Michigan

[babigyrl22]

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Wow....is that what yours look like? The ones that I've seen here are ugly and all brown. My neighbor hit one with his sprinkler and brought it over for the girls to feast on last week. Plus, I've had one get caught up in my curly hair and it was really horrifying trying to get it out. I am not a fan....at all.

Update on my tomato plants - hornworms were it. I am not sure how I missed them yesterday but there was like 3 on one of my plants today and 2 on another. They ate all my little baby tomatos on my one plants

.... oh well. I will have to check them everyday to make sure I got them all.

There are 4 or 5 sphinx moths that get labeled as "hummingbird", including your plain brown one. I'm not sure that the hornworms were the ones that ate your baby tomatoes, the caterpillars typically only eat the leaves. It might be something else eating the fruits.

Edit -- Learn something every day...hornworms are known to eat the immature fruits. Just found that out from Colorado State University Extension.

THIS is what is eating my plants. They are HUGE....LOL

There were three of these on one of my tomato plants and they have eaten about a quarter of the plant before I found them.

 

[kpsullivan]

We have these, too, and the chickens won't touch them!

 

[RaZ]

How very cool.
Are you going to raise them to adults?

 

[babigyrl22]

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I don't blame them.....my chickens are not that picky. It is a crazy free for all when I plop on of those buggers in the run. It's hilarious.

 

[babigyrl22]

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Me? Nooooooo. I put display for the kids who think they are super cool. We have enough flying around as it is and they always seem to want to land in my hair. I am ok with sacrificing the ones I catch to the chickens.

When I till in the fall I will find pupa in the ground to show the kids too. They look like big seed pods to me. I am sure I will find some. If I do I will take a picture.

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

Hey you all - yup summer colds are here at the HHH household too! Going to throw this out there - i have 5-6 older hens who are looking to be rehomed...they do still lay on occasion, just not regularly...anyone interested?

 

[taprock]

Two years ago in my sons "bug phase" we raised tomato hornworms through all the stages. It is very interesting to do. Because we kept them in the house in a tank the moths hatched out during the winter and didn't survive so we got to see them without contributing to the population! They are not the beautiful hummingbird/sphinx moths you see but rather drab looking ones. The prettiest is from a hornworm that is black and eats Virginia creeper and grapes. I think the uglier the caterpillar the prettier the moth/butterfly.

 

[Olive Hill]

I pay the kids per worm for their removal services. This year hasn't been too bad, but last year I almost went broke.

 

[theron]

If anyone is interested, I have three Serama cockerels for sale. They are P/U only and I thought I should post here on BYC before putting them on a classifieds website. I will get pictures later once the camera battery is done charging.

 

[keyt1969]

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You hit the nail right on the head there...he DOESNT realize what he's worth. People tell him all the time he's great at woodworking, home remodeling and remodeling cars and he just shrugs it off. But it's like me with my crocheting or stained glass...I may think it's ok but I see mistakes everywhere, where no one else does!

Sadly, I think not getting much work in the last couple of years has really made him depressed. I tell him all the time it's not him, it's just people don't have as much money to spend as he's used to for the last 20 yrs. I tell him to place an ad on craigslist and he won't because he did it once and didn't get an answer. I love the man to death, but he's not good at words so I told him I would write it and he turned me down!

The real problem is that right now my SS is the only income that pays our bills and he feels he should be the one who pays for stuff. Last night while talking about building the separate runs for a couple of roosters and their ladies, he took off walking. When he does that I know it's because he can't do what he wants and it frustrates him.

Thanks for the advice (and Babi), I'll take it and try to convince him (again) he's worth every penny!