House and Stable...Flies

By MaryKay Ruble

The common house fly, which is a non-biting fly, and the stable fly, both found world-wide, not only closely resemble one another, but are also in the same family. In the case of the stable fly, both the males and females bite and suck blood, and although it can spread diseases found in animals, it is not as capable of spreading human diseases. The house fly, despite the fact that it does not bite, is able to readily spread both human and animal diseases, and germs, which can be carried on their bodies, or regurgitated when they feed.

The stable fly lays its eggs in voids in moist hays, in warm, damp, fermenting grass or other yard clippings, manure, grains or other feed and even in clumps of seaweed that has washed ashore! House flies generally choose similar voids in manure or other decaying matter in which to lay their eggs. Thru studies, and simple mathematics, it was found that up to 12 generations of house fly will mature in one year!

Of the two, stable flies are very strong fliers and may fly up to several hundred miles from their breeding site in search of better conditions and feeding. House flies can easily travel up to two miles, in a sporadic manner with seemingly no destination or reason in mind. House flies will even leave ideal conditions to randomly strike out on their own, or in small groups of flies.

Given the distances that stable flies can travel, infestation cannot be controlled by individual barns or facilities. The control of house flies is equally bleak, as any control is simply a temporary fix. Aggressively eliminating the areas in which they feed and breed will offer only slightly more control. Biological control may offer a little more help, but requires nearly precise timing, and widespread use by many surrounding farms. Biological control also requires that some level of the flies’ breeding site be maintained so that the prey wasps will have fly eggs available in which to lay their own eggs, rendering that generation of flies incapacitated.

We may have to live with flies, but we don’t have to love them!