bacterial action (Beard and Sands, 1973)- Since house fly larvae pre- 

 fer a moisture level between 60 and 75% (Miller et al., 197*0 and a ph 

 of between 7 and 8 (Erofeeva, 1 967) , keeping manure dry and thereby 

 stabilizing the manure habitat is one of the most important goals in 

 fly control (Hartman, 1953; Legner et al., 1975; Wilson and Card, 1956). 

 If moisture levels in manure exceed 80%, manure becomes anaerobic 

 (Miller et al., 197**), rendering it unsuitable for house fly develop- 

 ment (Beard and Sands, 1973). 



Some authors have advocated frequent manure removal, i.e. every 5 

 days, to achieve good fly control (Wilson and Card, 1956). Others found 

 that monthly or bi-weekly manure removal favored fly populations (Peck 

 and Anderson, 1970). Abstention from manure removal has allowed popu- 

 lations of predators of dipteran larvae to increase (Peck and Anderson, 

 1969; Peck, 1969). Axtel 1 (1970) attained good fly control by removing 

 manure early in the fly season and then using residual sprays to keep 

 adults in check. Loomis et al. (1975) recommended infrequent manure 

 removal where drying was enhanced by frequent mechanical stirring. Al- 

 though mechanical stirring does not succeed in drying manure in all 

 situations (McKeen and Rooney, 1976), mechanical stirring, or rotova- 

 tion, has proven to be a successful method for controlling flies on 

 poultry farms in the Tampa Bay area of Florida (Hinton. 1977). If 

 manure must be removed from poultry houses, a dry base 12.7 to 15. 2 cm 

 deep should be left to help dry out fresh droppings (Hartman, 1953), 

 and re-establish house fly predators (Peck and Anderson, ! 370 ) - 



Other management practices that a poultry farm operator can use to 

 implement a manure management program arc: to prevent water from reaching 



