WHY are there bluebottles all over my house?!

[CrapGoat]

Correction-I think they're 'Black' Bottles?

Large black flies like bluebottles but black.

I've not been home much over the last couple of days, was out all day xmas day and boxing day i got up late and went straight out and didn't notice anything then.

This morning I woke up to one in the bottle of water I keep at the side of my bed, came downstairs and several all over the place in my house, buzzing away merrily to themselves.

One just landed on my nose!

There's no food lying about, I don't eat meat anyway, dog's bowl is clean, I don't think I've accidentally left a dead body anywhere-It's the wrong time of year for flies isn't it?!

My dog's having great fun trying to catch them all so I suppose that's one thing...
Any ideas?! I am worried there are maggots somewhere and I am going to just get more and more of them?

Something dead in a wall?

Do you have blocked up fireplaces? We had this when a bird died and fell down the chimney into the blocked fireplace in our bedroom. Could equally be in a loft space. It will stop in a while if it’s this.

Could be Cluster Flies.

That is really unusual at this time of year if you are in the UK- my sister had a dead bird behind her fireplace- had fallen down the chimney (gas fire) and had an invasion- hundreds of the buggers swarming the house.

Dead mouse somewhere, probably a week or so ago.

Dead body nearby. Have you seen all the neighbours recently?

My friend had that. A rat had chewed through the pipe from her toilet. That had created a hole and there were maggots and then flies on the sewage.

Thanks all-I don't think they're cluster flies as they're definitely all black.
I guess it could be something has died somewhere in the realms of my house.. I don't have floorboards so nothing under there...

I've just found a bag of fish food that had somehow gone mouldy, Could it be that they'd laid eggs in that?! I'm frantically going all over the house trying to figure it out!

I've seen both my immediate neighbours today so nobody dead!

It's reminded me actually, when I was a child my Dad (who was and still is a prolific angler) dropped a whole bucket of maggots in our porch. My Mum went nuts! But he insisted he'd swept them all up and back into the bucket.

He hadn't. Some time later my Mum opened the porch door and a BLANKET of flies just buzzed into our house like a CARPET of them it was hilarious

But seriously they're unhygienic aren't they!? I am glad I never get rid of spiders, they'd better step up their game!

If there is something dead and decaying (as seems likely) can't you lead your dog around the house and see if he shows any interest in any particular spot? I would close all of your doors to seal off as many different rooms and corridors as possible and then try and clear each room of flies with a flyswatter (badminton rackets work quite well) and try and see in which room the flies start to reappear - you need to try and narrow it down. Obviously have a damn good look around and use your own nose to see if you can find anything. It's odd to be seeing large flies at this time of year: have you fell out with anyone - an ex, a neighbour who might have left something to rot as an malicious act of mischief? Has the dog bought anything in from the garden?

Cluster flies - are they lazy flies?

I live on a farm where they are rife. They come in through external pipes, up the sink, from extractor fan outlets, through sash window gaps.

The only month of the year I don't see a fly is January.

Yes, they are bloody unhygienic, and yes, they will land and lay eggs in fish food with no lid on. I have watched the fuckers land on a single crumb.

They drive me absolutely mental and I am like a crazy person with covering things, rinsing stuff immediately and closing bin lids. Seriously, I won't even turn my back on a knife with butter on it. But even we had maggots this summer.

Do you get flies in your house in the summer?

Cluster flies don't look black to the naked eye, but they are about half the size of blue bottles. Their favourite places to nest are the loft and inside window frames. Sudden warm spells confuse them and wake them up.

It's not unexpected to have them at this time of year now. We just had the hottest boxing day for decades or something.

A sudden swarm of bluebottles means they've recently hatched from maggots. Maggots will be on a dead thing or rotting meat I'm afraid.

Hopefully it was the fish food.
In the meantime if you’re still worried:

Check under the fridge/freezer.
Check under the kickboards in the kitchen.
Check the loft.
Or have you got a forgotten bag of carrots/parsnips/onions/potatoes somewhere?

Oh yes and check your bins and any children’s bedrooms, especially under their beds!

I've done that with the dog! She's just too interested in trying to catch them although I don't think she's succeeded yet!

Good idea about closing off rooms, I'll do that. I think It's odd too!

Can't think of anyone who is annoyed with me although there is an odd woman at the bottom of the road who goes through phases of making stories up about me, has at me in the street before and parking her car in a stupid angle so nobody can get past (old, narrow private road). She's then my best frined the following week. Maybe she'd have done something while I was out.

@KievLoverTwo that sounds so annoying!

Yes these are about the size of bluebottles! I don't want them laying eggs everywhere.

The fish food was in a plastic ziplock bag-the kind you feed to outdoor pond fish-no idea how it went mouldy at all! I only feed the fish every couple of weeks so hadn't notitced it.

I get the odd fly in summer as I think everyone does but not a huge problem with them.
I've emptied all the bins outside, emptied my kitchen compost bin but none of them were full or seemed to have maggots/anything smelly in them.

I'm checking everything! Was worried perhaps the dog had had an accident somwwhere but nope.
I don't eat meat, but I've checked the dog food, nothing untoward there, checked where I keep veg, nothing there...

Something’s died. We had this, and we didn’t find the source but the flies started reducing and eventually went pretty quickly.

It might also be worth asking your neighbours if they have had an issue with flies over the last few days - and see if any of them act shifty like they might have a concealed body hidden away 🙃

Was a dead bird up the chimney for us. We came back from a holiday to find the dining room full of hundreds of them. It was like something out of a horror movie.

Luckily the door was shut so they were trapped in the one room, but it was a fun few hours killing them all.

We covered the fireplace with some cardboard, and we could hear them flying into it for about 3 months afterwards until the bird decayed enough that they stopped.

Yep, that would be my thought as well. Can’t you smell it?

If you are at the bluebottle stage, at least the maggots have been and gone. So the corpse must be pretty much gone as well.

Does your dog have wet food, and does she wolf it all down at once then lick the bowl clean?

We had to supervise our cats eating their cat food and cover it the moment they walk away. It's a prime place for flies landing.

Have you been on your hands and knees and checked under kitchen cupboards?

I suggest a good hunt around in daylight, if you get no luck, tag me, and I will link you to the best fly stickers.

You won't notice maggots in a bin unless the bag splits or you empty it to look for them.

Do you have a Nespresso machine?

I can't smell anything dead (very distinctive smell isn't it).

I'm the first to admit I am not the most houseproud of people-I assumed I'd missed something like a gone-off onion or some such in the veg drawer but not found anything. Yes, that's true about maggots.

She does have wet food, but she eats that first and if she leaves anything it is just her biscuits, but yesterday I'd taken her with me to my parents and fed her there, and I'd washed her bowl the day before. Doesn't mean a bit couldn't have fallen out somewhere I suppose-that's the only 'meat' that's ever in this house.

Thanks again for everyone's help!

yes probably good idea to leave it soon and have another look in daylight. I am going to be annoyed in bed if there are flies buzzing around though!

Any livestock nearby? I grew up in a farm where cattle were kept and we had a lot of problems with flies...often like the ones you describe. A bit weird in December though I think.

Live on a farm. Two years running have had them in December, albeit in v small numbers.

Climate change, I guess.