Whats the best bird for the job.

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

I have 9 older chickens and two turkey poults but none of them will eat the resident pest: Desert Stink Beetle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinacate_beetle

There are probably a hundred or so in my garage alone (they like dark places and the garage is a mess right now)...

and thousands probably on my 3 acres of property.

They don't really cause a problem, in fact I only see a handful at a time outside due to their predilection to dark spaces...but am wondering, would a guinea eat these? Duck? Goose? Should the turkeys like them when they are grown?? My older chickens, at least the New Hampshires, look pretty much full size and won't go near them. Even though EVERYBODY loves crickets..

The larvae seem to hatch in huge masses and although they die off quickly in the heat, the smell of the tiny maggots is absolutely disgusting...although I am sure when they hatch this year my new flock will have no problem dispatching of the larvae...I am wondering if there is any adult bird that will eat them.

 

[BoltonChicken]

Well, the name says it all. Sprays a noxious spray, does it? I doubt that any bird will eat it, but if any
would, it would be the guinea. I guess it depends on the definition of the word "noxious".

 

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

I'm not sure about the smell. In over a year we have never "smelled" one. My 3 year old picks up the ones she finds in the house and pets them and then puts them outside...and still never actually experienced a smell coming from them. This is the nuissance:

 

[chicmom]

Step on it and squish it....I'll bet it'll smell then!

I don't think anything likes to eat a stink bug.......

Of course I am not sure!

 

[Ridgerunner]

If anything, it would be a guinea. They are known to eat squash bugs which are a stink bug. But I don't know if guineas would eat those things.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

We have far too many of these beetles too. They like to eat the tender new growth of cactus and if I don't catch them early, they can do terrible damage. Unfortunately, after a year and a half of trying, my chickens want nothing to do with them. It's too bad, they seem like such large meat snacks. I resort to stepping on them. FWIW, of the thousands I've stepped on, I've never detected an oder.