Nuisance provisions of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008: guidance

SECTION 7 - GOOD PRACTICE FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY UNITS

GOOD PRACTICE FLY MANAGEMENT GUIDANCE FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY UNITS

General Measures

1. Proper sanitation is the key to fly control. Deny flies access to food, shelter and a place to lay their eggs.

2. Do not allow flies to come in contact with contaminated substances and thus contaminate themselves.

3. Although management of adult flies can provide temporary relief, the location and elimination of development sites for immature stages is the best method for long-term control.

4. If flies do enter structures, eliminate them with traps or other suitable methods as quickly as possible.

5. Food and materials on which the house flies can lay their eggs should be removed, destroyed as a breeding medium, or isolated from the egglaying adult house fly.

6. Windows and doors can be proofed with fly screens of approximately 1.5 mm mesh.

7. Follow the good practice guidance for manure producers.

Process Control

8. Wet manure should be removed at least twice weekly if necessary to break the breeding cycle.

9. Wet straw should not pile up in or near buildings and, as one of the best fly breeding materials, it is not recommended as bedding

10. Spilled feed should not be allowed to accumulate, and should be cleaned up at least twice a week.

11. Dustbins, wheelie-bins, paladins and skips should have tight-fitting lids and be cleaned regularly. Dry and wet rubbish should be placed in plastic rubbish bags and sealed up. All waste receptacles should be located as far from building entrances as possible.

12. Electronic fly killers that can attract insects to an electrified grid by using an ultra-violet light source are not generally effective against houseflies. House flies are not particularly attracted to them and, although they may kill the occasional one, they cannot cope with large numbers. If they are used, one trap should be placed for every 30 feet of wall inside buildings, but not placed over or within five feet of food preparation areas. Recommended placement areas outdoors include near building entrances, in alleyways, beneath trees, and around animal sleeping areas and manure piles.

13. Fly traps may be useful in some house fly control programmes if enough traps are used, placed correctly, and used both indoors and outdoors. House flies are attracted to white surfaces and baits that give off odours. Lesser house flies are shyer of traps.

14. Integrated fly control programmes for poultry houses tend to be based on (i) selective application of insecticides against the adult; (ii) early introduction of insecticide control measures in early spring before house flies appear, repeated as needed throughout the warm months, and (iii) effective manure management - both in respect of removal from the poultry houses, transport, storage and spreading on land.

Chemical Control

15. Chemical treatment should be considered as a last resort, as it may only be treating the insects in the vicinity at the time of treatment and not the source, although most pesticides do have a residual effect and may work on particular species throughout their lifecycle.

16. For adult control, conventional knockdown or residual treatments will kill the majority of adult flies in spite of the development of high resistance levels in a number of housefly populations.

17. Residual insecticides applied to the house flies' favoured resting areas will control landing flies in some situations, although they should not generally be applied to breeding areas, as insecticide breakdown can be rapid and resistance may be encouraged.

18. In poultry houses, the use of mists, fogs or baits may be necessary for house fly control. Insecticides to control maggots should not be applied to manure, which should be kept dry and removed only during the winter.

19. When flies are a major pest in commercial egg production facilities, applying adulticides, or larvicides, to suppress adult densities directly or indirectly, can control them.

20. Residual wall sprays can be applied where the flies congregate. Resistance can develop more rapidly in house fly populations on farms on a continuous insecticide regime using a single chemical than on farms in which insecticides are alternated. Residual insecticides may be applied to favoured resting areas for house flies. Breeding areas should be avoided as spray targets as, where the insecticide breaks down in an area where eggs are developing, it may encourage increased resistance in the house fly population.

21. Outdoors, house fly control can include the use of chemical treatments in the bottom of skips, and treatment of vertical walls adjacent to skips and other breeding sites, with microencapsulated or wettable powder formulation, and the use of fly baits near adult feeding sources.

22. Indoors, house fly control can include automatic misters, fly paper, electrocuting and baited traps that can be used in milking parlours and other areas of low fly numbers.