It’s the Flies or Me This Summer.

I actually have to keep 2 wrapped up tissues in the 2 air vents in the slow combustion stove (aka wood burning stove) we have better because in the summer flies seek out the coolness and shade of the chimney. They then proceed down and eventually find their way into the stove. Not done and now trapped, they crawl to the air and/or light and out through the tiny slits that are left when the stove vents are closed. This happens in the 20's to 30's a day... and so despite the fly screens on every window and door, the house fills with big blow flies that die on the window sills every night after 2-3 days of being trapped in the house. Wasps also follow suit. And so every winter when we stop using the fire, I have to deliberately trap tissues into these vents to fill the holes. And then I spend the summer explaining to people why my stove has tissues hanging out of its vents! (Picture today's stuffed up someone's nose to stop a nose bleed)...

It also led us to an interesting problem about a month affray moving into this property... unbeknown to anyone else the previous tenant had gone onto the roof, removed the chimney cowl and fitted flyscreen mesh between the top of the brick chimney and the cowling. Anyone who has ever lit a stove will attest to the fact that this is not a good move. 1 month on and the fire was filling the house with smoke every time we opened the door to add wood and we struggled to keep it lit.
That flyscreen mesh had tarred over with resin and soot and creosote and the holes were no longer holes but a mat sealing the top of the chimney .. no one was impressed, but next summer as I watch the flies crawling out of the closed vents on the stove, I knew why he had done it.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I actually have to keep 2 wrapped up tissues in the 2 air vents in the slow combustion stove (aka wood burning stove) we have better because in the summer flies seek out the coolness and shade of the chimney. They then proceed down and eventually find their way into the stove. Not done and now trapped, they crawl to the air and/or light and out through the tiny slits that are left when the stove vents are closed. This happens in the 20's to 30's a day... and so despite the fly screens on every window and door, the house fills with big blow flies that die on the window sills every night after 2-3 days of being trapped in the house. Wasps also follow suit. And so every winter when we stop using the fire, I have to deliberately trap tissues into these vents to fill the holes. And then I spend the summer explaining to people why my stove has tissues hanging out of its vents! (Picture today's stuffed up someone's nose to stop a nose bleed)...

It also led us to an interesting problem about a month affray moving into this property... unbeknown to anyone else the previous tenant had gone onto the roof, removed the chimney cowl and fitted flyscreen mesh between the top of the brick chimney and the cowling. Anyone who has ever lit a stove will attest to the fact that this is not a good move. 1 month on and the fire was filling the house with smoke every time we opened the door to add wood and we struggled to keep it lit.
That flyscreen mesh had tarred over with resin and soot and creosote and the holes were no longer holes but a mat sealing the top of the chimney .. no one was impressed, but next summer as I watch the flies crawling out of the closed vents on the stove, I knew why he had done it.
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Normally, flies only get into my house when I open a door. The only time I've had a serious flying insect issue was the time I came home from a week long business trip to find thousands of honey bees in my house. Half were dead on the floor and window sills. But, there was a beehive built in the soffit of my roof with thousands of bees coming and going.

That cost me a lot of money to remedy.

CD
 
Many years ago one of my older friends visited a another friend in the UK, both dead now unfortunately.

This friend was very keen on freshwater coarse angling. There is little chance of doing that here unless you are in a club.

So he asked if he could borrow the friends car to go fishing, hired a rod, bought some bait and spent an enjoyable few hours fishing.

Shortly after that his trip ended he left travelling back a bit late and had to rush to the airport to return home.

About a week later he had an angry (not too angry, I think he found it funny too) from his friend. His friend was driving down the motorway when a fly landed on his arm, he shooed it off, several minutes later a second fly appeared, then three, four, ten and within five minutes or so there were a hundred flies buzzing around. My friend had forgotten to dump the bait in the rush to return home.
 
caseydog said:
Normally, flies only get into my house when I open a door. The only time I've had a serious flying insect issue was the time I came home from a week long business trip to find thousands of honey bees in my house. Half were dead on the floor and window sills. But, there was a beehive built in the soffit of my roof with thousands of bees coming and going.

That cost me a lot of money to remedy.

CD
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We've had this numerous times with ants. I hate ants with, will it's the only insect/ mammal etc that I hate. I was the kid at school with the giant Malaysian cockroaches in my hands at open day... but ants are another matter entirely. I've found the windows black with swarming ants in the past.... yuck. My solution was to empty the hoover, then hoover up some anti ant powder, then hoover up the ants...
We've also had wasps and hornet's nest in the roof (these joined the squirrel, the numerous birds and 2 species of bats living the the roof of that house... mice oddly were not a problem. Oh and I forgot the bumblebees...
The Hornets made the most amazing hive nest and providing the curtains were closed if the lights were on, they were not a problem (netting over the windows resolved the issue later). The wasps we were not so keen on, but theo never re-use a nest so once they had left it wasn't a problem again. The bats were a protected species in the UK, illegal to handle unless you were actually saving its life (another one of our rescues (hubby and I both have had rabies vaccines).)

Here we are adjusting to living with wombats (mobile bulldozers) kangaroos, similar to red deer (something we're very familiar with and their bin raiding habits) wallabies, aussie possums, snakes and a few other oddities... its the bird life here that's taking a little getting accustomed to... the sulphur crested cockatoo, a very large white cockatoo that can live to 100 yrs in captivity, but they are noisy, aggressive and target like a juvenile delinquent... some of their antics include hanging off live electricity cables by their beaks as part of the showing off stage of courtship. It results in lots of broken cables though luckily not the high voltage ones which are more robust. But household electrics, farm stuff is fair game and we've had too replace so many security lights because they cut though the cables repeatedly, to the point where you simply can't repair it anymore. Even threading the cables through copper water pipes has only slowed them down a touch!
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I’ve never thought I was the sort of person who would have an arch nemesis. I’m not a superhero, but now I have one. You see, we have dogs, so the back door opens a lot to let them out. And, when they come in, they have little friends with them. Kids: always ask permission before bringing friends home with you!

It has been quite the epic battle. They fly to the light, so that’s where they were hanging out. In situations like this, I like to use something safe, like disinfectant spray, to bring the flies down. But, none of the sprays I had would shoot far enough to hit them.

I survey the situation. They were over a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes, and I decided that getting poisonous spray all over them would be an acceptable casualty of war. Some of them landed casually, thinking that this was a free hostel were they could crash anytime they wanted.

**SPRAY**

I thought I aimed perfectly, but it seemed at first I was an instant too late. But, I was wrong. I did get them, and the spray took a while to start working.

As if this was not annoying enough, it actually got worse. One of them was obviously their leader. I’ve gotten divebombed three times already tonight, with the fly angrily buzzing in my hair. I swear it’s the same fly. He’s quite a worthy foe.

After a lot of spraying I think I have found peace. The mighty one has fallen. No more buzzing in my hair. Did I really get him? I think I did.

But, the night is not over yet. One thing that is for sure: I’m washing those dishes that were in the sink. And staying out of the light.
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71355

I bought this bug zapper from Amazon.com. So far, it seems to be doing a fantastic job in gettting rid of all kinds of flying insects, including flies & mosquitos, moths & gnats!!! It's a keeper!! The powerful 14,000-volt grid sends a lethal zap to insects on contact, killing them instantly!!! :wink: :whistling:
 
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The Late Night Gourmet said:
I’ve never thought I was the sort of person who would have an arch nemesis. I’m not a superhero, but now I have one. You see, we have dogs, so the back door opens a lot to let them out. And, when they come in, they have little friends with them. Kids: always ask permission before bringing friends home with you!

It has been quite the epic battle. They fly to the light, so that’s where they were hanging out. In situations like this, I like to use something safe, like disinfectant spray, to bring the flies down. But, none of the sprays I had would shoot far enough to hit them.

I survey the situation. They were over a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes, and I decided that getting poisonous spray all over them would be an acceptable casualty of war. Some of them landed casually, thinking that this was a free hostel were they could crash anytime they wanted.

**SPRAY**

I thought I aimed perfectly, but it seemed at first I was an instant too late. But, I was wrong. I did get them, and the spray took a while to start working.

As if this was not annoying enough, it actually got worse. One of them was obviously their leader. I’ve gotten divebombed three times already tonight, with the fly angrily buzzing in my hair. I swear it’s the same fly. He’s quite a worthy foe.

After a lot of spraying I think I have found peace. The mighty one has fallen. No more buzzing in my hair. Did I really get him? I think I did.

But, the night is not over yet. One thing that is for sure: I’m washing those dishes that were in the sink. And staying out of the light.
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We bought the Xiaomi fly swatter (looks like a fancy tennis racket), it draws the bugs in with a ultraviolet light, then hits them with a bolt of lightening Zeus himself would be proud of.

It's very satisfying.

Design Award Winner too
67.84RON 36% OFF|XIAOMI SOLOVE P1 Vertical Mosquito killer USB Rechargeable Handheld Electric Mosquito killer Super Long Battery Fly Swatter Home|Smart Remote Control| - AliExpress
 
caseydog said:
It won't work in the USA. AliExpress is part of Alibaba Group, a Chinese company that is banned from doing business in the USA.

CD
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I typed it manually in the search engine & it came up. I have one that's shaped like a tennis racket. The batterie went dead.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
View attachment 71406

Problem solved! Zoom in if you want to see how many flies have made a permanent residence of his decorative flytrap. The fly seem to love the light over the kitchen sink.
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WOW!!! Quite a few flies!! Yeah, the one that I have uses a black light to attract the insects. Then they fly to their death sentences. The jury has spoken & I'm the judge!!! They are sentenced to death!! Hah!! :wink:
 
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