Maine

[suzMEchicks]

Oh yeah my chickens love tomatoes too

 

[sparrowsnest]

So, a while back I posted about the saga of the 5 pullets that ended up being 5 roos. So, if anyone is interested in 4 Black Austrolorps 16 wks old, let me know. The one I'm planning to keep chased one out of the pen today(up and over, ugh. Note to self-build higher fence). Time for them to go. We would like a few bucks for them, but they really just need good homes. Beautiful birds. I'm way up in the County.

 

[willowbirdks]

Hi all! I'm new to the world of backyard poultry with my first Ancona ducklings purchased from a breeder down in Arundel this spring... I love my duckies, but turned out to have way too many males! Whoops. So we are working to get that sorted out, and in the meantime my husband's coworker gave us a few Magpie ducklings to try for a couple more hens. Our end goal is to have 5-6 ducks, including 1-2 drakes so we could have fertile eggs if we decide to hatch.

We have learned A LOT since April, and of course have more still to learn. No eggs yet, but I expect the older hen to start laying in Sept sometime. Details with the boys are still being sorted out, as we have a bit of time until the hormones kick in. I've loved all the help on the duck forum, but figured I'd plug in with some local folks as well!

 

[willowbirdks]

Suz:  be sure your girls are hungry the next time you offer them the Japanese beetles.  My girls will kill for a Japanese beetle.  I dump them into a water bowl to keep them from flying away, and the girls go bobbing for beetles.  It becomes an absolute feeding frenzy.  Your collecting jar does not have soapy water in it, does it?  I love my ammonia bottle scoop for collecting.  I can easily collect a cup of beetles, then just unzip the bottom and dump them in the water.

Dow girl with your SS rooster, and Widgett wishing you'd gotten a SS rooster... you two need to get together!  So many wonderful breeds, so little space and time.

I'm not Suzy, but I'd love to have my birds eat those Japanese beetles... They're wreaking havoc on my pole beans this year! They won't drown right off in regular water, and the birds eat them if they're still alive? I've been drowning them in soapy water, but I'd love to see them become a treat for my ducks... And they love other bugs, so this seems like it might work. Thanks for the tip!

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I'm not Suzy, but I'd love to have my birds eat those Japanese beetles... They're wreaking havoc on my pole beans this year! They won't drown right off in regular water, and the birds eat them if they're still alive? I've been drowning them in soapy water, but I'd love to see them become a treat for my ducks... And they love other bugs, so this seems like it might work. Thanks for the tip!

Yep, mine eat them live. It never occurred to me to kill them first (duh), but I do have to keep a lid on the bucket while I collect, so they don't fly out. It's funny if one of the beetles flies off while the chickens are feasting, because the girls run like crazy chasing it...they usually catch it, too!

 

[willowbirdks]

Yep, mine eat them live. It never occurred to me to kill them first (duh), but I do have to keep a lid on the bucket while I collect, so they don't fly out. It's funny if one of the beetles flies off while the chickens are feasting, because the girls run like crazy chasing it...they usually catch it, too!

Great to know. I have raised beds, so my ducks don't usually end up in the garden... I wasn't thinking about how to get dozens of Japanese beetles to them! I'm glad I fell into this thread at this time.

I did take them a tomato horn worm the other night, and they loved that. Too bad he ate a quarter of my pepper plant first.

 

[mlowen]

Great to know. I have raised beds, so my ducks don't usually end up in the garden... I wasn't thinking about how to get dozens of Japanese beetles to them! I'm glad I fell into this thread at this time.

I did take them a tomato horn worm the other night, and they loved that. Too bad he ate a quarter of my pepper plant first.

I made a grasshopper catching jar (works great for Japanese beetles, too!) with a canning jar and a cut out of thin plastic. You stuff the bug through the slit in the plastic & it can't jump or fly back out of it. Then you can shake the jar out for the birds.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you make my beetle scoop, you don't have to even touch the bugs. Just take an ammonia bottle (2 qt) or similar sized bottle. Then, take a hack saw, and cut the very top flat part off the lid. It's easiest to do if you clamp the bottle with cap on in a vise before you cut the bottle. Then cut the bottom off the bottle, like you would if you were making it into a grain scoop. Then, take a zip lock bag. cut a bottom corner off the bag so the resulting hole is about the same diameter as the opening of the bottle at the cap end. Use the cap ring to screw the bag in place so it's hanging down from the bottom of your scoop. Use a fly swatter to tease the bugs off the vegetation into the bottle. I also sometimes use a stick, place the scoop under the vegetation with the beetles, and give a firm whack to the top of the scoop. It's possible to do this without damaging the vegetation. The beetles are startled by the noise/vibration and usually fall right into the funnel. If they start flying when they fall, you can usually still get them down into the bag by swirling the funnel/scoop.

The grasshopper catcher is also ingenious. I usually just stomp my grasshoppers enough to do semi lethal damage, then drop them in the scoop, or feed directly to the girls. Usually, I don't have enough grass hoppers to make it worth while. But when hubby and I go out for a walk, we see a lot of them laying eggs in the cracks in the middle of our tarred road.

When I get my new yard landscaped, I think I'll incorpprate some grape vines in the area of the chicken run, just for a Jap beetle lure.

 

[anyasmifya]

Lazy~ I get my calcium chloride from a box of DampRid. I couldn't find the ice melting kind at the time I bought it. I use 1 to 2 tables per gallon of water. Then I put it in a spray bottle and mist my tomatoes until the leaves drip. It helps to prevent blossom end rot and helps them to grow better supposedly. It seems to work, I've done this for two years now.

 

[lazy gardener]

Have you also used epsom salts? I find that the plants instantly green up, and the new growth is "stouter and more robust" with epsom salts. So would the CaCl sold as an ice melter work, as long as it didn't have any added salt?