Elizabeth Doughman, editor, WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future: Hello and welcome to WATT Poultry Chat. I'm Elizabeth Doughman, the editor of WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future.
This Watt Poultry Chat is brought to you by Starbar Farm & Ranch. Work around livestock and on agricultural operations is hard enough without having to deal with irritating insects. That's why fly control starts with Starbar traps, baits and sprays. For over 40 years, the Starbar lineup has grown to feature additional products that can do more to fight biting flies, fire ants, mosquitoes and other parasitic pests that can affect your operation.
Joining us today is Chris Greene, national account manager for Starbar Farm & Ranch. Learn more at starbarproducts.com.
Thanks for joining us, Chris.
What are the steps to establishing a comprehensive IPM program for protecting poultry from insects?
Chris Greene, national account manager, Starbar Farm & Ranch: When you're looking at an IPM program – an integrated pest management program – you want to go and do a total evaluation of your operation, where flies live, where they rest and where they lay eggs. All of these are factors that we look at when we evaluate a poultry farm or any other farm, for that matter.
Taking a good look at and understanding where the fly habitat is is important when you're looking at evaluating IPM programs. It's fairly simple once you figure it out. You can learn to identify those areas pretty quickly.
At Starbar, we do offer that that evaluation. We're happy to come on farms and do evaluations with you and point out those areas that that might need some help.
Doughman: How can commercial poultry operations avoid having resistance issues when it comes to controlling flies?
Greene: That's something that comes up quite often. Typically, what we hear is this product is not working. That's not necessarily always the case. It's just it's built resistance. They may have overused that product for a long term and not rotated through different molecules. That's something that needs to be done a few times a year.
At Starbar, we offer four different baits – not just to sell product, but mostly to offer our customers options – and four different modes of actions – which is different ways to eradicate these flies so that they don't build resistance to it.
It's keeping track of how long you put these products out. And then once you notice your fly populations going up, you will want to look at another option and how long that'll be to rotate into something else.
Doughman: What are the best control methods for flies in smaller or hard to reach areas?
Greene: At Starbar, we have some newer products.
A product called Aviator that we just launched is great for smaller areas. It's an aerosol bait spray that you can use in entire quarters. Up high, you spray it on walls and ceilings. It goes on clear and doesn’t mess up the paint, but it does attract flies. Once they get to it, land on it and absorb it, they do die pretty much on the spot within a few seconds. So, we have products like that.
We also recommend using what we call our sticky traps, which are what you may think of as the old tape coming down off the ceiling. We do have that product. We also have things like our EZ trap, which are plastic, yellow, sticky traps that attract flies to them. Those don't have any scent or anything like that, they just have natural attractants for flies. Those can be disposed of once they're full and put new ones up. Those are good ways to control flies in smaller areas.
Doughman: Thank you so much for sharing these insights. For more information on the solutions discussed here today, visit Starbar Farm & Ranch at starbarproducts.com.
Thanks again, Chris, and thanks to you for tuning in.
