Why Flies, Why? Buzz Off!

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If you get out early in the am it is not too bad and the sky is glorious and isnt that field beautiful?

The flies are upon us big time. I am not sure what else I can do to keep them off us and Remus. Our fly spray system is down in the barn (we are working on it but need to order parts). The regular flies themselves are bad but not that bad probably because of the fly predators. But the mayflies are drawing blood on Remus’s head. The horse flies are getting under his flysheet or on top and drawing blood. Two of the horse fly shits bit me this weekend on my back so I have two red angry welts on my back that are killing me. The fly predators of course do nothing for the onslaught of horse and mayflies.

 

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Friends brought big ladder to try to help us try to fix it.

Yesterday Remus got his mask off and when I brought him in in the afternoon to cool him off (Fly sheets are great and do help but he sweats so much under them when it is hot) he had blood running from his ears to his nose. Not a pretty look. Then he got annoyed with me for trying to clean him up.

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He looked a bit like this. Note: Remus is not a vampire. But horse flies are.

Any other suggestions? I have to keep the doors shut on the barn up front due to the heat of the sun coming in the afternoon and to keep the flies out at least a bit. The heat and intensity of the sun on the barn front in the afternoon is a bit crazy. He also has to have a fly sheet on to be outside except first thing in the morning (from like 530 am to 8 am or so). I am hosing the fly sheets off nightly so I can reuse them each day. I will need to wash them again soon (I have three I am using, surely I won’t end up having one a day for him like days of the week underpants? HA)

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Sunday afternoon about 4 pm. Yes that is off the charts.  Tennessee sun you are a mother…It was about 94 really. But that sun heats it up like no one’s business and the front of our house and front of our barn get it times 100! UGH

And this is just MAY! God knows what it will be like in July/August. I have fans in the barn but do not like to run them at night which means there is no help for the flies (And yes while better at night the flies still are there, last night I had a drag out fight with a bomber fly in Remus’s stall and I was not going back indoors till I killed the sucker).  I did and then stomped him for good measure. HA

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Me trying to catch that damn fly last night

I feel for Remus he has so many swellings on his body from these flies.  He wasn’t here in May last year so maybe this is normal but they say this is a warmer (and drier) May than usual.  I am going to get some shade cloth to hang from the barn doors so I can at least leave them open some. And I want to get some reflective window film for the windows on the barn (they had some on there and I didnt realize why they had it on there, now I know). The old stuff was peeling so I took it off.  I have ordered some of those Ranch Fly Traps to try. I am ready to sell my soul to a voodoo goddess to get some relief for us! HA!

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goofball horse getting ready to throw his halter and lead onto the ground.

And my horse is nuts. Still. He is pretty laid back on his own with no other horses but some things will set him off.  The other evening when I put him out in the front field our neighbor down the street was dragging some branches from her yard to the back. Remus. Lost. His. Shit. (He also looks like a space alien in the getup he has on!).

And then he lets me do stuff like this. SO maybe he is just slightly nuts?

 

How was everyone’s long weekend (those that had long weekends)? Hope everyone had a great weekend.

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And our air conditioner. Broke. Again. Yeah. My horse may be cooler than I am at this moment. SMH. The service people will be here tomorrow (Yes more than 36 hours from now! And this is the SIXTH time to our house since May 3rd) If you are counting that is 25 days. Last night me and two of the dogs went out in the living room and slept on the couch. I could not breathe in the bedroom. Fun times. Not.

Stay cool my friends.

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Remus’s happy place in front of the fan…

 

20 thoughts on “Why Flies, Why? Buzz Off!”

  2. We only have mosquito’s out right now, now weird flies for us ! Yet. Lol.

    I’ve seen some weird contraptions to get the horse flies on pinterest/facebook – might be worth building?

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  3. Ugh bugs are the worst! I’m interested to hear how the ranch fly traps work! Hopefully they do something! Poor Remus..!

    I like the idea of fly sheets, but I find the sweat attracts bugs and they just get under the sheet and drive the horses even more crazy. I put my guy out in one last summer and after 2 hours he came running up to the barn, whinnying like crazy. There was so much blood on the fly sheet that I thought he had cut himself. Nope, just GD vampire bugs!

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  5. UUGGHH. Poor all of you! It sounds like you’re doing everything you can and those suckers just, well, SUCK! Definitely interested to hear how the traps work for you. The only solution I have is to get a giant fucking fan or twelve and turn the barn into a giant wind tunnel lol.

    I’ve never heard of mayflies biting! Didn’t realize they had the mouth parts for it? Are they maybe deer flies (nasty bastards)?

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  6. Ugh. I hate bugs. Our 4 are going nuts from the damned black flies. I’ve had to order new fly sheets for everyone as only Levi ever used one before. None of the fly sprays do anything for those suckers. I have seen these huge screen sheets for sale that you hang across barn openings. I’ve never tried them, but maybe you could.

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  7. That sounds awful. Could you get one of those massive floor fans and put it in the barn aisle? That way all the flies are blown out of the barn so at least inside he gets relief?

    Any way you could attract more insect eating birds with specific bird boxes and maybe some bat boxes as well? I don’t know what is native to your area but with the pond I’d think you could bring in something. Nothing beats Mother Nature!

    I’ve had zero luck with feed throughs but maybe worth a try? I’ve heard garlic works. When we tried it in WI it just put Pete off his feed. Or recently I read apple cider vinegar in the water will keep the biting insects away. Can’t hurt to maybe try?

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    1. I have a big floor fan now but thinking about getting another. We just have a pond in front and a lake behind so we unfort have a lot of bugs. My mighty bug eating turtle (or one of them) was in the barn doing bug check last night! I was laughing so hard as I was cleaning the stall with the turtle in there with me 🙂

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  8. Ugh. Bugs and no A/C? Gross. Mostly battling mosquitoes in CT right now, but I did kill two ENORMOUS horse flies in Florida this weekend. Definitely different than the enormous ones we have in CT later in the summer.
    I really hope they get your A/C fixed asap, and for good this time.

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  9. That sounds awful. If we lost AC, I’d probably go stay at a hotel. We have a super power ag fan that I’ve hung from the top of Mae’s stall. It helps with the flies and air circulation a good amount. Of course that’s useless when she’s out in the paddock but it hasn’t gotten bad enough for her fly sheet to go on yet

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  10. I’m letting my post marinate a little bit before publishing, Bahahaha

    I have zero suggestions for flies, unfortunately, because they abound here in NC as well. I’ve gone through a gallon of fly spray in like 2 weeks. And Remus is NOT an idiot. How dare you. Branches are terrifying, doncha know?

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  11. BE STILL MY HEART! He looks amazing. As far as the heat on the bugs… UGH. That sounds awful. Have you tried those cattle ear tags? My barn puts attaches them to a lot of the horses tails and manes. These things:

    https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e079e2-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&sfb=1&itemguid=3269d96a-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&utm_content=16462&ccd=IFF003&CAWELAID=120295250000092358&CATARGETID=120295250000466182&cadevice=c&gclid=CjwKCAjw27jnBRBuEiwAdjQXDPp9f_NuvRVJaBiIGnDHA1_smHDAiIVKbHdssv4ZIx6Mqi2JhElILhoC3toQAvD_BwE

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