How Can I Get Rid Of Roaches?

[featherbaby]

I have an infestation of german roaches in the coops. They nest behind the highest boards where neither I nor the chickens can reach them. At night they come out by the hundreds, but the silkies have all bedded down for the night and they won't go chase and eat them. They'll eat them in the daytime if they can catch them, but most don't come out in the daylight. I have sevin dust in the coops but that doesn't faze them.

What can I use to kill the roaches that won't harm the silkies?

If the roaches eat poison, will it make the chickens sick if they eat them?

I don't know what to do and am at wit's end. They're coming into my house now too, around the sliding glass door and baseboards on the outside wall nearest the coops. I can't use any aerosol spray because of my birds delicate respiratory systems (I have finches, eclectus and 3 cockatoos indoors. The silkie chickens are outdoors in coops on my deck.)

The pest control company said they have a gel they use for bait all over the house. It makes the roaches eat each other (YEA!) Does anyone know what this chemical is and does it put my parrots or chickens at risk? The pest control folks don't know 'diddly-squat' about birds and what might harm them.

Can anyone help me with a 'safe' treatment for these invaders?

Sandi
Featherbaby

 

[Judy]

I've had good success with boric acid ("Roach Prufe"), but haven't used it around chickens. Works great in hidden places in the house. Maybe you could get it behind the boards. Comes in a powder form in a bottle with a tiny tip so you "squirt" the powder out, at the Ace here.

 

[fargosmom]

I wouldn't trust anything that makes them eat each other - that's just too creepy! But sticky traps would probably help - and DE might too. Good luck - roaches are disgusting.

 

[Gullygarden]

Since roaches are their very favorite treat ( mine prefer a roach over leftover waffles any day) I hope you won't poison. Try leaving a bowl of fruit juice out where they go and maybe you can drown a bunch. I've done that. Then you pour them out on the ground for the chickens and they love it! Another thing to do is go out at night with a small vacuum cleaner and a head lamp.You can acclimate the chickens first by using it in the daytime a few times so the noise is not new to them. The head lamp won't scare t he roaches the way turning on a light would, and you can get most of them. I have not vacuumed in a coop, but I did get rid of an infestation on my porch that way, without any poison. It did take several sessions and then a couple more after the eggs hatched, but they are definitely under control now.

 

[Chris09]

Clean the coop completely and spray all wood surface's with a mixture of Pine Sol and Eucalyptus Oil then set Out a Mixture of Baking Soda and Sugar you can also set out Boric Acid.

Do what you can to get them out of your coop if you don't they will fid there way to and in your house.


Chris

 

[Oregon Blues]

You buy a tube of stuff called Combat Gel. It interferes with the chitin of the roaches and kills them that way. Since chickens don't have Chitin, they aren't affected by it.

Place the gel where the chickens can't eat it. Behind drawers in the house and under the stove and under the kitchen sink. In your coop, squeeze it into the cracks where the roaches are hiding.

Do not put out other poison. If you poison the roaches, they will stop eating and they must eat the Combat Gel in order for it to kill them.

 

[featherbaby]

Quote:
Thanks for the tips. I've never heard of baking soda and sugar. How does it kill them? what if the chickens eat it?

Unfortunately the little demons are already vacationing in my house and I'm having a horrible time trying to get rid of them. Since I have exotic Cockatoos I can't allow pest control companies to spray ANYTHING in the house or it will kill my birds. I have tried boric acid before and it has worked well, until the infestation got too overwhelming. I also suspect that roaches walked through the boric acid, then walked through food and water in my finch cage and I lost 3 finches within 2 days. I vacuumed it up the next day. No more finch deaths.

Does anyone know What is the effect of boric acid on chickens? on chickens that eat roaches that have walked through or ingested it?

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Mix equal parts of baking soda, sugar and water. Use the paste as a bait around the areas that roaches typically make their home.
The baking soda will kill the roaches that eat it, and stick to their feet so it's carried back to the nest, where the others will eat it and die.
Roaches won’t be able to resist the sugar, while the baking soda reacts with their acidic digestive systems, which proves to be fatal to the critters.

Quote:
As with the Borax, I would keep both out of reach of the chicken.

Also a tip -
Mix Borax 50/50 with sugar it will work better.

Chris

 

[ChicKat]

If you want to avoid poisons

-- consider using DE.

I have heard that roaches are very susceptable to it. Something about the way their breathing aparatus is.

Seems like you could dust it all over the inside of the coop, and you wouldn't have to worry about harm to the chickens (assuming that they are outside when you do the dusting).

 

[glassymom]

OK, what is DE?
I'm having the same problem with the roaches............and spiders. Just killed a huge black widow in my coop.
sue