Maine

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm trying to avoid Squash Bug Hell this year. Been going out every other day, hunting and squishing adults and scotch tape removing eggs.

I'd almost rather have a groundhog.

 

[buckabucka]

I'm trying to avoid Squash Bug Hell this year. Been going out every other day, hunting and squishing adults and scotch tape removing eggs. 

I'd almost rather have a groundhog. 

Squash bugs are nasty! I'm doing a twice-a-day patrol of the squash/melon/cucumber house. Mostly, I crush scores of cucumber beetles, which were appearing in droves, but have diminished with this cooler weather (although I'd like to think my crushing is making a difference). I think I've killed only 7 squash bugs. I hope I'm not missing most of them.

The other hoop house has aphids on the peppers and eggplant. I'm sort of controlling them by wiping them off, and an occasional spray with soapy water.

I am lucky to have very few potato beetles this year. I think I found three. Not sure what is up with that, but it is a good thing, since I am already busy with other beetles and aphids.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Squash bugs are nasty! I'm doing a twice-a-day patrol of the squash/melon/cucumber house. Mostly, I crush scores of cucumber beetles, which were appearing in droves, but have diminished with this cooler weather (although I'd like to think my crushing is making a difference). I think I've killed only 7 squash bugs. I hope I'm not missing most of them.

The other hoop house has aphids on the peppers and eggplant. I'm sort of controlling them by wiping them off, and an occasional spray with soapy water.

I am lucky to have very few potato beetles this year. I think I found three. Not sure what is up with that, but it is a good thing, since I am already busy with other beetles and aphids.

I have a bad case of the cucumber beetles, too, and I'm squishing up a storm, too.

 

[Buzzlee]

Make sure to leave the black ones that kinda look like fireflys. They are predators of the cucumber beetle and others.

 

[lazy gardener]

I flushed out a lot of squash bugs by drenching the soil at the base of my plants 1 - 2 x/day. Since doing that till no more SB come up out of the soil, I've not seen any above ground. Cucumber beetles were horrid. I hit them with the hose, and their numbers have decreased markedly. I'm hoping that my soil drench actually did eliminate the SB population. A few Japanese beetles, but not enough to even make a meal for the chooks yet. Made a new hand held trap for them, and am ready! Potato bugs are prolific here, and I've got a lot a lot of larvae that I need to tend to. Really should buy some BT, but with it's short shelf life, it cost more than the value of the crop.

My garden is looking good. Pole beans are loaded with buds, no bloom yet. One of the HK squash bloomed yesterday. Unfortunately female w/o any male blossoms to take care of pollination. One hill of zucchini is incredible in size and color. Need to pick sugar snaps, thin carrots and beets, finish weeding beets, tie up tomatoes, fertilize corn and potatoes. The corn is looking awesome. Huge fat stalks, to my upper thigh. Raspberries setting fruit like crazy.​

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[superchemicalgirl]

I've found the squash bugs come up after watering, too. Helps to find and squish them.

The cucumber beetles I put up yellow sticky traps, but they stopped working after the rain.

 

[lazy gardener]

I was planning to make some sort of conduit/tunnel/connecting run between my hoop coop where I raise my babies, and the big coop where the adults are. In the name of laziness, or lack of time, I never got it done. So, tonight, I took the 8 pullets and one of the nice cockrels out of the grow out pen. They are 13 weeks old. I'd have liked to do it much sooner, but hoping all will go well. They settled onto the lower roost nicely. We'll see how they do in the morning. Hoping the old biddies don't beat the new girls up. Can spend some time free ranging under supervision in the morning if they need some distraction. Hawk is hanging tight to my yard, so I can't turn my back on them for a second. There are 9 cockrels left in the grow out pen.

 

[buckabucka]

My young birds are about 13 weeks also. There are only 2 pullets and I've been dragging my feet about moving them into the grow-out area within the coop. Right now, they are living in the bachelor pen, which has a huge ranging area, lots of shade, etc. The grow-out pen where they will be headed is confined and just dry sand/dirt, so I'd like to minimize their time there. So far, they are not being harassed in the bachelor pen, but I expect that this will change soon.

I'll be interested to hear how your integration goes. Do you already have a rooster in where you are putting the young cockerel? I don't plan to keep any cockerels at this point. Last year, the pullets had to wait a very long time in their small grow out pen. When I tried to release them, my rooster immediately tried to mate them, and they were too young. I think I kept them confined until at least 18 weeks, - a long time.

Integrating is my least favorite part of chicken keeping. I plan to take 2 or 3 adults out of where the pullets are headed, and work them into a different flock too, to prevent overcrowding. Either that, or I need to find a few I am willing to part with.

 

[lazy gardener]

My young birds are about 13 weeks also. There are only 2 pullets and I've been dragging my feet about moving them into the grow-out area within the coop. Right now, they are living in the bachelor pen, which has a huge ranging area, lots of shade, etc. The grow-out pen where they will be headed is confined and just dry sand/dirt, so I'd like to minimize their time there. So far, they are not being harassed in the bachelor pen, but I expect that this will change soon.

I'll be interested to hear how your integration goes. Do you already have a rooster in where you are putting the young cockerel? I don't plan to keep any cockerels at this point. Last year, the pullets had to wait a very long time in their small grow out pen. When I tried to release them, my rooster immediately tried to mate them, and they were too young. I think I kept them confined until at least 18 weeks, - a long time.

Integrating is my least favorite part of chicken keeping. I plan to take 2 or 3 adults out of where the pullets are headed, and work them into a different flock too, to prevent overcrowding. Either that, or I need to find a few I am willing to part with.

Bucka, I have a roo in the big coop. (my avatar) He's been wonderful with his babies. Leaves them alone until they are POL. Last year, I kept 2 cockrels in with him, just in case I decided that it might be time to replace him. He was fine with them. He'd send them packing when they started harassing the girls. Pretty much left them alone when they did their teen age sparring tomfoolery. I did remove them in November when they started harassing the girls too much. I took 11 birds out of the big pen this summer. They went to several other BYC ladies. So, the numbers are actually less there than they were at the start of the season. (had 25, now 23) Coop is 10 x 12. Run is around 500 s.f. with open access under the coop.

IMO, integration at a much earlier age works better than waiting until the pullets are close to full size. When they are integrated at 4 - 9 weeks, the adults don't consider them to be a threat to the pecking order. They just scamper around, and usually move fast enough that the adults can't catch them. They just need lots of room, and some hidey spaces.

I'm really pleased with this year's pullets. Some of them are as big as the hens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Killed a ground hog several days ago. Only fitting that he was buried at the base of the next section of HK bed. He'll spend eternity feeding the crops he was seeking to destroy. Hawk haven here, still. This morning as I was heading out to work, a Northern Goshawk flew over my head. Evil creature. When I go out to tend the birds, there's a hawk that watches my every move. They are wreaking havoc on the song bird nests.