DEER FLIES! - Page 1

Looking for a "NATURAL" or "HOMEMADE" solution/concoction to at least keep the Deer Flies at bay! If it kills them, more power to me. The deer flies are already as bad as the entire Summer last year. Might be able to last ten/fifteen mins outdoors. And they're starting to tear up the snouts on the poor babies!

I've researched them since last year and the websites from the two Universities have good info but not sure if I'm going to do the blue cups and Tanglefoot everyday for the Summer? Need something hopefully for a LARGE area or something for somewhat long term? Any suggestions would be appreciated. For the dogs just might have to screen in the kennels while they are kenneled. (It's funny, the females are the biters! And we can send a man to the moon but we can't figure out how to interrupt/alter/stop the breeding cycle of Deer Flies.) 

HI! I live on a farm and the back of the yard is the woods. But the deer flies are everywhere, not just in the woods, we are talking hundreds....maybe thousands? So hanging out, hanging out laundry, training and just the dogs out or out in the kennels and we are bombarded. Ten minutes or so and you say, "that's enough" and go indoors. And it's not even Summer yet! They are BAD already. I can screen some areas in but I want to be in the open. Some of the websites say sprays don't affect them. But I think the neighbor and I are going to look into something commercial and just put the dogs up for a couple of days?  

got this off the net.


In a clean, empty spray bottle, mix:

* 2 - 4 ounces of Avon Skin So Soft
* 1 cup of vinegar (either white or apple cider vinegar will work)
* 1 squirt of liquid Ivory dish soap
* Fill the bottle the rest of the way up with water

Shake well each time before applying it to your horse.

*If it's not strong enough, try using 4 ozs of Skin So Soft instead of 2 oz and use a little less water.

If you play around with it, you can make a safe fly spray for your horse that is better and safer for them than the store bought varieties and cheaper, too! 

My deepest sympathies for anyone battling flies- they make life just plain miserable.

I posted (well, more like whined) about repellents for black flies last year since they swarm the dogs in a cloud, leaving raw spots on the dogs' ears and muzzles in only a few minutes. I ended up buying Ultra Shield (and it worked).

The chemist in me can't resist gently reminding folks that just because a bottle is labelled "all natural" or "derived from plant sources" doesn't mean that the product is somehow "safe". (Recall that strychnine is derived from plants of the genus strychnos.) Just remember the Paracelsus Principle- the dose makes the poison. A good example of this is the horse trainer that was hospitalized after becoming sensitized to Butoxypolypropylene glycol (Pyranha fly spray) (see Toxnet - HSDB - search Butoxypolypropylene glycol - Human Toxicity Excerpts).

I hear you Laura. I figured many persons would be dealing with this problem? A few years back there was a weekly show, (not Victory Garden) but something like that. And the Gardener would take "things" from home and make concoctions for his gardens: say 7 up and liquid soap and blah blah blah, mix it and spray it. Right now the best option is to screen in the kennels, screen in a portion of a deck or porch or stay inside. My 18 month old son can't tell you he's getting bit either if he's running around in the yard. I'll still research. Thanks.