Where are the flies coming from in the house?

bobbyss

There were three or four flies in a downstairs room so I sprayed and closed the door for a hour or so. When I went back there were about 30 dead ones on the floor. Where are they coming from? I notice a few flies around other rooms as well but not as many as in the one I sprayed.

What's going on?

ILikeBoats

Big flies? Little flies that look like fruit flies?

Fungal gnats can live in your pot plant soil, they're very annoying and tough to get rid of

bobbyss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121095958#Comment_121095958

Not sure what exactly a fruit fly is! (are they the almost invisible ones that come off bananas for example?)

The ones I'm talking about are the ones that when you a see new one it would be strongly buzzing around the place then after a few days in a room would become somewhat lethargic and slow to take off from a surface.

DownByTheGarden

Most of them in our house come out of the compost bin if we leave it in the kitchen a few days before throwing it in outside.

bobbyss

They are these typical ones. Do you call these fruit flies?

No sooner have I sprayed the room but they seems to replenish themselves.

Don't know where they are coming from They are not near any food bin.

fly.jpg

Yeah Right

Bluebottles. They come from maggots which are usually feasting on the corpse of some other dead animal. There might be a dead mouse or rat or something in the walls/under the floor.

bobbyss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096328#Comment_121096328

This is what I had a suspicion about. But you would expect a smell or something. There isn't. I think they are coming in from one of the corners in the floor. What can be done about this do you know?

Yeah Right

Either locate and remove the offending corpse, or block whatever way they're using to access to the room. You can try blocking the corners with tape etc., but it's pretty difficult to block everything. Better to try locate the body if you can. If it's only a mouse corpse then it mightn't smell too bad and will be gone soon.

Helium

Probably these. Went up to attic and hundreds appeared when light switched on. Weather last week must've got them out in force. Some found way downstairs attracted to lights.

Cluster flies are commonly found in quiet, undisturbed parts of your home, such as attics and wall voids. They require warm places to hibernate over winter.

You may see a large group of cluster flies around a window, as they are attracted to the light on sunny winter days.

Key Facts

• 6–10mm in length.
• Dark grey–olive thorax clothed with crinkled golden–brown hairs.
• Wings overlap when at rest.
• Sluggish in flight.

bobbyss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096352#Comment_121096352

Locating the corpse is not a runner I am afraid. I have the window wide open and I notice that some are flying straight out. But others are just on the pane of the other window. They can't seem to figure out that there is fresh air there if they want to escape into the great outdoors.

How long will they be around do you think?

denismc

I think you may have Cluster Flies, they look a lot like houseflies but are very sluggish and they usually die shortly after they appear.

We get these around this time of year, lots of dead or sluggish flies in certain parts of the house.

The strange life of cluster flies - deBugged (rentokil.co.uk)

runawaybishop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058313206/where-are-the-flies-coming-from-in-the-house

Cluster flies, they are looking for somewhere to hibernate for the winter. You can try and block their access but that's virtually impossible, you will need to use pesticide if you want them gone. They are harmless though, most attics will have them around now.

looksee

I agree with cluster flies. When you get them you really get a plague. They hibernate in cracks in your house and other small spaces, when they hatch they get into the house, usually in large numbers. The only consolation is that unlike blue bottles and house flies they do not tend to go onto food, they seem to be pretty harmless, but still, not very appealing.

When you see them you can spray the room and close the door on them, then sweep up later. They don't seem to be attracted to fly paper but they die in their hundreds in window-ledges.

We had a lot of them the last couple of years but hardly any this year, whether this is coincidence or down to the spraying I am not sure.

bobbyss

Thank you all very much.

However there seems to be a divergence of opinion about what they actually are. Bluebottles or cluster flies?

I can see four of them now down in the corner on the wall just waiting there. Strange behaviour.

Everlong1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096197#Comment_121096197

I had this problem once of twice. Where I live we have no room for wheelie bins so we use bags for refuse. They're not cheap so once or twice I've left the same bag for longer than a week to make sure it's full and I'm getting the value out of it. Once or twice I've had issues with flies breeding in the bag. Problem sorted when I get rid of the bag.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096401#Comment_121096401

aha - we had an infestation of flies around this time of the year in a place we were renting in 2012. couldn't find where the hell they were coming from. a friend had to move out of her apartment that year because it was so bad; likewise she had no idea how they got in. we never found out what they were, but the above makes sense.

Furze99

Hatching out of something dead as mentioned above. But I wouldn't be spraying too much of that stuff about. If it's no good to flies, then it's no good to you to be breathing in..

Denman1983

Definitely cluster flies, we get them every year, check window openings every day, they bed in anywhere quite, curtains or behind mirror, vanity case, etc and definitely the attic, I find the best method to rid them is the hoover, that are harmless, I think, but the sheer number of them can be a bit overwhelming

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096583#Comment_121096583

Bluebottles don't hang about in groups like that, they are bigger, blue/metallic looking and keep going looking for somewhere to lay eggs.

bobbyss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121096786#Comment_121096786

OK Thanks. I think bluebottles come from something dead. But there is nothing dead here and no smell of anything. So it seems then it's cluster flies. They all seem a little lethargic. Slow to move off from surfaces. Are these newly born as it were? Why are they hanging around? Slow to move?

looksee

That's just how they are.

denismc

If they are lethargic and just lying about they are cluster flies, bluebottles are lot more active.

ShadowSA

I would say all the flies are due to the hot weather and the slurry etc, well at least true for my area. Local dairy farm and stud farm right next door.

ShadowSA

Possibly even silage???

bobbyss

Just an update. Flies are gone.

I assumed they would at some stage or other but they went quite soon. In total I would say they were around for about five days or something like that. Maybe more.

I did turn on a diffuser with a mix of Teatree Oil and Citronella Oil but I am not sure if that had anything to do with it or if it had any effect at all.

It does leave me wondering about the life cycle of cluster flies. I have googled them and YouTubed them. But what amazes me more than anything is if they are newly hatched (?) how come they are so slow to be off.

Meanwhile back at the ranch at the other side of where I live I have a beehive in a crack in the wall. I had one of these over the front door a number of years ago and I got some one to remove it as they were just above your head as you came and went. This time I will simply wait until the cold sets in. They either die or move away I think. I am not sure. but we won't be seeing them after a few weeks. Maybe into October.