County Acts to Control Fly Swarms at Chicken Ranches

New regulations to control fly concentrations at poultry ranches were approved Tuesday by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors voted 3-2, with Paul Eckert and Susan Golding dissenting, to establish a Fly Abatement and Appeals Board to enforce the regulations.

The board will have the power to issue “orders of abatement” if it finds that chicken droppings are being stored in a way that encourages fly breeding. Any rancher violating such an order will be subject to civil fines of up to $500 a day.

The regulations were drafted at the request of Supervisor George Bailey after several of his constituents complained that their yards and homes were infested with flies from an El Cajon egg ranch.

Poultry industry representatives argued that the regulations covering storage before removal would hurt the competitiveness of their industry while doing little or nothing to end the fly problem. Eckert agreed.

“If you want to eliminate the entire fly problem, you’re going to have to look beyond just the poultry ranches,” Eckert said. “You would have to close down all livestock agriculture in the county.”

With the addition of a “sunset clause” to the ordinance, the regulations will expire in two years unless they are proven to be effective. Golding voted against the regulations because she favored a one-year sunset clause.