You might get some firsthand reports of such sightings from the folks at the Farmlife site.
I'd like to have chickens, too, but out here, coyotes love chickens, (and anything else they can get ahold of)

Jan

I grew up on a chicken farm, and they will basically eat anything that moves. We'd find carcasses of unfortunate barn rats that would wander into the coop to search for eggs, picked clean with only bones and hide left behind to attest to their existence.

It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for the chooks to also peck at the squash and learn to eat those too, however. There's really nothing they WON'T eat.

I probably will post over there, 'cause Igot chicken fever bigtime, but I figured there'd be someone over here who'd actually seen a chicken eat nasty squash bugs....maybe i could take my chances and let the chooks (i love it) loose on the garden when they're hungry, and call them off before they get bored and decide to try out little melons and squash...or at theleast, they can have therun of the place in fall when any viable fruits are too big for them to hurt.

I kinda like the idea of them eating mice...;~)

THanks for the affirmation!

Lynn

Hi there - sorry to be so long but posted to another group for some info that might help you out!
Here are the posts - perhaps you can get some help from them.
Cheers from Michigan

Rita, I think I remember reading that Nasturium will deter squash bugs, and a couple of other insects. Nasturium is easy to grow from seed, it would be worth trying.

I would think chickens would eat squash bugs - but not sure about the "stink" bugs.

Our experience with 4 hens last summer was not so great. We got four little chicks at the Wayland Feed Store (you know the one at the 131 exit). Jenny was thinking fresh eggs. The chicks were cute and became good looking hens. Problems were: they insisted on roosting in a tall tree at night or in the rafters of the tool shed. Worst of all they loved to scratch and look for bug. It would have been OK back in the woods - but, the best bugs were in our flowerbeds. They tried to destroy the plants and scratch the mulch into the grass.

Kathy, what kind of Geese you have ?

Just a little correction: Ducks are bug and slug eaters. The best are the "RunnerDucks". "Runner" stand tall have long necks and do not destroy plants. On the other hand Geese are plant eaters - mainly tender grass (including bamboo). We need to watch our geese as they will nibble at just about any plant - looking for ones that are tender and taste good. Every spring when the JapaneseIrises begin to grow - they will mistake the shoots as their favorite grass.

I have heard a lot of good things about Guineas (some people call then GuineasHens - never figured out why). We would have them except they roam and are loud - not wanting to disturb the neighbors here.

At the time we got the chickens we got 4 baby turkeys too. Same problems as with the chickens.

You will love "RunndeDucks". Will try to post a picture - they put on a good show.
The RunnerDuck is judged on how straight, tall and vertical it can stand. To me that is the ideal "slug-zapper" they can stand on the outside of a Hosta reach-in and get a slug or bug with out disturbing the plant (that much).

You know for the most part Ducks are looking for bugs to eat on land not plants

**********and another email on the subject *****
I know I'll get feedback on this one, but it really works against
squash bugs! When I first moved here, all my squash, melons, etc were
covered black with hundreds of squash bugs! I read in my Organic
Gardening mag. to try interplanting mint with the vining vegetables.
So, I got big black plastic pots and planted mint in them, sank them
into the garden bed, about half way up the pot....and guess what?
I've not had any squash bug problems since. Yes...some mint did escape
the pot into the garden. However, since mint is shallow rooted, it
really doesn't interfere with any thing I plant in the garden.
Remember it is my vegetable garden, not perennial/flowers
. Anyhoo...I allow the mint to move about the garden, every now and
again, I rip some out if it gets in my way. But it did the trick! And
I rather enjoy the minty smell as I step on it when tending the
garden. (It also has seemed to help with repelling other insects,
too.!)

Just remember to plant mint in a tall pot and bury it in the ground so the roots can't spread! Only fill the pot half full too or the roots will jump out of the pot!

I am putting a plan together in readiness for a grant application to use ducks as bug control in squash and potatoes. I have used chickens and ducks as well as geese in the gardens. Ducks are real bug getters, I even leave a light on at night near the barn to attract bugs which the ducks gobble up. The Runner ducks do seem to have the best qualities for bugging, they are less apt to fly and have been herded for centuies in the East. For best results using geese aS WEEDERS AND DUCKS AS BUGGERS THEY MUST BE LEPT A BIT HUNGRY. cHICKENS ENJOY BUGS ALSO BUT DUCKS WILL ALSO DRILL DOWN IN THE SOIL TO DEVOUR SNAILS AND Slugs which are big problems for me. I grow for market so will need a pretty good number of ducks, they also lay a good number of eggs which are used in baking by those who deem duck eggs better than chickens for that purpose, they are good to eat any way a hens egg is too.
If possible a good way to garden with poultry is to have 2 gardens; 1 in use in alternate years; let the chickens into the one with no crops then as crops are finished turn them in to clean up. We used to have a large hen house with the gardens behind it and all was fenced with 5 foot high welded wire. neighbor did the same with his pigs.

Wow, thanks for all the info! I had considered a pair of runners, but hadn't seen any local sources and didn't want to buy the minimum 15...though I suppose it wouldn't be hard to sell the extras.

I've had ducks before and though I really enjoyed them, they were awfully messy in winter, and now I have an in-ground pool, so i sure wouldn't want a flock! I'm not real big on duck eggs, either, to me they can be kind of fishy, and have a weird texture when hard-cooked.

Also considered a pair of geese, that would also help guard the chickens. Not sure, need to do a lot more research!

Will definitely try the mint, I have a nice variety of chocolate mint (peppermint) that is very shallow rooted and easily controlled, not to mention tasty and fragrant.
Nasturtiums are nice, too. I have some nematodicidal marigolds, but they get too big.

One year I got a big box of dried seaweed from a gardenwebber in SW Alaska, I traded her some garden books for it. I put it around my melons and cukes, and while I should have composted it some first (it seemed to burn up nitrogen) once it broke down the plants grew like crazy, and i didn't have any squash bugs, cuke beetles or disease. I had so many melons I had trouble giving them away! So I also thought about getting seaweed meal this year, just for the melon/squash patch.

I'll let y'all know what works...or doesn't!

Thanks again,
Lynn

Guinea Hens will eat every bug around and not even damage your plants. For ridding your garden of bugs, they are the best. Chickens work but tend to rip everything to shreds.

Hi, I've never postd in this forum before but I read it quite often. I have free range chickens. I now also have a fence around my veggie garden. Chickens love squash, I found that out the hard way. I now grow a plot of squash and a few other veggies just to feed them as a treat. Good luck : )

I also had a hard time growing anything last year because of the squash bugs. I'm trying to sell at market too. I was completely wiped out. So this year I thought I would try some guineas. The only problem is they don't start selling them until June and it will take about 4 to 5 weeks or so before they're big enough to let out in the garden. I didn't realize ducks were as good for the same purpose. We bought a few ducks as pets and one is a runner. They also don't fly and the guineas will fly away if their wings aren't clipped. Maybe it would be better for me to go ahead and get ducks now so they will be ready sooner and I won't have to clip wings. I need about 3 dozen I believe for my ten acre garden, I'm hoping that will be enough. Any thoughts or ideas if ducks are just as good as guineas?
Thanks
Lisa O

Ducks are awesome bug control! We had them for the first time last year. I especially loved that our Japanese beetle population was nearly zero and others I knew complained about seeing them all over their gardens and yard. Ducks are adorable too. I have a large flock of chickens but they seem to eat mostly everything else. :)

So which is better, guinea hens or ducks?

If they're going to be in your garden, I'd go for the guinea fowl, hands down.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Our chickens will eat squash bugs, I grabbed up a few and gave to them to test it. Got adults squash bugs and the younger ones that are grey and the chickens did eat them!

The book Gardening with Guineas has some relevant information, and the many reviews of the book are worth reading. We started raising a few guineas last year because they are good at eating insects in the garden without harming the plants. Last year I had an outbreak of flea beetles in my zinnias (I breed zinnias as a hobby, so I have a whole zinnia garden), and our guineas eliminated the flea beetles in one day. Flea beetles are small and jump like fleas, so they are impossible to hand pick. But the guineas seemed to have no trouble seeing and getting them. Guineas are also very good for eliminating ticks. I don't know yet if they are good with squash bugs, but I will probably find out yet year since I plan to start growing several things that squash bugs attack.

In past years when we lived in Texas, squash bugs were devastating to my attempts grow summer squash. I literally gave my squash plants a shower bath of Sevin spray every morning, and I had a heavy mulch of dead squash bugs under my vines. But the daily Sevin spray lost its toxicity in only hours in the Sun, and new squash bugs flew in in the afternoon. It seemed like a losing battle.

I did discover a trick for hand picking squash bugs. Spray your squash vines with water. A sprinkler head on your garden hose works fine for this, and you do water your squash vines in the process. Apparently squash bugs are deadly afraid of water or drowning, and quickly climb to the top leaves to avoid the "flood". The wet squash bugs are relatively easy to hand pick.

We plan to get more kinds of guineas next year. They have a lot of "personality" and are almost like stand-up comedians when they perform on the tin roof of our henhouse. We did lose several guineas to owls this year. Owls hunt at night and guineas are susceptible when they are roosting.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)

We need some way of correcting our posted messages. In the absence of that, I meant to say above:

...but I will probably find out next year since I plan to start growing several things that squash bugs attack.

ZM

In past years when we lived in Texas, squash bugs were devastating to my attempts to grow summer squash.