They typically do this in the walls and attics of our houses.
Attic flies in house in winter.
Flies are an expected nuisance in the spring and summer but some homeowners will find themselves in the midst of an infestation in cold winter months.
And the easiest entrance is usually through external gaps leading to your attic.
Thus the common name they have of attic flies.
Most commonly they move from the ground to your attic for the winter when it gets cold.
Overwintering insects generally stay in secluded areas until the warming and lengthening days of spring pull them from hiding.
Attic flies are especially abundant this spring.
They breed in soil and host on earthworms during.
Preventing attic flies is a job for the summer and fall.
Cluster flies prefer warm areas so homeowners often find them flying around houses on sunny days in the winter and late fall months.
You can recognise cluster flies because they are larger than house flies and often appear to be slightly yellow or golden because of their tiny hairs.
The adult flies are attracted to the sunny side of homes in the fall looking for ways to get inside before winter.
Don t worry cluster flies do not breed indoors.
Seeking shelter from the frost and wind they come indoors and settle down for the winter.
The larvae develop into cocoons before hatching into adult flies.
Entry entering living spaces by way of electrical outlets or baseboards the pests take shelter in attics and walls to hibernate awaiting the arrival of warmer spring weather.
Last summer s abundant rainfall was favorable for development of cluster flies.
Unfortunately this annoyance will persist through the spring cluster flies are named for their habit of clustering in large numbers on outside walls in.
In the late fall and early winter the newly developed cluster flies look for places to spend the winter out of the cold and damp.
Naturally your house is warmer.
Cluster flies cluster.
The result has been a greater than normal abundance of these large black pesky flies in houses this winter.
So how can you get rid of cluster flies in the house.
As much as possible seal cracks and openings around the outside of the house especially under the eaves as you would for energy conservation.
Insecticides can be used on the outside of the house in mid september if you have a persistent problem with attic flies.
These eggs hatch throughout the winter and the little flies have nowhere to go but the home.
By instinct they seek shelter away from the elements such as in the fall when it gets cold.
Some species of flies such as face and cluster flies lay eggs in the cracks and crevasses of a home.
