Just found cockroaches the size of hamsters in my coop. HELLLPPP!!!!!

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Muscovy ducks eat every insect rodent n snake they can either fit whole in mouth or tear apart and eat. Mine eliminated copperheads and sadly all other snakes,as males will kill snakes and rats even when not going to eat them.
 
guesswhatchickenbutt said:
I was just out back cleaning out the chicken coop and when I lifted up the bedding in the coop/nest box area a herd of roaches the size of hamsters scattered into the crevices of the coop. I screamed like a girl, threw down my pitchfork and shuddered and danced for a good 15 minutes. I then pulled up my big girl panties and went back to the coop and finished cleaning it out. A few times one of the roaches grabbed the pitchfork out of my hand and tried to pull it away from me, but I fought back and got all the hay out. Um....now what do I do? I do not want to put any poison down that could hurt my chickens. I do NOT want to have my girls living in a roach-infested coop either. It's important for you to know that we live in Central FL where it's hot, muggy and humid. The coop is located under a canopy of trees and it is pretty buggy out there anyway... But I simply cannot stand the thought of my girls - plus the eggs we eat - plus hamster-sized roach herds. Clearly I need some advice.

I just searched on here and read a bunch of threads on cockroaches in the coop and I'm still a little lost. Here's what I've determined:

1) Some say DE will work on roaches. Others say it will not. Is there a definitive answer on this?

2) Some say to put roach poison down under the bedding where the chickens cannot get to it to kill the roaches and it'll be safe. Others say if a sickly roach who's eaten the poison wanders out and a chicken eats it, you'll poison your chickens.

3) Some people say to caulk the edges of your coop and you'll be fine. Well our coop is an open coop so my chickens don't cook in the FL heat, so that won't work.

4) Some have written that you should keep your coop dry - well we live in FL with humidity that's off the charts so we have dampness all the time.

5) Some people have said that the chickens should eat the roaches. Clearly mine are not. Maybe I give them too much cantelope for breakfast. Who knows?


Pleeeeeeeeease someone tell me what I can do. I'm dyyyyyyying over here. I have a serious cockroach phobia. We've lived in our house 10 years and I've never had one in the house because I'm insane about preventing them in the home. Now here I am letting my three beautiful girls live in a coop that isn't fit for a sewer rat.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I'm gonna go shower now. Twice.

Shudder.
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Maybe stop feeding your lazy chickens a couple of days they should do the work of keeping the bugs away!
celebrate.gif
 
I know this is a very old post but I found it very funny. We have lived in Pensacola, Punta Gorda, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. I know about those palmetto bugs. My daughter was terrifed of them. They would fly and hit the walls and chew up paper for a nest. Now 2016 I think they have made their way to Alabama just like the fire ants did. I was curious about what you managed to do about them in your chicken coop.
 
I have thrown a handful of DE "diatomaceous earth" on roaches and they die. DE is used for many things like filtering pools, but they sell DE at feed stores that is not harmful to chickens, they can even eat it. If you spread it around the coop and where you keep their feed any insect the crosses it will be cut up and will die. I have used DE in our outdoor garage for a flea problem because a stray cat had kittens inside and it worked great.
 
I have never found DE to be effective for anything. I think chicken folks are pretty much divided 50-50 over it's use. If it works for you great! If not, don't waste any more $$ on it. I won't.
 
Joshuaearl06 said:
I have thrown a handful of DE "diatomaceous earth" on roaches and they die. DE is used for many things like filtering pools, but they sell DE at feed stores that is not harmful to chickens, they can even eat it. If you spread it around the coop and where you keep their feed any insect the crosses it will be cut up and will die. I have used DE in our outdoor garage for a flea problem because a stray cat had kittens inside and it worked great.
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Pool filter DE and food grade DE are very different things....you want the food grade 100% DE for any pest prevention around your animals(and it's effectiveness is negligible).
I seriously doubt that DE on roaches kills them...got video?
 
Old thread coming back to life once in a while.
I personally would NEVER consider ANY poison of any type in my coop or runs. I don't care what said poison manufacturer says about animal safety. They ALL lie about their products or have any idea how their product will react in all situations.

One poster said to use cedar shavings. That would be a huge mistake as chickens can be harmed by the oils and vapors coming from cedar shavings. Especially chicks.

We have pine shavings in the floor of our 10x16 hen house about 4 inches deep.
We have 2 cameras in the coop and 2 outside in their run.
At night i can see the roaches inside and out on the cameras.
Here in Florida, its bug central.

There are ways to make a roach trap with a 2 liter bottle all over youtube.
Also, about 3 times a week, i go out into the coop between 9 and 10 at night with a flashlight. As soon as i come in the coop and turn the flashlight on, about 6 to 10 of our girls come blasting off the roost and its a roach eating party. I just keep walking to different parts of the coop with the flashlight over and over and the girls follow me around stuffing themselves on the roaches.

I actually have a speckled sussex and a buckeye that i can pick up and hold and then walk them around to the walls and they pick the roaches off the wall while i hold them up. Its a hoot. Its like having a chicken air force for vertical attack. Ive given up on thinking i could eradicate them without poison.

I have caught my girls eating geckos, skinks, frogs and even a vole that they dug up in their run and were fighting over it in the hen house.

So i think you just have to learn to live with having them here in Florida and help the chickens have a treat as often as possible. I much prefer that they are in the coop than in the house. Thats not to say that i have not killed some in the house. its just the way it is here in bug central.

The comment about cream of wheat is interesting and i'm going to investigate that statement further. If that works on fire ants, WIN.....
 
bevis said:
Also, about 3 times a week, i go out into the coop between 9 and 10 at night with a flashlight. As soon as i come in the coop and turn the flashlight on, about 6 to 10 of our girls come blasting off the roost and its a roach eating party. I just keep walking to different parts of the coop with the flashlight over and over and the girls follow me around stuffing themselves on the roaches.

I actually have a speckled sussex and a buckeye that i can pick up and hold and then walk them around to the walls and they pick the roaches off the wall while i hold them up. Its a hoot. Its like having a chicken air force for vertical attack. Ive given up on thinking i could eradicate them without poison.
Click to expand...
:lol::lau:gig

That's Great!!
 

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