Fly Spray Question

[NoahG]

Hey everyone,
I am looking for a new fly spray, and was hoping to find one that doesn't have poison in it. I'm personally concerned about the stuff I'm spraying on my minis, when it says right on the bottle to avoid contact with your skin. Any good brands out there that don't have all these chemicals in their spray (but also works, unlike the essential oil stuff I tried). The flies are just eating my minis alive, and the fly traps I've placed are already saturated with the little demons.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I don't know of any "natural" fly spray that works well. This is the time of year for flies. I spritz mine with the oil-base spray, kill the flies, then give them a good brushing.
I, personally, think fly traps draw flies. Tried them once many years ago with my poultry and the flies seemed to be worse. Keeping the horse area clean is the most natural way to deal with flies.
But rather than see mine devoured, I'll spritz them with oil based spray. Also, OFF works well; not sure how you feel about that ingredient.
A fly mask, for sure--my goodness, I hate seeing flies crawling on my horses' eyes!!
Hope you find something helpful.

 

[NoahG]

I don't know of any "natural" fly spray that works well. This is the time of year for flies. I spritz mine with the oil-base spray, kill the flies, then give them a good brushing.
I, personally, think fly traps draw flies. Tried them once many years ago with my poultry and the flies seemed to be worse. Keeping the horse area clean is the most natural way to deal with flies.
But rather than see mine devoured, I'll spritz them with oil based spray. Also, OFF works well; not sure how you feel about that ingredient.
A fly mask, for sure--my goodness, I hate seeing flies crawling on my horses' eyes!!
Hope you find something helpful.

Fly season has been awful. Thanks for the advice on traps. Yeah the fly masks have helped, but I feel terrible. My minis have gone over a month now without 'good' fly spray. I thought I could find a good alternative but so far haven't found anything that works well. Is there any evidence that the insecticide has any negative effects on horses?

 

[Capriole]

I'd like to know too. I have yet to find one that lasts more than an hour or so .... I found a recipe for one made with apple cider vinegar that surprisingly worked better than any I've bought ( not that that's saying much). It is 2 parts ACV to 1 part water and a 1 tablespoon of oil...you can also add a few drops of essential oils...but, I didn't have any that were recommended, so I just used the basic formula.
Poor Farah gets eaten alive...mostly on her forelegs...It seemed to work pretty good, but, I really saturated her hair...I tried not to use it more than once a day since I'm not sure if something that acidic would irritate her skin.
Stupid fly boots kept slipping down (even though they were supposed to be non collapsible), and started to rub...I'll be so glad when fly season is completely over.
I have found that rinsing them off frequently did seem to help a bit as well.

 

[chandab]

I tried a natural one years ago, that worked ok; it had a different name, but it's this company, so guessing this is an updated product. Ultrashield Green | Natural Fly Spray | Horse Fly Spray Big Dee's Horse Tack & Vet Supplies
Might be worth trying, may only last long enough to use it while working with them.

 

[Kelly]

I love the fly traps! I have learned to hang them outside my barn so I don’t attract flies into the inside of my barn. I had some hanging up from the beginning of summer that were way past their expiration date. The flies have been so bad here with the rain we got a few weeks ago. I finally got 4 new traps last week and they are almost completely full of flies! I am going to have to buy a few more soon.

I use bronco fly spray, it works ok and it’s cheap. I guess you get what you pay for

 

[HersheyMint]

I also use fly traps and hang at the opening of the barn. I've use natural fly spray and also made my own up. They just didn't last all day. First time trying Farnam Endure. No ill side effects. I also spray my manure after I put it in the trash barrel ( I clean 2x a day) with a fly killer.

 

[LostandFound]

I use the fly predators from spalding. And the fly traps. About one a week. And the large fly rolls. My mare is in at night and out during the day, so in the morning I roll one out on her stall floor and catch about a million flies. And a slightly watered down endure fly spray as needed. Only on legs and any area the gnats get...on her it's her tail and udder area. I have never found any natural spray that works. I'm pretty sensitive to chemicals and I've never had a reaction to the endure but I still hate using it. But I also hate my mare rubbing out her tail because of gnats, or falling on the farrier because she is so irritated by flies.

 

[Dragon Hill]

Perhaps you might like to try fly predators? They are supposed to work well and they are natural. But it does depend on what is around your property. If all your neighbors are producing flies close by, then they would come to find your horses, even though you aren't producing flies. As far as traps go, always remember they need to be around the perimeter of the area you want to protect and not right next to it. You don't want the bug to have to fly through the area you are protecting to get to the trap. This goes for any type of trap with attractant.

 

[rgsiiiya]

As others mentioned, consider getting fly predators. I use Spalding. Can take 2 years to have best impact. Then stay on schedule.

Traps should be away from the animals in general, although I do both.

I also use Spalding organic fly spray. They are the only organic spray that has had independent testing performed. I've had great success with it!


And if you can have free roaming chickens, they do an amazing job of killing flies! And ticks!

 

[MerMaeve]

I too like to avoid using chemicals on our horses, and also haven’t had great success with the natural fly sprays. I rotate between using the Espree (I think that’s the name?), Ultrashield Green, and the Absorbine Natural fly sprays. We also hang 4-5 sticky fly tapes in our barn, which in the middle of summer 3 weeks maybe? They get quite covered with flies. And I try to use fly masks daily. I have tried fly boot thingies but never got them out this summer, as I forgot about them!

 

[NoahG]

I'd like to know too. I have yet to find one that lasts more than an hour or so .... I found a recipe for one made with apple cider vinegar that surprisingly worked better than any I've bought ( not that that's saying much). It is 2 parts ACV to 1 part water and a 1 tablespoon of oil...you can also add a few drops of essential oils...but, I didn't have any that were recommended, so I just used the basic formula.
Poor Farah gets eaten alive...mostly on her forelegs...It seemed to work pretty good, but, I really saturated her hair...I tried not to use it more than once a day since I'm not sure if something that acidic would irritate her skin.
Stupid fly boots kept slipping down (even though they were supposed to be non collapsible), and started to rub...I'll be so glad when fly season is completely over.
I have found that rinsing them off frequently did seem to help a bit as well.

My baby girl Aggie is getting chewed up on her forelegs as well. Definitely going to rinse them off more often too. Thank you!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

My baby girl Aggie is getting chewed up on her forelegs as well. Definitely going to rinse them off more often too. Thank you!

That might be very effective. You might also try a spritz of OFF--use the kind you find in the sporting section, not the ordinary one.