Pigeon flies

[Diamond Dave]

Here I am again asking you guys for some advice please.
I had a yb come back 2 days late from a chuck and yes, he had been hawked with all of his secondary feathers missing of one wing and the side of his breast cut and scraped clean of feathers. Looks like he was a lucky lad.
Anyway, he had one of those feckin orrible pigeon flies on him, so Im guessing he would have been sat among feralsbefore getting the strength and courage to strike for home. Anyway, this is the first time I have encountered one of these orrible feckin things and after finally catching it and squeezing it between my thumb and finger nail, i realised you cant kill the bastard things and it jumped over on to me - god, they are quick! Anyway, I managed to brush it off.
My questions are - how long can they live for off of a pigeon and how far can they travel off of a pigeon as this all happened in my garden and I am worried it will get to my loft about 12ft away.
Also, if it is still around, how do I get rid of it.
I could be wrong, but it appeared to be feeding off the birds wound....?
For me, I was straight in the shower - uugghh.

[NeilA]

Not sure on them mate I wish I could help
I spray my loft twice a week when I basket with normal fly spray in all the joints where eggs could be
Saturday I soak the loft in virkon and bleach
Every time I clean in the week I spray peppermint around the perches
But I don’t know if that would stop the fly you had as I’m unsure about it

[Andy]

I’m afraid I can’t help much. I have never heard of them before. I would just watch that there weren’t any eggs laid in the wound of the pigeon.

[king]

It will be a flat fly. They are very poor at actual flying. Only ever seen one on a bird once, and your right they are VERY quick. The good news is they breed one at a time so you won't be over run with them. If you spray both birds and loft that should be the end of it.
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/li ... on_fly.htm

[Diamond Dave]

Thanks guys, my birds are one spotted every 7 or 8weeks during racing and only just been done last week prior to being lost for 2 days. What is it that I should spray with that I can use on the birds and the loft. At the mo, I spray all horizontal surfaces with dettol once a week but somehow I dont think thats enough to kill these feckin horrible little bastard things.
Yes King it is like flat so I guess you are right.
I have treated the wound with 'gentian blue' which is what usually works for this kind of injury but not sure if it has any anti parasitic qualities.
Looks like im going to need to spend a couple of hours on the tinternet to find out a bit more about these truly horrible things. My worry is that I couldn t kill the bastard thing.

[king]

Thanks guys, my birds are one spotted every 7 or 8weeks during racing and only just been done last week prior to being lost for 2 days. What is it that I should spray with that I can use on the birds and the loft. At the mo, I spray all horizontal surfaces with dettol once a week but somehow I dont think thats enough to kill these feckin horrible little bastard things.
Yes King it is like flat so I guess you are right.
I have treated the wound with 'gentian blue' which is what usually works for this kind of injury but not sure if it has any anti parasitic qualities.
Looks like im going to need to spend a couple of hours on the tinternet to find out a bit more about these truly horrible things. My worry is that I couldn t kill the bastard thing.

There's a link in my reply that will tell you more Dave.

[MIL]

Thanks guys, my birds are one spotted every 7 or 8weeks during racing and only just been done last week prior to being lost for 2 days. What is it that I should spray with that I can use on the birds and the loft. At the mo, I spray all horizontal surfaces with dettol once a week but somehow I dont think thats enough to kill these feckin horrible little bastard things.
Yes King it is like flat so I guess you are right.
I have treated the wound with 'gentian blue' which is what usually works for this kind of injury but not sure if it has any anti parasitic qualities.
Looks like im going to need to spend a couple of hours on the tinternet to find out a bit more about these truly horrible things. My worry is that I couldn t kill the bastard thing.

Hi Dave

I've never encountered anything like what you've had

However, it might be worth considering the use of something like this

https://www.pjlofts.co.uk/product/pronafit-somke-bombs/

I know from personal experience that it'll only do your birds good

One tip - If you're gonna use this then I used to do it as the loft was getting dark - encourages them not to fly about

Oh, and make sure every vent that you can close is closed off - then re-open in the morning.

[Trev]

Sorry Dave, that's a new one on me, my first thought was fleas not flies !!
Hopefully the advice the others have given you will help mate.

[Devo1956]

The smoke bombs work very well Dave, I hope you get your problem sorted.

[Diamond Dave]

Thanks yet again everyone for your help, i'll keep a very vigilant eye on all my birds now.