ahhh maggotsssss!

[donefornow]

We have what can only be described as a maggot infestation in our wheelie bin. Ds has dirty nappies still and with this heat our outside bin is literally wriggling with them. I have no idea what to do. Bins get emptied in 3 days, will they even take it?
They are crawling out and dropping off the sides it's the most hideous thing ever. What do I do?

I once had a cleaning job for a very posh man. He went on holiday for a fortnight and asked me to clean before he came back. I cleaned everywhere and when I'd finished the kitchen I thought I'd better check the fridge freezer which had been left closed so couldn't air out. Fridge was fine, empty, no mildew or anything...

...Opened the freezer section door and found A WHOLE UNCOOKED CHICKEN DECOMPOSING AND ALIVE WITH MAGGOTS!! So: were the fly eggs on the chicken when it was purchased and put in the freezer OR did flies manage to get in the door seal and do their business?

WRT the lifecycle of the blowfly, the eggs are laid on the food then apparently it takes 7 days for them to hatch and the maggots to become visible eg 5mm long and wriggly. I hope this is less time than my food caddy sits on the worktop with its yummy (to them) biodegradable bag. Then the big white wriggly maggot forms a chrysalis (which is mid-brown) after a few days and then ta-da - the fully grown fly hatches out.

Was the freezer switched off?

Oh yes, sorry, I meant switched off and doors left closed! Doh!!

We get this too, though not as bad. I double bag potentially fly-attracting waste. I think it helps that our waste is still collected weekly, which going by the replies here seems very rare! We don't have wheelie bins either, which is probably why we have a weekly collection. We just put our bin bags out once a week.

We did once have a maggot infestation in my garage and my poor partner was so traumatised after the clean-up that he drove though a red light!

I have noticed that flies lay eggs NEAR the bag handles. The maggots are small enough to crawl through the tiniest gap. If we get any maggots we pour boiling water over the bag and they just wash off.

I know we are very lucky to have a weekly collection. Without wheelie bins, I can't see how a fortnightly collection would work.

We had this in our outside food caddy. I put a few drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle with water and sprayed the inside of the caddy and this seemed to sort them out. We now line the caddy with paper and double bag.

I hate the things..we have fortnightly collections of landfill and try not to put any food waste in there and wash any no recyclable food storage stuff (like the polystrene trays) and still the feckers have made it through. We have our bin cleaned and a new bag in and they lay eggs round the bag at the top

We pour boiling water over them but they seem to give off a horrid smell as they are boiled. Last year someone usually DS was leaving the lid on the food waste bin open and it must of got fly blown...I realised this when I opened the outside food waste bin and there looked like a little maggot volcano. I used to freeze the waste but this one hadnt been done as it wasnt too hot at the time

I have gone back to freezing, but also done away with the kitchen caddy, I now have a clip lock box with biodegradble liner in the fridge and waste gets put straight into there and then put the whole box in the freezer, so nothing ever smells. We also have a beer fridge with a freezer box and I now do the same with the cat food.. Cat doesn't eat all her food and wont eat it cold so sometimes theres some left over..

We've had a bit of a problem, too, after I disposed of some off meat, forgetting that there would be over a week before the bin would be collected - I should have bagged it and frozen it for the week. The problem's not as bad as yours, fortunately. We also have a child still in nappies, which does not help and, even though DH pressure washed it, the flies are back, this time.

We've not seen any maggots this time, though, so crossing fingers that it last the next few days. Might steam clean it if there's more maggots.

If it's any consolation, the birds and hedgehogs love them.

When ours were in nappies we always emptied the poo into the toilet before chucking the nappy out, partly because of the fortnight it could sit around steeping until it was collected.

I think most nappy brands say on the packet that you aren't actually supposed to put the poo into the bin!

Ds still has sloppy baby poo that would be pretty hard to empty into a toilet (sorry for graphic details)
Have sprayed it all with insect killer and left Salt round the top (apparently they don't like salt) to try and stop them crawling out all over the place. Fingers crossed it helps!