Earwigs!

[gryeyes]

Or, pincher bugs, if you prefer that term.

I found an old strawberry pouch I'd hung up last year and forgot about, so there was this green plastic bag o' dirt and dead strawberry leaves hanging on a back fence post. Aha! I bet that would make good dust bath dirt!

Carried it over to the communal dust bathing spot of last year's potting soil, up-ended the bag, and shook it out.

The dirt did NOT fall out, but a zillion earwigs did. I HATE THOSE THINGS! I flung the bag away and jumped back, in that order. The earwigs were all running every which way.

Buh BAWK! To the rescue came one hen, then another, then two more. Even the banty cochin scurried up. In the space of five minutes, there wasn't another earwig to be seen.

So I went and picked up the green, plastic grow bag of dirt I'd tossed a few feet away (holding it with my arm outstretched) and brought it back to the scene of the melee to shake it out one more time. (And then I dropped it just a few inches away from the furthest "out" chicken.)

More earwigs. VERY happy chickens. Even the rooster let himself eat a few.

Earwigs all gone.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Ohhhh, I HATE earwigs! Nasty little buggers that they are! My first real experience with them was when I was a kid. My mom and I planted a garden in the backyard. Nothing real big, but we were able to plant our favorite veggies, including corn. Well, when we went to check the corn near the time of harvest, and I pulled back a piece of husk, the corn was completely black. My first thought was that it had rotted (what did I know, I was like 10!) But then the black moved, and began pouring out of the corn! I ran screaming back to the house. We ended up tossing all the corn, the earwigs had destroyed every single ear that year. Then a few years later my mom decided to plant an aborvitae tree right next to the back porch. The tree grew quite well. Guess what liked to live in the tree? Yup, EARWIGS! All you had to do was barely bump that tree, or have a mild breeze touch the branches and the little monsters would come raining down on your head. Made for a lot of dancing around the backyard trying to get them out of our hair. I can't stand those things. Now that I'm in the country, I don't see them as much. And I'm glad! But I think there are other bugs and critters eating them up, my chickens included. So I don't mind, eat them up, eat them ALL up I say...

 

[reveriereptile]

I HATE those things. I have never seen one till just a few years ago. Creepy looking things. They don't creep me out as much as camel crickets though. Had a few bad incidents with the camel crickets. Had a cricket cage for my gecko at the time and I had it on the porch. Well I was using a cup to scoop the crickets out and noticed some long legs in the cage and looked it and there they were, 3 camel crickets that my hand was almost touching. Another time in my dad's house I was walking by and seen one on the floor near a fan. I grabbed something to hit it with but the thing turned towards me and either side I stepped to it kept turning in that direction. I thought it was going to jump in my hair. Wish I had a indoor chicken then.

 

[Serrin]

Just one more item in the long list of reasons to keep chickens. Very effective, and totally non-toxic insect and vermin control!

Ever seen what happens when a flock of hens discovers either a mouse or a snake in their coop??

Oh dear me! Pandemonium! For the mouse or snake that has been discovered. Suffice it to say, it's usually a horrible and bad end for the mouse or snake!