While I am talking about the row garden, I should mention our most effective method of organic pest control!
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| Bug Control Patrol |
When the corn was about 3 feet tall, we moved our large chicken tractor into the corn patch, surrounded the whole thing with movable fencing, and released the chickens, guineas and ducks.
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| What Are YOU Looking At? |
They simply adored the Japanese Beetles that had been giving us such a hard time, and they ate some of the pigweed we were having trouble with too! Aside from occasionally laying eggs amongst the veggies instead of in the coop, they did no harm to the garden at all. I think the key is to let the plants get large and well established before introducing the poultry.
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| Guinea Patrol |
I think the Guinea fowl also played a major factor in our pest control this summer. I will be sure to write all about the virtues of the noisiest members of our barnyard very soon!
Do you happen to know if your poultry eat stink bugs and squash bugs?
I can’t say for certain. I didn’t have a problem with either this year, but I don’t know if it is because the birds ate them, or if they just were’t problematic this year in my area. I know they did great with Japanese beetles and grasshoppers, which were my two worst pests this year.
Natural pest control solutions are better than using toxic chemicals, usually people want to get rid of pests quickly and for that they make use of such substances which are also harmful for health.
Thanks for sharing your experience, chickens, guineas and ducks can be very helpful when you facing issues with pests like japanese beetles.
I love our chickens. I haven’t seen a scorpion in over a year or a large spider either. I’m so happy!
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I had no idea chickens were such good pest controllers! If you’ve got some crops, even small ones, it can be very helpful to have something that will eat the bugs and leave the plants!