coop, I thought it would give a fresh smell to the area. I will be curious to see I. The morning if my girls have eaten any of it or not. I am so glad I took your recommendation for using sand in the coop, I think it makes all the difference. Thank you again Kathy for all your blogging knowledge and for always listening

Gina
Gina
10 years ago

Love your suggestions!

Mike
Mike
10 years ago

I honestly wouldn't want my chickens eating those.

Frances
Frances
10 years ago

Do you remember the original The Fly movie?? Haha! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzTGSKNjrp4

Suzy
Suzy
10 years ago

I put out some rosemary branches and catnip and I think my little pigglets, I mean hens ate it….. :-)

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