fly trap
As a farrier and a horsemen flies are one of the biggest problems of the year. Not only do they cause horses to act up but they cause countless injuries in horses and people. A client of mine made this fly trap, after lots of research he came up with this design that I saw work extremely well. I told him he needed to sell these fly traps but he just wanted anyone who wanted one could build one for themselves. I asked him permission to put the design up on my website and he said yes. So here we go!!! This fly trap is simple to build.
All you need is a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood, 4 post that are 2 inches by 2 inches and 40 inches long, 4 strips of wood 1 inch by 1/2 inch, 4 strips of wood 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch 32 1/4 inches long, 4 strips of wood 1/2 by 2 inches 32 1/4 inches long, some bug screen, black paint, string, an old milk jug, and some screws, nails, or staples to put it all together with.
Start with cutting the plywood into 4 pieces 16x32 inches. This size works the best smaller or larger you won't get as many flies. Next cut your 2x2 into 40 inchs. Assemble the plywood and the post as shown in the picture below.
There must be 24 inches from the bottom of the box to the ground. This is the height the flies fly at. next we work on the fly enterance. The fly enterance is just like a fish trap1 flis go in but they don't come out. Find the center of two paralle sides and mark it with a pencil all the way down the inside of the box. Measure down 2 inches from the top of the box on the center lines. Mark the 2inches. This is where you are going to place the trap enterance. Below are pictures of what the enterance needs to look like. You are just trying to make like a triangle. Use the 1 by 1/2 striping and secure bug screen around them. Start with the middle two stripes leaving a 1/4 inch gap for the flies to enter the trap. next stretch the bug screen out to the ends and secure with the other two 1 by 1/2 inch strips to create the triangle.
You can paint everything black of what you have built so far. The flies are attracted to the heat the black box gets from the sun. Must be painted black sorry no pink!!! You can also paint a used 1 gallon milk jug. The milk jug moves in the wind which also attracks the flies. You usually need both heat and motion to attract the flies. You would hang the milk jug down from the trap on a string. secure the string to the fly enterance as shown in the pictures below.
Finally you are ready to put the top on!! The top should be removable so you can clean the trap out. This trap is a one time build. You can store it for the winter maybe a yearly paint touch up and you can use year after year. Each year you will notice fewer and fewer flies. The top is made by just framing the 1/2 by 2 inch strips, 32 1/2 inchs long, to fit around the outside of your fly trap. After fitting the strips to fit the out side of the trap remove and secure bug screen to the top with the 1/2 inch strips. Pictures below.
Placement of the trap is important. Flies follow animal paths. You can place the trap around your pasture where the forage is low. That is were the flies would come from. You can make more than one trap as well to really trap a lot of flies. Have fun building and trapping flies.