Boxelder bugs

[dadsdeercamp]

How can I get rid of them? The chickens wont eat them and the house is coverd with them.I need them gone. I'm sick of them crawling on me! they stink!

 

[Amyable]

They were baaaaad last year, and they are here already this year.

Our 3-acre woods is almost pure...you guessed it, box elder.

 

[wegotchickens]

GET RID OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone says they are harmless but that is a lie. They do damage to your home by nesting in the walls and crapping. An exterminator says they can do as much damage as termites because they increase in volume exponentially. Bug bomb your house, if you can, or call and exterminator.

 

[chickenheadlabrador]

I'd bomb the house too if you can afford it. In the past I have used dishsoap and water and used a sprayer you connect to a garden hose...I think the soapy water suffocates them.

 

[briteday]

Soapy water works, if sprayed directly on the bugs. But several years ago we ended up using an insecticide when we had a bad infestation. Our yard (and almost every yard in our neighborhood) has ash trees (another favorite of the bug) and we park our travel trailer next to a row of the trees. Needless to say, the travel trailer is not nearly as well sealed as a house and the bugs were everywhere in the trailer. The outside of the trailer was covered with bugs and there was a carpet of the bugs on the gravel driveway. So we sprayed outside 3-4 times over the season, luckily had a very cold winter, and only had to spray in the Spring and Summer the following year. Haven't seen much of them since. Luckily the area where we have the trailer, and the ash trees, is easily fenced off so that the chickens can be fenced out to avoid exposure to the insecticide.

 

[panner123]

If a chicken won't eat a bug. it is over fed. If all else fails, try using Home Defense. It can be used for almost all bugs, even roaches. One of the apartments buildings they my company takes care of has a BAD bug problem and that is what we use. I got the O K from one of the family's doctor to use it in their unit, because they have a sickly child. Not saying is doesn't have chemicals in it.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
Chickens won't eat these, no wild birds, because they taste nasty. That's what the exterminator told me. Nothing eats them.