Cicadas, the Garden, and Chickens

[GermanRooster]

The Cicada population is beginning to slow down here in Ohio. The chickens love to eat them. They will even jump in the air to snatch one in the middle of flight. One thing I have noticed is my garden is doing much better. Raspberries, Strawberries, Peas, Beans, Gooseberries, where are all being left alone because the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels were happy eating the Cicadas. The reduction in Cicadas is beginning show its effect on the garden too! All the berries left on the bush were eaten in 1 day. The Chickens love any left over produce. Its odd how sometimes something bad can also be a blessing.

 

[Mtnboomer]

The Cicada population is beginning to slow down here in Ohio. The chickens love to eat them. They will even jump in the air to snatch one in the middle of flight. One thing I have noticed is my garden is doing much better. Raspberries, Strawberries, Peas, Beans, Gooseberries, where are all being left alone because the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels were happy eating the Cicadas. The reduction in Cicadas is beginning show its effect on the garden too! All the berries left on the bush were eaten in 1 day. The Chickens love any left over produce. Its odd how sometimes something bad can also be a blessing.

Wait a few weeks. We had the cicadas here in VA lasf year. Its true they fed our chickens and their corpses make excellent fertilizer, but the females chew into the outer branch tips of trees and shrubs to lay their eggs. So much so the tips die and snap off falling to the ground. We had major damage to our oaks, and fruit trees. So much so that our 4 yr old apple trees were reduced to a canopy size smaller than when they were planted.
Most things are rebounding great thanks to all the fertilizer from the dead bugs but some of our mature oak trees have had 1/3 or more canopy reduction.

 

[Mtnboomer]

Also, the wounds in the apple trees left openings for wooly aphids to colonize requiring each to be sprayed with insecticidal soap this spring.