Anyone tried Japanese Beetles trap into run?

[arianna]

I found this interesting article about Japanese Beetles and wanted to share it http://business.highbeam.com/61634/article-1G1-174193965/chickens-feast-japanese-beetles

"We once lived in an area that had a tremendous number of Japanese beetles in the summertime. In order to save our raspberry and rose bushes from total destruction, I bought a "bag-a-bug" pheromone trap. Within 24 hours, the beetles completely filled the bag.

I realized I would never keep up with emptying the filled bag of bugs, so I moved the trap to the chicken pen and hung it about 6 feet from the ground. I cut off the bottom corner of the bag, fitted the bottom of the bag over a piece of 1 1/2-inch PVC pipe and secured it with duct tape. The bottom of the pipe hung over a kitchen …

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....plate. Here's how it works: The beetles fly into the trap, slide down the pipe onto the plate. When they reach the plate they walk around rather than fly away. The plate quickly became the main attraction in the chicken pen. The chickens would gather around and eat the beetles as they fell onto the plate; eventually, they started catching beetles in the air as they flew toward the trap. The trap provided a significant supplement to the chickens' diet, and out raspberries and roses thrived. "

 

[jeb251]

that is a great idea, I am doing something similar with black soldier fly larva this year, I might have to look into this a well

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

i use to use tons of japanese beetle traps and throw all the beetles into my chicken run they loved it it was like candy

 

[arianna]

anyone else?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

We have an inordinate number of Japanese beetles her where I live. Last year the chickens started eating them, but then stopped. I don't know if it's the size of them or what (ours are the size of my thumb), but I couldn't get the chickens to eat them. My girls do LOVE the larvae (grubs) though. I too am going to make a trap, but I want to try to get them to lay their eggs in some sort of bin and raise the grubs. I've only just started thinking about how to do it.

 

[france]

My chickens will not eat japanese beetles at all

 

[kla37]

I hate Japanese beetles! My chickens weren't out and about last year when the beetles were out, but I'm definitely going to try it! Great tip, and thanks!

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

This is an excellent idea... I try hard to go as chemical free as possible but the Japanese Beetles were so nasty last year that they at all the leaves off my fruit trees. I was just looking at putting down grub control to minimize the problem. I'm very tempted to use the traps instead and promote them with my girls.

BTW, I have no tolerance for a picky chicken eater. I grew up in the country where chickens often survived on our food scraps. If your hens are too picky to eat a bug you are feeding them too much feed or even more likely you are feeding them scratch grains. Your chickens are healthier on a natural diet of bugs, worms (although you've got to watch for parasites when they eat these) and grass. My hens lay better when there are those things around and whether or not we like to think about it their eggs are TONS better tasting than when they have feed alone.

Thanks so MUCH for the idea about the traps... I'm really, really excited about the idea.

 

[flowerchild59]

That is an awesome idea. We had quite a problem with those beetles last year for some reason.

 

[roj]

I used the beetle traps some years ago and it was the worse thing I ever did. Although I bagged lots and lots of beetles, in the following year I found that, because the traps attact more beetles than they catch, my whole yard was infected with the grubs. I had a large area of lawn die out. Everywhere I dug in the ground there were more grubs than could count! I never did try to feed the beetles to my hens but all I can say that if you want to trap them for your chickens, you better be sure they will eat them.