Okay, this might sound like a weird question...
Has anyone used them and thought they have more flies because of them?
When it started warming up, I bought about four fly traps (the ones with the yellow lid that your pour bait powder into, mix with water and put into the sun) and I put them around the back yard to do something about the loads of bush flies we have now (this is our first spring and summer in this property).
I don't believe they're houseflies (at least not all of them). Anyway, whatever precautions we can take against houseflies, we've done. Bins are washed regularly and the lids kept closed. We don't have a compost pile. We do have compost mixed in with our veggie beds and raised beds and the flies seem to love it, but I don't think there's a lot I can do about that.
We have a fairly small block with Colorbond fencing on three sides and the lack of wind and nice sunny shelter seems to keep them happy too.
We have about 78sq m of lawn in good condition. I don't know if that makes a difference too. I have a friend in the same neighborhood whose property is nothing but pavers and pool and she doesn't have anywhere near the fly problems we do.
Anyway, the traps keep getting more and more flies (yeah, ewwww). One is half full from about 4 days' worth. Now I know part of it is that bush fly season is here and their numbers will peak until the heat kills off the eggs in mid-January. But are the traps actually working against us by attracting more flies to our backyard?
Advise? Thoughts? What can we do to make the backyard more livable and less of a fly zone? It's not bad sitting under the pergola, but walk out onto the grass or into the sun and it's a nightmare.