Biting flies - help!

The flies are driving me crazy - and they really sting - one even drew blood today, which I have never heard of! I think I'd rather be stung by a bee than these nasty flies. They don't seem to come out until afternoon - or maybe they just aren't biting until afternoon?

They bug me whether I've been out working and sweating all day or whether I've just taken a shower, so it doesn't seem to be a matter of sweat attracting them. I don't wear perfume or scented clothes softeners, so it can't be that.

I have tried spraying myself with Off, but the dang stuff wasn't even dry before they were biting again!

Will anything repel them? Is there an effective way to attract them (and hopefully kill them!) somewhere else rather than where I am?

Dang things have me really whiny, today....

;)

Thanks in advance!
Elizabeth

I've heard of putting water in a clear bag, tying shut and hanging around where you don't want them. I've never tried this personally, but it might work. Supposed to keep regular flies at bay.

My in-laws live in FW and I was so surprised to see bags of water hanging all around their back door. They said it seemed to work. :)

Horse, deer and common stable flies bite and it's only the females that bite. They are attracted by the carbon dioxide exhaled by mammals. They sure give females abad name. The following quote came a Purdue publication:

Some people swear by the bag of water thing, some even put a dead fly in the water. Usually just used around outer doors or for decks and porches. But something tells me it probably wouldn't work with the biting flies. I hate those. Thank goodness we don't usually have them around my place!

I use the Rescue Fly Control Trap available online and in HD. It has an attractant that will draw flies into it and then they can't get out. They are a bit on the pricey side but really work well. They do smell as they fill up with flies, but I put it along the fence behind our shop. I hate flies and as soon as I throw one away and don't replace it with a new one, I know it!
One other thing, if you have pets, keep their poop picked up because it draws them more than anything.

Wow, great information bettydee - and I will look for those traps tonight, Sheila - thank you!

I think the bags of water could be made to look really pretty - that way, you wouldn't care if they worked or not.

I wonder if the larvae from these things came into my yard with these bales of hay that I bought to grow stuff in? Did I infect my own yard?

But, that couldn't be it - we had these flies last summer, too. Maybe there are horsebarns nearby - we live pretty close to a neighborhood with horse trails and pastures on each lot, so who knows. :)

Thanks so much for the info - think I'll make some long-sleeved linene shirts and skirts to garden in.

I have hung the collector bags and fly-strips - both get a lot, but still more are there.

Several families of mocking birds are well fed, I'm sure. Normally they help me with bugs in the garden, but not much there with this heat this summer.

I was wondering if a bug-zapper would help - we gave one away many years ago.

The only problem with the bug zapper is that it gets the moths, bees, etc. also.

I think bug-zappers seem to work because they attract bugs from farther away than they would normally venture and they cause a higher concentration of bugs near them. So, when you see millions of the little buggers on the ground under the zapper, you think it's really doing a good job, when more probably, most of them would not have even been in your yard at all if it weren't for the zapper. :)

Threw away a Rescue bag this morning with 2 1/2" deep of dead flies!! Gross I know, but they didn't live to lay eggs!
Need to get out there and put up another while I am thinking about it.

Okay, that's it. Those things are going on my shopping list for Lowe's, tonight.

Hang them in the sun away from the house.