Roaches in the Hen House

[old biddy]

I've had my chickens for 18 months now and this is the first time I have had a roach problem. Actually it started a couple of months ago and is now getting out of hand. I use the deep litter method using leaf litter from the woods and it has been working like a charm for over a year now. I recently cleaned out the hen house and put all the litter into my compost pile for next spring's use in the garden. I put in all fresh leaf litter. I seem to have a real roach problem now in the coop. Don't want to spray for obvious reasons...maybe this is normal for North Florida, though I went a long time without this problem til now. Does everyone have this situation?

 

[can you hear me now?]

I have seen wood reaches in with my birds but never anything I saw get out of hand.

 

[carrlr]

hmmm....do you use DE with your deep litter method? I do, and don't have a bug problem. Although in Illinois we don't have many roaches outside like you would in Florida, probably because of the cold winters.

 

[old biddy]

I have not used DE ... I have 4 hives of honey bees close by and have heard that DE is harmful to the bees. But I suppose the bees won't be in the coop anyway, so I might give it a try. What is it in DE that would keep down the roach population?

 

[dogdollar]

I am very surprised that your chickens haven't eaten all of the roaches. A roach doesn't have a chance around my girls.
DD

 

[BethieofVA]

We have what I would call wood roachs, outdoor bugs. I have one chicken who has learn to stand and wait while I open the back of the coop to see if any drop down. I use DE in my coop, boxes and outside on the ground for both bugs and smell. I never see more than a few at a time and the girls gobble them up!

 

[carrlr]

Quote:
I was mostly curious if you were using DE or not. If it's infact harmful to bees, I would refrain. Ours love to dustbathe in it, so it doesn't just stay in the coop. Some on here will argue the benefits of DE. For me, I believe it's a drying agent. I had a fly and odor problem in my coop prior to using DE. Since using it to dry things out, it's very rare I even see a fly, and the odor is just not there. Do you think they are drawn to food? Do you have feed inside your coop?