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12 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2016 By Natalie Palmer A dark cloud hangs over the North Bench of Yucaipa and a storm is brewing between the chicken ranches and residents while city officials scramble to find a resolution. Flies by the thousands hover outside the homes north of Bryant Street, creating virtual curtains of the pests and limiting, if not completely eliminating, homeowners' outdoor time. They swarm residents' patios, stopping families from enjoying spring weather and even the simplest barbecue. And then there's the fly poop. It covers screens, fan blades, door knobs and everything else. One resident said the outdoor fans have to be cleaned frequently because the build up of dead flies in the motor renders it inoperable. Fly season in Yucaipa seems to be April through June when the fly gestation period heats up with the warming weather. Many of the flies come from the three chicken egg ranches in town, Hoover Ranch # 7 at 35870 Fir Street, Markowicz Inc. (formerly Eggmasters) at 10863 Fremont St., and Hidden Villa Ranch at 35999 Carter Street. The abundance of chicken feces in damp conditions (fresh manure + El Niño have made conditions nearly constantly wet) on the farms create the perfect breeding ground for flies. Lots of flies. A female fly is capable of laying up to 150 eggs at a time. Over a period of a few days, she will produce five or six batches of eggs. Female flies favor damp, dark surfaces such as compost, manure and other decomposing organic material for egg laying. Within a day, fly eggs hatch into larvae (aka maggots). Maggots feed from the egg-laying site for three to five days. During this time, they molt several times, then pupate. Within 21 days, an adult fly emerges, and they live 15 to 30 days depending on the weather. That translates to millions of flies in the North Bench. Worse, they feed on fecal material, and then bring those germs to everything they touch. The ranches have been in operation since the 1950s, and many say they add to the area's rural ambiance. But situated just down the street are high-end homes with meticulously landscaped yards. It's a strange juxtaposition of suburbia and farmland. "The flies have never been as bad as they are this year," said Jaime Lewis who lives on Plum View, literally a few hundred yards from the Hoover Ranch. They moved into their house in 2008 and didn't know about the nearby egg farms. One reason the flies are worse this year is that Hoover Ranch #7 was put back into operation in 2014, according to Greg Bogh, Yucaipa Councilman. And Hoover Ranch #7 isn't using technology like conveyor belts to clear waste. "Hoovers is an old egg ranch that uses coning and drying," said Bogh when asked how the Hoover Ranch addresses their waste management. With the coning and drying method, the feces is allowed to build Flies are just a symptom of a bigger problem

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