ROACHES??!!?!?!?

[ChickenPox]

I just moved from the country into a small southern town and brought my birds with me. All the neighbors are ok with the roos for now, as is the landlord. What im having problems with are roaches!

There are. Literally hundreds of them that come out at night. They are the big American roaches. I went to feed my birds late last night (usually do it in the aftenoon right after work, but had something going on.) I turned on the light in the coop and literally about 100 of the nasty things went scurrying. About 20 were in the food. YUCK.

The birds woke up when i turned the light on and chased and ate a few of them, but they obviously are oblivious when they are asleep. Im not really worried about the roaches themselves, but my birds' health!

We get a few in the house at times too and i will be contacting a pest control service. But im not sure it will be safe to spray around the coop.

Suggestions? Its kinda out of control, i was shocked!

 

[ZaksGarden]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dusts. Silica (including silica dioxide, silica gel and silica aerogel) and diatomaceous earth damage the waxy coating of the roach's body, causing it to shrivel and die[/FONT].

I would sprinkle some in the coop & run every couple of days, even directly on top of them when you see them.

If there is one thing I HATE it is roaches! YUCK!

 

[galanie]

Depending on where you are, that can be normal, believe it or not. But sevin dust or DE will likely get rid of them. Roaches like damp areas best so be sure the roof doesn't leak and all is dry inside.

 

[ChickenPox]

I knew seven worked on mites but didnt know about roaches, have not heard good things about de actually working, but i will buy a truckload of each! Lol! Thanks for the suggestions, i didnt even think of either of those. NASTY!!!!! Im not squeamish, thank goodness because if i was, last night prolly would have given me a heart attack and killed me. It was like something out of a horror movie!

Ew ew EW!

 

[cadams]

Avert.

 

[92Pony]

I'm a man, but a roach will make me scream like a little girl! MAN, I hate those nasty things!!

I currently have the nesting boxes in one coop covered on the inside (with a black trashbag) as my pullets are not at POL yet. The other day I wasn't thinking and opened the nest access door (outside coop) - There must have been 50 roaches inside the boxes - When they're big enough, and there are enough of them that you can hear them..... <shudder>. A few of them ran and ended up visible in the coop - the girls were quite happy to see them though!!

 

[galanie]

DE is only a dessicant. It dries out what it touches. If it hasn't itself soaked up all the moisture it will hold while still in the bag, as happens here in our humid climate, it can kill what it gets on and at least will help keep the coop dry. Other than that, yeah, poison is the way to go.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Depending on where you are, that can be normal, believe it or not. But sevin dust or DE will likely get rid of them. Roaches like damp areas best so be sure the roof doesn't leak and all is dry inside.

I have BOTH of these in the soil in my chicks pen and they are still crawling in there. The pen was left unused for several years and the things started living in it and I had no clue. No water out there unless it rains and was surely no food source for them so I have no clue how the things survived. Anyway I just seen 3 of the creepy things out there in my chicks feed and I GOTTA find SOMETHING that I can use to get rid of them. I don't want them making my chicks sick.

 

[galanie]

Chickens love to eat roaches. If mine were let loose anywhere there's roaches they'd have a great time!

And no, it doesn't make them sick. Chickens can eat a lot of "germy" things and not be affected one bit.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Chickens love to eat roaches. If mine were let loose anywhere there's roaches they'd have a great time!

And no, it doesn't make them sick. Chickens can eat a lot of "germy" things and not be affected one bit.

They do cause some kind of eye problem some times, from what I have read.