PNW slug control

[mshirk]

I have giant slugs (half of a jumbo egg, cut in half), creeping out from under my deck and squeezing through the hardware cloth of my coop nearby, eating the food in the run during the night, and leaving. If I go out late / very early, I have caught them. This evening it is damp and cloudy, and I found 6 of the monsters in / around the coop edges. I am not exaggerating on the size.

It is REVOLTING! I have DE in the run and sprinkled around, it does not deter these monsters! My chickens are as disgusted by them as I am.

I have been picking them off with a stick and flinging them far away in my yard.

The outside of my lovely coop is covered in slime trails all over the sides, the hardware cloth is coated with goo, and up to the roofline.

Pacific NW slugs are different than what I grew up with in the midwest. I'm not sure how to deal with them in my chicken coop every night.

Any suggestions?

 

[effie]

Fill some low containers with beer-they will crawl in and drown--I can't think it would hurt if the chickens drank a little. Pie plates work well----my grandmother always had them out at night and I do the same...it does work. Put it between them and your feed.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

OMG I'm dealing with the same thing, only on my patio and sidewalks. You just made me think that I need to look in the coop for them.

I second the beer drowning, haven't tried it, but have heard it works. I have also heard that if you cut a cantalope or watermelon in half and put it upside down they will crawl up in there and you can get them in the morning. What really worked for me was buying a powder that you sprinkle around your foundation, or in this case your coop, and it's poison to them. Unfortunantly, it's also poison to animals. For dogs and cats it's not a big deal because they don't lick the ground, but chickens would maybe peck at it. Not sure if you could maybe surround your coop with it and keep them enclosed until the first rain when it soaks into the ground. But it totally works. You can buy it at any Home Depot or we have Ace Hardware where I got it. It's called Corry's slug and snail death. It really works. You will see dead snails all over the coop the next morning.

I hate them too! I am at war with slugs right now.

 

[hennyannie]

If you put out a watermelon rind with a little water in it (just a little in the bottom) they will go in and drown themselves. Maybe you could put the beer in it!
Just dont put it where the chickens can reach it or your bowl will get ate.

 

[txreddirtgirl]

maybe sprinkle a whole lot of salt? As kids we used to put salt on slugs, they'd dry up and die.

 

[WillieBoy]

I agree with salt, slugs hate it, it burns them.Salt around your hen feeder before nightfall..?

 

[Stoney22]

I agree with salt. But honestly my ducks are slug control.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Quote:
Mine too! It's so gross.


My experience with salt has been that they know it's there so they won't crawl through it. So basically when the salt dissolves the slugs are back. But I wonder if you sprinkle it around an area so it's not concentrated? Just a thought.

 

[mshirk]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
Last night I put out a pie pan of beer, right next to the coop / feed area. This morning I checked. I only got ONE monster slug and 6 smaller ones. Sigh. I wonder if the feed is too big a draw compared to beer. I'll keep doing it for awhile, see if that catches more. I took one of my husband's bottles of microbrew for this experiment, the only beer in the house. I was hoping the quality of the beer would draw more slugs!

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Quote:
Well, that's progress though! Maybe take the feed out for the night and replace it with the beer. They live in moist dark places during the day, so you might try lifting stuff up to catch them in the daylight. (They may be living under the feeder, or rocks or whatever you have in there.)