Bloody Blowflies

There are a few things in nature that can turn your stomach, and the blowfly is one of them! Even worse are their larvae – maggots, and nobody likes to see fly eggs on food!

Christmas 1955 was the year that Henry was gifted his microscope and the first thing he peered at was the leg of a blowfly, which he unceremoniously ripped off one that he has caught flying against the window. His mother had always said that blowflies carry germs and she was right!

Henry’s mum had a standard treatment for maggots and fly-blows and that was to pour boiling water over them! She called the flies ‘bluebottles’ and went to a lot of effort to keep them out of the house and away from food. Her lessons sunk in.

Out of the classroom and into the forest, Henry continued his training, and his first summer was spent at Hamner Forest.

‘Hang your jersey in a tree boy!’ Was the first instruction he was given. Woolen sweaters have that woolly smell, especially when damp, and so were a target for blowflies to lay their eggs on. Hanging the sweater in a tree, while the flies still lay their eggs, birds come along to peck them off. Left on the ground the eggs are not so accessible to the friendly birds.

As a member of a twelve-man team, Henry was required to take his week-about turn at being the camp cook! To keep eleven, make that twelve including the supervisor, hungry and discerning young men satisfied was a steep learning curve for Henry and that old unoriginal saying, ‘Who called the cook a bastard?’ followed by the retort, ‘Who called the bastard a cook?’ was more than once dragged up.

Cooking cabbage is like writing invitations to blowflies! They are attracted to the smell and Henry understood why his mother had insect screening installed on the outside door and the windows.

There were no such luxuries in the old, abandoned farm house. Cooking was done on a coal range, only no coal was provided so it became the role of the cook to collect and chopp firewood.

There was no fridge for the meat, but there was a fly-proof meat safe on the shady side of the house. Flies loaded with eggs tried hard to get into the safe when the door was opened and once Henry had to wash maggots off the sausages he was about to cook. Well there was no other meat available and anyway, nobody notice, and nobody took crook!

A shoulder of mutton had gone green in the heat of the summer, and Henry knew the boys would taste that it was off, so remembering what his mother had done, he rubbed pepper into the meat before roasting it. Again here were no complaints.

They had to make do.

Blowflies became Henry’s nemesis when he began farming sheep. Not so much adult sheep but lambs become flyblown especially when they get dirty bums. That’s hardly a farming phrase, they get ‘shitty’ is the term. Lambs are born in spring and spring is when grass flushes. Lush green grass will make sheep’s poo watery, and can be made worse by internal parasites. As the wool lengthens, poo collects on the wool and that is the site, especially on lambs, where the blowfly lays her eggs and the maggots quickly grow, seeking a diet of not poo but fresh, living meat!

The first sign is that the lamb will become itchy and the gnawing becomes irritating, so it will try to scratch and fidget in annoyance.

The next sign is the wool area the maggots are chewing on becomes blackened.

The remedy is to shear off the wool down to the skin on the affected area, removing the maggots in the process. Then spraying with an insecticide to kill any missed maggots or unhatched eggs. It is a dirty, stinking job but left untreated, the lamb will die.

Obviously prevention is the best option and that is drenching for internal parasites and ‘crutching’ - keeping the bum area clear of wool. Also a regular spray of insecticide, or dipping the whole animal is worthwhile.

There are no insect screens at Henry’s back door, instead he grows marigolds, which have a natural insect deterrent pyrethrum.

He also has a fly trap - Gordy’s Flytrap by name and it is very successful. Henry learned a couple of things. Using a dead rabbit as bait is effective, but it must be under water. The trap is a 20 litre bucket with Gordy’s trap on the lid. If maggots hatch in the trap, they release a pheromone to warn files that the area is being used, thus warding them off!

The rabbit is only the initial attractant, the dead flies’ bodies rot and stink attracting the funeral-goers. Not such a pleasant thing to sit by your back door or barbecue area but!

Henry happily embraces Mother Nature, but like most, he detests all things to do with the bloody blowfly!