I've really enjoyed this mild winter weather and so have the flies. The Daffodils are getting ready to burst into bloom and the flies are already basking in the sunshine every chance they get. They are out looking for that first good high-protein meal that will enable them to begin their breeding activities.
When I was a youngster we kids were given flyswatters around Easter and encouraged to practice our fly-swatting skills since the pests spread disease. We also had no window screens and my Granny sprayed with DDT every couple of weeks.
Thankfully a lot has changed since then but it is a fact that the simplest and safest way to reduce the fly population each season is by swatting them as soon as you see them in late winter/early spring. Why??
Scientists have calculated that a pair of flies beginning reproduction in early spring, under optimal conditions and if all were to live, could multiply to 191,010,000,000,000,000,000 flies within a 5-month period of time. Holy Moly, how HUGE is that number?
I don’t even know how to say it or to understand it BUT it was once explained this way; “The fecundity [fertility] of house-flies is proverbial…. how many descendants one pair might have in a single summer if all survived. I… decided that a layer of such thickness [47 ft] would cover only an area the size of Germany [not the world]: but that is still a lot of flies.” – Harold Oldroyd, The Natural History of Flies
WHAT? An area the size of Germany & 47ft deep Good Grief!! Get out those fly swatters!
-Farmer Carol!
When I was a youngster we kids were given flyswatters around Easter and encouraged to practice our fly-swatting skills since the pests spread disease. We also had no window screens and my Granny sprayed with DDT every couple of weeks.
Thankfully a lot has changed since then but it is a fact that the simplest and safest way to reduce the fly population each season is by swatting them as soon as you see them in late winter/early spring. Why??
Scientists have calculated that a pair of flies beginning reproduction in early spring, under optimal conditions and if all were to live, could multiply to 191,010,000,000,000,000,000 flies within a 5-month period of time. Holy Moly, how HUGE is that number?
I don’t even know how to say it or to understand it BUT it was once explained this way; “The fecundity [fertility] of house-flies is proverbial…. how many descendants one pair might have in a single summer if all survived. I… decided that a layer of such thickness [47 ft] would cover only an area the size of Germany [not the world]: but that is still a lot of flies.” – Harold Oldroyd, The Natural History of Flies
WHAT? An area the size of Germany & 47ft deep Good Grief!! Get out those fly swatters!
-Farmer Carol!
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