A quick and simple quantitative method to monitor house fly populations in caged layer houses

A simple quantitative method (moving sticky tape) to monitor house fly populations in commercial caged layer houses was described and compared with a standard monitoring (spot card) method routinely used in egg houses. Numbers of flies counted by the sticky tape method were highly correlated (.78, P = .005) with those obtained with the spot card method. The moving sticky tape method is quicker and easier to use than the spot card method. The moving sticky tape method has been used satisfactorily since 1985 by the authors and cooperating service managers of commercial caged layer houses to monitor house flies in integrated pest management programs. A fixed sticky tape method was also compared with the spot card method; there was no significant correlation between the numbers of flies counted by these two methods.