Barn/Stall Ventilation

   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #2  
Nothing will keep the flies from bothering the horses. (they do give the horses exercise chasing them around - LOL)
I pretty much tried everything over the last 35 years with very little or no success.
From sprayers, timed misters, horse covers, hoods, special feeds, different feed, spotless stalls, moving manure to other part of pasture, etc....
Lucky it's only a few months out of they year when they are really bad..... nats are the worse.
But, good luck....
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #3  
We use a good fly spray on the horses.

B-Free of Flies.
B-Free of Flies.jpg
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #4  
We do not have much of a fly problem at our barn. We have had up to 10 horses on our nine acres. Cows are across the street some of the year. Horses are outside most of the time. My wife does some fly spray on the horses sometimes. No fans in our barn. We do have good natural ventilation. The stalls are kept clean. Manure pile is less than 50 feet from one end of the barn. Maybe the birds keep the flies in check. Not sure why we do not have that many flies.
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #5  
You need good ventilation for your stall barn but it won't do anything for the flies.
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #6  
We are going to build a two stall barn/shed. We want to use a fan to keep the flies from bothering the horses.

Would an attic fan work?
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Attic or gable fans won't be of much help for flies, as the air circulation would be too indirect. A basic 20" box fan attached to the stall door bars or window bars with heavy bungee cord or similar, blowing into the stall on medium (or high if necessary), will give the horse the option of standing in front of it. The direct air flow is somewhat of a deterrent to flies, plus gives relief from heat. Not a complete substitute for fly spray, tho.

If you use box fans, make sure they're in good condition, with their own in-line fusing. And keep the dust blown out of them. There have been nasty barn fires caused by fans.
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Attic or gable fans won't be of much help for flies, as the air circulation would be too indirect. A basic 20" box fan attached to the stall door bars or window bars with heavy bungee cord or similar, blowing into the stall on medium (or high if necessary), will give the horse the option of standing in front of it. The direct air flow is somewhat of a deterrent to flies, plus gives relief from heat. Not a complete substitute for fly spray, tho.

If you use box fans, make sure they're in good condition, with their own in-line fusing. And keep the dust blown out of them. There have been nasty barn fires caused by fans.

That's kind of what I thinking that the air movement would not be enough to keep the flies off them. A friend uses box fans I was looking for a better solotion, but oh well.
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #9  
We have an enclosed barn with an open double stall. The 2 horses go in and out as they choose. We get bugs on the inside of the windows, but the horses are not bothered. The barn holds the coolness of the evening into the day. The windows are all closed. There is plenty of soffit ventilation and a cupola to draw the air up.
We have a 5' door that is open year round. The horses will leave the barn for their manure droppings, but will always stay in to urinate. There is one wet spot that we are always tackling.
I noticed that when the spot was dead dry, new shavings for a week - we got flies, mosquitoes, black flies. If the horses got ahead of us - there were no more flies, mosquitoes. The answer is horse urine keeps the flies away. You have to balance it between the horses comfort and having a clean good smelling barn. When they are in the barn- they are not bothered by flies. They step outside and the bugs are back.
Good luck.
 
   / Barn/Stall Ventilation #10  
When the horses are out in the pasture, I use a propane fogger to control mosquitoes and flies in the barn. At dusk, I put the horses in their stalls and fog their pastures. Put them back out after about an hour. No flies, horse flies, mosquitoes or barn swallows. The swallows don't find any food so they move on.

Home Depot has the propane fogger and the fogging juice.
 
 
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