Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Trish have you considered growing some melons/pumpkins, on the back side of your house? I mean like on the bermed side. Would that be North? I'm trying to remember the direction. You could string a simple fence around it, even one of those plastic fences just to discourage the birds. You wouldn't have to even really do much to prepare the soil cause melons will grow in any soil with or without weeds. As long as there is good sun it would work well.
Yeah that is the north side & it's a big ridge back there, really rocky. I doubt I could even dig much of an area up to plant anything there. We have had enough trouble even planting a few bushes & the tree Tom put back there on the northwest when he planted it he dug out huge rocks to get it in the ground. I will have to think on it & see if there is anywhere I could figure out to plant a few pumpkins for sure.

Last year I bought a whole bolt of wide tulle on the cheap. I had planned to cover my melons and cucumber plants with it to keep the squash bugs out. But we had all that spring rain and my garden got flooded out so they never even got planted. It's light and fine enough it will still let all the sun in and with luck I should be able to use it multiple times. That's been the whole downside to planting melons. And the birds don't seem interested in eating the stupid squash bugs.
It's funny that the chickens won't touch that kind of bugs, anything with a hard shell they won't touch. Maybe they taste bad as well.

@TakenBackBre posted a list the people in Kansas who have NPIP certified flocks from the latest list on her facebook poultry and garden group. I do see one major problem with it though. There are old listings there of people who haven't kept their birds tested currently or who have even moved away. I really wish they would update their list to reflect those who keep their testing current. I am sure the state has records on that. It would also be nice to have the list of certified testers in Kansas posted. That is another question I am asked a lot.
That's been the problem with those lists, they aren't maintained with current info. That's what makes it hard for people to get their birds tested & why a lot in KS haven't done it. I know there are two new testers who have just recently put an ad up on the poultry swap on FB that just got certified for KS.

I noticed that for the Gardner auction they are now requiring your NPIP flock number to be posted on the cages. That is certainly going to be something different to contend with. Normally you just bring test forms for the birds you are selling. I know there are tons of people who have their birds tested for the sale but don't have a flock number.
I honestly think that's a good thing & I wish all of the swaps & auctions had to do that, but I know it's not feasible & too much work for people just sponsoring swaps.

 

[HEChicken]

Last year I bought a whole bolt of wide tulle on the cheap. I had planned to cover my melons and cucumber plants with it to keep the squash bugs out. But we had all that spring rain and my garden got flooded out so they never even got planted. It's light and fine enough it will still let all the sun in and with luck I should be able to use it multiple times. That's been the whole downside to planting melons. And the birds don't seem interested in eating the stupid squash bugs.

Squash bugs are related to stink bugs. That bad smell they give off when you squish them also makes them taste bad, therefore nothing wants to eat them. They essentially have no natural predators. The only possible predator is a fly that will lay its eggs on the belly of the bug. The larvae once they hatch, burrow into the bug and slowly turn the insides to soup, eating them from the inside out until they are ready to emerge. Unfortunately, while all this is happening, the bug is still alive, eating, mating and laying eggs. The larva does eventually kill it but not until it has produced many potential offspring, so the damage to the population is almost nil.

Unfortunately, I doubt the tulle will work to keep them off your squash, as squash bugs over-winter and live in the mulch layer, so they'll come up into the squash plant from underneath it. However the tulle will stop the Squash Vine Borer which is actually in some ways more damaging to the plant than the squash bugs. The SVB is a moth who comes and lays her eggs on the stem of the squash plant, close to the ground. After they hatch, the larva burrow into the stem and consume it from the inside. They disrupt the plants ability to move water and nutrients into the leaves, which kills it. If you ever see a squash plant that looked fine one day and the next day is completely collapsed, you can bet you have SVB's. Last year I cut open every stem on plants like that and pulled out dozens of the grubs - still alive. Now the chickens and turkeys WILL eat the SVB's. They are like a huge, juicy maggot and they'll eat them very enthusiastically.

Last year I checked every plant every day and removed all SVB eggs from the stems and any squash bug adult or egg cluster I could find as well. Nevertheless, they did me in. In spite of literally hours pulling off eggs, nymphs and adults, I lost every squash plant to one or the other - or a combination of them. Therefore, I have no squash in my garden plan for this year.

 

[chicken danz]

I've used sevin on the plants but prefer not to use chemicals to kill them. They are easily killed but they also lay eggs like crazy. Tilling a garden and removing old debris helps keep them from wintering over. If your garden is fairly clean and there are no debris for them to hide under, there is a period when they will swarm in. This is what I am counting on; not having the debris to overwinter under and protecting the plants from the swarm. I certainly don't have time to go out there and drown every bug and squash every egg to prevent them. Year before last I burnt the garden after the season in hopes of killing off the existing bugs. Since I never got the vining plants planted last year I have no idea if it worked or not.
I've also read to leave them one plant to live on and they will leave the other plants alone. That was the biggest bunch of hogwash I ever read. It just gave them a place to multiply and then reinfect the other plants. Not good advice at all.
Trish it doesn't take much to get those kind of plants started I have volunteers in my yard every year from throwing out leftovers for the birds to eat and my dirt is solid clay that is hard to grow anything in. The reason I suggested the North side was because it seemed like your birds like hanging around in the shade on the other side of the house.
@Dani4Hedgies lots of gravel places sell screenings or aggregate which is perfect cause it still has the dust and the smaller particles in it. I had planned to put that as the base in all my pens but haven't gotten it done yet. Mostly because we would have to shovel it in by hand and that would take more time and strength than I have available.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz,
Good to know I believe my husband is going to look into getting some of that. Here are pics of our new roost in their coop as well as the roost and luxury sand bath that we put in there outside chicken yard.

 

[venymae]

Quick question. Is a rounded 2x4 the right size for a roost?

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Quick question. Is a rounded 2x4 the right size for a roost?

Personally I like mine a bit wider than that we ended up using some fallen tree branches that we cut to length. They're very grippy and wide enough so that the birds can sit on their feet in winter to keep them warm. Just my take on things tho.

 

[HEChicken]

I've used sevin on the plants but prefer not to use chemicals to kill them. They are easily killed but they also lay eggs like crazy. Tilling a garden and removing old debris helps keep them from wintering over. If your garden is fairly clean and there are no debris for them to hide under, there is a period when they will swarm in. This is what I am counting on; not having the debris to overwinter under and protecting the plants from the swarm. I certainly don't have time to go out there and drown every bug and squash every egg to prevent them. Year before last I burnt the garden after the season in hopes of killing off the existing bugs. Since I never got the vining plants planted last year I have no idea if it worked or not.
I've also read to leave them one plant to live on and they will leave the other plants alone. That was the biggest bunch of hogwash I ever read. It just gave them a place to multiply and then reinfect the other plants. Not good advice at all.

I bet the burning would have made a difference. I can't do that due to how I do my garden. Overall I like a good, deep mulch layer as it is beneficial to most plants. However it is also beneficial to squash bugs (or any others that like to over-winter in mulch) so it is easier for me to just leave them out of the plan than to adjust everything else to get rid of them.

What they may have been talking about is a trap plant. The idea is to plant a single squash plant early in the season. The squash bugs will all gravitate to it since it is the only available option. Once it is covered, you can either pull it (though I've never understood how that is supposed to work since they fall/jump off when disturbed), or maybe burn it, to kill them all. Supposedly you can then wait about 6 weeks and plant your real squash crop and they'll all be gone. I was going to try that this year but didn't have a space in my garden I could sacrifice for a short-term use like that.

I've also read that if you wait to plant until mid-June to early July, you can have a virtually squash bug-free experience as, on emerging from winter hibernation in the spring, when the bugs do not find any squash plants available April/May, they'll move on in search of them, and be gone from the area, to allow you to grow them in peace. I *may* try that this year if I have space in the garden this year. That will only happen if something I plant doesn't do well and has to be pulled around that time.

Quick question. Is a rounded 2x4 the right size for a roost?

I don't round the corners of my 2x4's but that is what I use for roosts. I've also used 2x6's in the past and they work great as well. So well that I decided to move up to a 2x8 and that was a disaster - so wide that the poop wound up on the roost instead of the ground underneath. Right now I have seven rows of 2x4 roosts and they accommodate everything from bantams to turkeys.

 

[chicken danz]

I normally use 2X4s for roosts. They seem plenty large for them and are comfortable. I have used some 2 X6s cause I had them in scrap but when I had mixed sizes the birds preferred the 2 X 4s. I was looking at some old time chicken houses and they used to make a large platform with 1 x 2 welded wire for the surface. The chickens roosted on the wire platform and all the poop went underneath. They would have a separate room or rooms with the nest boxes and the whole group would go to the roosting room to sleep. I imagine that probably kept the poop in one area a lot better. I don't round edges on roosts either. The commercial nest boxes have that fold up roost in front to prevent the birds from sleeping in them. Unless you just had one set of nest boxes though it seems that would be a lot of trouble to fold them up every night.
HEChicken I rarely get my vining plants out much earlier than that, but I have read a lot about the swarm which is obviously when they come out of the ground to do their damage. The trap plant might work if the growing season was long enough. If we have an early spring this year as it looks so far, then that might be an option. I would think you'd have to plant your trap plant outside of your garden and burn the whole thing including the earth below it for it to work.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Do chickens like cuttlebone?

 

[chicken danz]

Chickens will pick at cuttlebone but its way too pricy to consider using....at least on my budget. Calcium carbonate is still the best absorbed by chickens and they still need some grit to process their food. I used to give cuttle bone to the Seramas when I had them but they didn't seem as interested in it as they did other calcium forms. I think they prefer to pick and scratch to get their calcium than hit a solid object. Just my personal opinion here.