Pesty House Flies - declaration of war

We asked ourselves, "where are all these flies coming from?" I have not thought much beyond that until today when a friend, clear out of the blue, said exactly the same thing. This is a bad year, caused by lots of water at just the right time, followed by a lengthy dry season. House Flies live for three weeks. That is a long time to have them tickling the hair on your arm! I have decided to do something about this around the house. I am not a person who avoids all pesticides, but I do not like to use them either. Flies like to find places where there is food (our food does just fine, thank you), and where the temperature is more comfortable. You guessed it. Air conditioning! Yes, they love temps about 80 degrees, right along with other household pests, such as mealworms and roaches and such.

So you have a few options. Put all exposed food in the freezer or fridge below 60 degrees, put the heater on in the house to live in 100+ degrees, freeze the home by keeping it below 60 degrees, or maybe use a pesticide and maybe clean up everything outside and put traps inside. Some people will say go totally with the traps. That is fine if that is what you want to do. Maybe you have guessed what I am going to do.

Stop chasing and swatting. If you insist on swatting, do to it music. It is a lot more fun that way. I had one of these bothersome creatures land on the tip of my nose. My kids got even with me and swatted it. Trust me, it is better to manage the situation a different way!

So pesticides are on their way to the porches (they hang out there waiting for you to open the door - cool air here I come), the pantry boards (waiting for an open package), on the windows (they hang out there looking for a crack to get in), around the lights outside (fools them - they think it is air conditioned).

I will spray around and inside the garbage can and the compost pile. Then put pout some fly traps in the house. I am trying not to change the bird feeding. My wife insists that the sugar in the hummingbird feeders is THE source of the problem. Sorry, I disagree. Never seen a fly on the feeders, not once. I want to minimize the impact to the environment but war is war and I have declared war!

I ran across some interesting websites but nothing that substantiates any reason for the this years number of houseflies. I did confirm my own knowledge before I wrote this, but don't know which sites had the pertinent information. Although a naturalist, I am not a fan of houseflies. They are just a human pest! Going to get the cannons and set up a fire line right now.