|
Author
|
Free live bug idea for the chickens | (Read 1157 times) |
|
Marty
Posts: 30
|
 |
September 14, 2009, 01:01:27 PM |
|
Do you have crickets or cockroaches in your area? I wanted to share something I discovered by accident this summer. I put a piece of plywood down in the chicken coop one muddy day this spring when I wanted to throw them some scraps and have it stay relatively clean. A couple of weeks later I managed to get back out there to move it and when I lifted it up there were a ton of crickets and cockroaches.
Needless to say the chickens were quite happy. I have moved lumber piles before and had the chickens enjoy the feast, but I never put it together until recently. I really did not know what the bugs were eating. So I went out one night with a flashlight to see hundreds of crickets feeding on the chicken poop. I had no idea they ate that stuff. Barrrfff :--)~
So I laid down strips of plywood with limited success. Then I realized it must have been helped along because it had recently rained when I did it the first time. So I sprinkled the area with water every couple of days as I changed the chickens water, and within a week there were more. Now that I have been doing this for a few months I can turn the boards every three or four days and reveal hundreds of cockroaches and crickets (Sometimes I wait a week to let them really build up).
The chickens continue to poop on top of the plywood all day so when I turn it over the critters have a fresh supply of food again and they multiply like nothing I have ever seen.
Maybe it’s the heat of the desert? Maybe it’s something in our chickens food that the bugs like after it’s gone through the bird? I don’t really know. All I know is that the eggs seem to taste better and the shells feel thicker and brighter. The birds also look much better. One particular rooster that is a real bug hog is so shiny and perfect he almost doesn’t look real. I mean he looks like a poster or something. It really is amazing to see first hand how diet improves health.
I thought that because they had free run and some access to the garden and lots of scraps that they were as healthy as can be. I can see now that there was room for improvement. The desert just does not normally produce enough bugs that they eat I guess.
I am not sure if there is a downside, I have not discovered it yet. Another upside is that it seems to concentrate the bugs to the coop. I find far less…I mean seriously - I would guess a 75 to 80 percent reduction in what I find in the house. I cannot think of the last time I found or saw a cockroach in the house. I think the chicken poop attracts them all to the coop! Whaddyall think?
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: September 27, 2009, 02:14:32 AM by Marty »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Jami McBride
Administrator
Posts: 815
PNW - Oregon Zone-6
|
|
September 14, 2009, 03:15:04 PM |
|
Very cool idea!
I have noticed that bugs gathering in animal areas pulls them from their usual haunts.
I think I will give this a try even though I haven't seen a cockroach in years I know my neighbors have 'em (I raise chickens in the city).
This post reminds me of one I've been wanting to make.... off to start a new thread!
~Jami
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
|
|
Joel Hollingsworth
Posts: 1623
zone 10: Oakland, CA
|
|
September 14, 2009, 06:13:32 PM |
|
I made a similar discovery yesterday, but with ant larvae and bricks.
A bed edge made of modern-style bricks with recesses pressed into it was covered with ants carrying larvae when I turned it over. I don't know how often the chickens could eat this before the colony moved, though...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.
|
|
|
Gwen Lynn
Posts: 736
|
|
September 14, 2009, 06:55:44 PM |
|
This is a good idea, and it can happen anywhere, I'm sure. I'm in NE Okla. & depending on the weather & the season, different bugs will show up under boards, rocks, even plastic bags. Right now it's more like Seattle here. When I walk in the yard at nite I step on snails & I can hear (& feel) their shells pop under my feet. Really trying not to experience that in my bare feet. Just a little icky. I find them under things, along with slugs.
When it was in the 100's 2 months ago, there were crickets, roaches, worms, cutworms, etc. under the same boards, etc. This idea is one of the easiest ideas I've read about on here. Kudos!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 5600
missoula, montana
|
|
September 15, 2009, 12:41:34 PM |
|
pic or it didn't happen! 
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Gwen Lynn
Posts: 736
|
|
September 15, 2009, 01:57:45 PM |
|
I've been pretty handy with my camera lately & I've been trying to clean up my place. If I find a goodly amount of insects under anything in my yard, I'll take a picture...but...I don't have any chickens! Wish I did.
Anyways, a picture of chickens going after those uncovered bugs would be much more dramatic!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gwen Lynn
Posts: 736
|
|
September 16, 2009, 12:49:52 PM |
|
Noooope...not gullible nor a farmer. Didn't spray boards with water & don't have any chickens. Don't need to spray anything with water around here. It's been raining off & on for weeks now. I got so many little dime sized snails in my yard I can hear them pop when I walk on them. Kinda like bubble wrap that pops & then sticks to your foot. Ewww.
Marty...I have a pretty good sense of silly humor...but...from now on I think I'll take your posts with grain of salt! Guess you got your April Fool's prank in a little early...like 6.5 months early!
As Ralph Kramden (aka Jackie Gleason) on the Honeymooners would (sarcastically) say:
"Hah, hah, haar, dee haar, haar."
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Marty
Posts: 30
|
|
September 16, 2009, 01:06:38 PM |
|
Well it looks like that post activated the little red devil and more ideas are flowing…I may as well try and keep the story going and get as much juice out of it as I can….
A couple of more things I remembered while out there today. The boards need to stay in the shade…at least for me here in the desert. And they multiply the most where the board is the most flat….so warped corners don’t seem to make them little critters feel safe? In fact I stacked a few sheets of plywood strips and there were crickets between them - lots of crickets.
Frankly now that I think about it, there are always more cockroaches than there are crickets down in the dirt. I placed some plywood down where the chickens roost for the night….more poo there than anywhere….and almost no critters…why? Because I never get that area wet. Dampness is a key ingredient to this little cockroach concoction.
I think I will keep a stack of 3 or 4 going against the fence just for the crickets and see how that turns out. I guess the cockroaches like the dirt? And the dampness. Crickets like the poo and then a dryer place to….do whatever it is that they do.
Maybe I will test out some plywood stack designs and see which ones keep crickets and cockroaches multiplying the most. Then I will sell those plans for a buck or two and ….I’m rich, I’m RICH! …..naw I won’t keep a dime, I will donate the critter fortune to a worthy cause LOL
Okay I will play along with Paul - here are a few pictures….I was surprised how many there were today because I just turned them yesterday. My guess is that half or more escape and come back when the boards are turned and the chickens leave. It would be wise to find a way to keep them more trapped in the coop because they do escape very quickly. And chickens aren’t…well you know how chickens are.
|
 Permies-320x240-vert.jpg (246.15 KB, 326x732 - viewed 318 times.)
|
|
« Last Edit: September 28, 2009, 06:24:33 PM by Marty »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Gwen Lynn
Posts: 736
|
|
September 16, 2009, 02:23:56 PM |
|
The chickens in the picture look happy! ...but are they real...or...photoshopped!? 
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 5600
missoula, montana
|
|
September 16, 2009, 03:03:17 PM |
|
PM stuff should work. If you have any trouble, take it up in the tinkering forum.
The looking for land stuff should probably go in the rockies forum.
As for the chickens and bugs .... in the pics, I can see the chickens and the boards, but .... where are the bugs? Do we need bigger pics or something?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jennifer Smith
Posts: 546
Zone 5 South West Missouri
|
|
September 16, 2009, 06:51:27 PM |
|
Ok well I am willing to try but may have to modify a bit. Turn board over for a bit and put back in same place...think it will work?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Marty
Posts: 30
|
|
September 16, 2009, 11:36:11 PM |
|
Ok well I am willing to try but may have to modify a bit. Turn board over for a bit and put back in same place...think it will work?
I think it depends on where you are at, what kind of little critters are common around your place and ...ummm....if they like to eat chicken poo.
If I were starting today I would scoop or rake some fresh poo to about half the size of the boards I am about to lay down....not too much, give them some room to live or breed or whatever they do under there besides eat. Oh and I would sprinkle the ground first so that it was damp, not soaking wet, just damp.
Let me see if I can explain that a little better.....if I had plywood or boards that were say two feet wide and four feet long (Mine are about one foot wide and the bugs are always right in the center. If I had wider pieces I would use them)....I would rake about one foot by two feet of chicken poo under where I am going to lay the board. So about half the board is food and the other half is free for them to multiply - preferably in the middle. I think that is where they feel safe.
I would give it a light sprinkle, drop the board down and wait for a couple of weeks. I would avoid walking on the boards or moving them in any way during this initial time.
I would lift the board, let the chickens feed and then turn it over, putting it down exactly where it was before so that they come back and continue doing whatever it is that they do. My boards are in a little walkway area so they get pooped on a lot, if this was not the case I would rake some fresh stuff in around the edges and lay the boards down in the same spot.
I guess I just turned mine because it was quick and simple - It might make more sense to not turn the boards and just lift them up and rake some fresh poo under and set back down. I will do that next time.
I am also going to rake some poo in a corner after I stack several boards there in the hopes that it will attract more crickets. I will let you'all know.
I cannot think of anything else right now so I hope that helps. The live bug feed really made a rather surprising improvement in my birds and their eggs. It's well worth the effort and I am going to be looking for other ideas to raise living food.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elfriede B
Posts: 45
|
|
September 20, 2009, 08:06:39 PM |
|
have to do that. why didn't we think of that. for years we kept boards around the garden, where slugs congregated. DH would go slug hunting with daughter's pet drake "Daffy". Lift up the board and Daffy would eat the slugs like candy.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
 articles by paul wheaton: [diatomaceous earth] [lawn care] [Sepp Holzer] [cast iron] [flea control]
|
