Keeping Insect Pests At Bay - Ideas?

[TFoster]

I'm looking for ideas...
I've got quite a number of flies around my run and last night I put the "girls" away rather late and noticed lots of roaches running around in the run! UGH!! Didn't know we had them in our yard.
SO.... For the flies I have put up one of those hanging fly bags that they get in, but can't get out, and for the roaches I put out lots of DE in the run.

Are there other ideas? Has anyone dealt with these?

Thanks!

 

[Judy]

A search on flies should turn up lots of threads on the methods people use.

I don't think I've read about a problem with roaches in a coop before. Odd. Do the chickens eat them?

 

[TFoster]

Thanks for the idea about flies.
I don't think the chickens eat the roaches, as I've never seen them out during the day (the roaches).
I'm just glad I put the coop so far from the house!!

Interestingly, I didn't NOT see them in the henhouse itself - it is raised on wheels with shavings, so maybe it's not as hospitable as the run....

 

[purpletree23]

DE won't kill the roaches, only atomic waste will. You need to get 'roach motels'. The roaches go in but don't come out. It's hard to kill roaches around chickens because if the chickens eat a dead roach that was poisoned the chicken will die also. Happened to my girlfriend.

Can you house the chickens some place else while you treat the infested area? Is your feed kept in a garbage can so the roach feces won't foul it. Feeding chickens feed with roach dropping could really make them sick.

I hope others have advice because I'm at a loss.

 

[TFoster]

Darn, I thought DE might do it. I wondered if roach motels might work. Yes, the food is in big lidded garbage cans. We don't really have anywhere else to put the chickens. BUT, since the henhouse is on wheels, I suppose we could move it, set up a new run area and treat the old run spot.
Thanks for the ideas.
BTW - I searched re the fly issue as was suggested- several swear by ducks! I wonder how DH would handle coming home to yet another pet??
Thanks!

 

[LynneP]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-Coop_Hygiene

Some thoughts here- very few flies even though it has been a nasty summer for them elsewhere.

 

[Sillystunt]

I use DE on my pen and in my coop. Seems to help with the flies but it's a never ending battle! I sprinkle it on the poo and the flies don't like it!

www.custommilling.com has DE

Now for roaches, we have american roaches aka palmetto bugs. they live here in Florida everywhere. My chickens eat them and love them. they are still alive and haven't been sick from them. Good protien never hurt a chicken.

Oh and the problem with those roach motels, just make sure they don't check out cause they injested poison and if the chicken then eat them, they might get sick~ Get the ones with the sticky stuff so they stick to it and don't come out! Oh geeshh just had a Nightmare on Elm st flashback....hahhahah

 

[purpletree23]

If you have a fly problem pick up some Golden Malrin. Instead of putting the Malrin on the ground I use a gallon plastic milk carton. About 2 inches from the bottom of the carton cut a few nickle sized holes. Put in some Golden Malrin and screw the top back on. Hang it AWAY from the coop and run. The flies go in, eat a particle and don't fly far before they drop dead. Make sure the chickens don't eat the dead flies. Works wonders!!! Now if someone could help with the mosquitos. They are horrible this year.

 

[dianneS]

Get Spalding Fly Preditors. They are great and work really well. They take about 30 days to really make a difference though. But if you order them early next year you won't have any problems. They are teeny tiny preditor wasps that lay their eggs inside the larva of the flies. All kinds of flies too. It kills the flies larva before they hatch. The wasps are too tiny to notice. You can't really even see them. I release my wasps where the chickens won't eat them, but I think they are too small for the chickens to bother with. You get a shipment of fly preditors every month during the fly season and you wait for them to start hatching, and then you release them around your property on a nice day around the areas where the flies hatch, not where you see actual flies. They really make a big difference!