Flies EVERYWHERE in kitchen, HELP!

Olympika

My parent's kitchen has been taken over by a million flies - not big buzzy blue bottles, more like large-ish fruit flies, they don't buzz but there are literally thirty or so at any one time. I am assuming they are coming in from somewhere, do you get 'nests' of flies??? - there are way too many just to fly in randomly through window. There is no food out, and I am trying to keep things super clean but they're just gros. They sit on all the surfaces, kettle, hob, on cupboards, floor everywhere. We have some fly paper, which seems to help a LITTLE but we have pets so fly spray is pretty much out (plus it's so disgusting). Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks so much in advance. :beer:

amcluesent

>do you get 'nests' of flies?<

Nope, more likely that a hatch of maggots have all turned into flies; must have come from some source - dead rodent under a cupboard etc.

Olympika

amcluesent wrote: »

>do you get 'nests' of flies?<

Nope, more likely that a hatch of maggots have all turned into flies; must have come from some source - dead rodent under a cupboard etc.

That's what I was afraid of... :eek::eek:

TBeckett100

fred west always had this problem, he bought a job lot of fly eating plants

Inactive

Possibly a wheelie bin near an open window with food in, causing maggots???

Suzy_M

If they are fruit flies -

Any fruit or veg in the kitchen over-ripe? - Or anything fallen behind a veg rack?

Any houseplants standing in water - or cuttings in stagnant water? - These attract the flies.

Are your parents downwind of any agricultural land? - The field near us was harvested last week and clouds of flies and dust were everywhere. (Luckily we've lived here long enough to recognise the sound of a combine harvester in the distance and close all the windows and doors before they get near us.)

belfastgirl23

Old potatos are where I usually find this sort of thing coming from

ukbill69

Get a uv light fly killer from ebay for about £10 and !!!! all windows and doors and leave for it to kill all of them. Worked when I had a load of them in the loft.

TimBuckTeeth

Do you live near Porthcawl in South Wales? I saw this on BBC news website :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7550226.stm

Or are they possibly flying ants? If so then they should be disappear after about a week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7525028.stm

Peartree

Are they definitely 'flies'? I only ask because I've twice had swarming ants in my dining room and they look very 'fly-like' - as TimBuckTeeth says - and very like you describe. Have your parents seen any ants in the kitchen earlier in the year - they can squeeze in through the tiniest space? The swarming ones with wings come along later in the year.

I have a lot of ants on the patio and they seem to be getting in through the air bricks. Take a good look around all the outside walls and see if you can see any little gangs of them around. If so, you can get a spray which will form a sort of 'barrier' and keep the little beggars out.

I managed to get rid of the swarming ones with normal fly spray when they swarmed - for some reason they all congregated in the same place around the curtain pole - and always keep on top of the areas outside where I think they are getting in with the ant spray.

Olympika

Thanks SO MUCH everyone!!

Peartree I think there might be something in the ants theory... they have had problems with ants before so will investigate that.

In fact things have improved markedly over the last 2 days. There are virtually none now which makes me wonder whether they are indeed ants, OR if it was to do with harvesting as Suzy M suggested - they live right next to farmland (on 3 sides!) so that would also make sense. I had a good nose around the cupboards / worktops for old fruit and veg etc, as that's what I thought too, but it all looks ok (apart from one manky bag of spuds which are now in the dustbin!)