[Jacob-list] chickens, sheep, and flies (ugh)

[Thomas Simmons]

I have to admit that I am fortunate enough never to have experienced the "fly strike" that many of you have mentioned.   Do any of you happen to know if this a phenomonen related to a particular species of fly, or is it a general term that applies to all flies, gnats, etc?   Our current "fly" problem in my corner of New England is the Balck Fly, which is still about in abundance and driving both my sheep and I crazy (it's actually made some of the standoffish ewes friendlier as they run over to me to have their heads scratched!)

I run two dozen chickens, free range, over the same ground as the sheep, in the hope that they will keep parasites down.  Fortunately, they voluntarily retire to their own coop at night, so I have not had to deal with chicken poop on the sheep or in their food.  And having the large, polycerate beasts in the field seems to have discouraged hawk attacks on the chickens.  

thom
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