Flies seem to be everywhere this time of year. Some people prefer to use homemade fly traps. What if you want to simply repel flies instead of trapping them after they’ve already become a nuisance?
I was out at a local farm just yesterday and the flies were very noticeable and quite annoying as I went about my work. Seeing all those flies reminded me of a simple, non-toxic, and very effective fly repellent that I observed in action at one of my children’s field trips a couple of months ago.
The class was visiting a petting farm with a large open barn where donkeys, horses, goats, and other livestock were available for the children to observe and interact with.
Despite so many animals in a small semi-enclosed area, there were no flies buzzing around! Curious, I asked the owner about this, and he pointed to the heavy-duty plastic bags partially filled with water hanging over every stall.
He explained that a clear bag of water with a penny at the bottom would repel the flies very effectively. He went on to explain that the “eye” of a fly is actually hundreds of eyes and the reflection of light on the bag of water keeps them away.
“Why the penny at the bottom of the bag?”, I asked.
Grandpa the farmer answered that he wasn’t exactly sure but the penny did seem to increase the effectiveness of the hanging bag of water alone. He added that he didn’t know how many square feet each bag covered so he just put a bag over every animal stall to keep as many flies away as possible.
He also had put up a few bags over the picnic area and it was so nice to be able to eat lunch without flies swarming everywhere!
Note that the clearer the water, the more effective this trick is. If you use rusty well water, it won’t work as effectively as ultra clean and clear filtered water.
Try this fly repellant method for yourself! If you do, please check back and let us know how it worked for you!
Fly Repellent Only Works for Flies
Please note that this fly repellent trick only works for flies, not mosquitoes, and other insects. It also works very well for flies in the Southern United States. However, it may not work as well for flies from other geographical areas such as blowflies in Australia.
If you need to repel other insects like mosquitoes, ticks, or horse flies, this article on natural herbal insect repellent can help.
More Natural Pest Control  Ideas
Removing Ticks Safely (plus prevention ideas)
Nontoxic Pest Control Ideas that Work
Natural Fire Ant Killer that Works FAST
Effective Bed Bug Removal Techniques
Natural Flea Infestation and Prevention Strategies
Attracting and Using Ladybugs for Garden Pest Control
Safely Get Rid of Carpenter Ants in a Snap
Spider Repellent Guaranteed to Work
Mosquito Bite Remedy
NO GO in TEXAS
There is a great new product called ShooAway that just became available in the US…it is a device that has soft rotating blades with holographic dots on them that refract light that flies do not like and they will stay away from your food. It really works!
Amazing, I was being eaton alive, looked through Internet and foud this. I have four dogs so you can imagine the amount of flies, my daughter and wife laghed at me but in less than 15 minutes amazed as I of the lack of flies. Thank you!
Did not work at all. Still tons of flies.
It works in Los Angeles county 🙂 I put a baggie of water (one penny in it) inside of another baggie in case of leakage. No flies, no leakage, no moldy water….
I have a ziplock with 3 for 4 pennies hanging in my yard as we speak….. doesn’t work!!!!!
Is it a sunny day?
I skip the bag and have scattered a dozen or so pennies around my backyard and inside storage units. I did it to keep mud daubers away – it seems to have worked for several years now. It’s damp in my yard and they plagued me for years – no longer. I see them occasionally but they don’t set up housekeeping. I am not bothered by flies now that it is mentioned but they are still around because they will come into the house. I’ll try a few pennies at the door. 🙂
If it has to do with reflection, I wonder if hanging a few old CD’s might work better. Larger surface area than a bag of water and crazy shiny.
Did the CD thing work out for u Laura?
Yes, interested to know!
Just tried this and amazingly it does seem to work a bit, but not perfectly. The penny is almost certainly to release copper ions to prevent stagnation.
I enjoy the use of Samurai Insect Trapper, built well and very nice and would recomend this to anybody….I would buy it again
Sandwich size work well…use 3 pennies
What about the snack size bags? Would you use any two pennies or an older, (43-45% copper), penny and one of the newer copper plated pennies? I suppose one would have to do some true volume studies to see how much H2O each bag effectively holds and then further evaluate the rate of copper ion release ratio to water.