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Pest Control
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Posted by nico_girl3 CA 9a (My Page) on Wed, Feb 1, 12 at 14:30
| I am planting a large vegetable patch and I am going to try to keep everything all natural. I was thinking about using some guinea fowl to help keep the number of bugs down, especially grasshoppers they were horrible last year. Has anyone had any luck using them? Will they eat my vegetables and berries? Any recommendations/advice? Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pest Control
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| Are you familiar with raising fowl? Guineas are not known to cause any problems by eating seedlings, fruit, or berries. There's probably TONS of information about them on the internet, and I'll bet that your extension office has some great help for you, too. I will tell you one thing....they are noisy little things, lol. |
RE: Pest Control
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| I'm a little familiar with raising fowl. I got my first chickens last year. I'm just trying to get more people's experiences with them before I decide to do any more research on them. I'm ok with the noise, though I read the hens are more noisy then the roosters. Thanks rhizo_1 for your information. I'm new to this and learing as I go. |
RE: Pest Control
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Whether anyone could have poultry in their garden, or yard, depends on the zoning code where you live, so check with your local unit of government before you think about this method of control very long.
Pest control is best done as a well coordinated attack, not just killing off one insect or another. That means encouraging beneficial insects, predators, to hang around as well as other methods of control, birds, toads, snakes, etc. That also means not being too liberal in spraying very broad spectrum poisons around.
This episode of Growing A Greener World may be of some help. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing a Greener World 223
RE: Pest Control
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| nico, I hope that I didn't sound discouraging. I've had friends who had guineas and I found them very funny, busy little things. They will announce the arrival of any visitor to the yard, that's for sure. They also happen to be delicious...a cross between chicken and turkey to my palate. |
RE: Pest Control
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| Rhizo you did not sound discouraging. I like guineas I think they are very pretty and interesting looking birds. Kimmsr I live way out in the middle of nowhere and my nearest neighbor is a couple miles from my house, I live in a farming/ranching community so I don't think I'll have any zonig problems since I live 7 miles out of town (and it is a tiny town). I really don't want to use any type of poisons since I have a 3 year old they will most likely try to "help" me in the garden and I don't want to have to worry about him getting into something or something harmful getting on him. I do have a lot of ladybugs around, I noticed them last year. I also plan on planting several types of plants that generally attract benefical incest around the boarder of my garden. And maybe also plant some plants that might discourage some bugs. And I'm cool with snakes (as long as it isn't a rattler) and toads venturing into my garden. We found a lot of huge toads on the property last year they were about the size of a softball. Thank you for all your info. |
RE: Pest Control
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The township I live in (rural) several years ago adopted a zoning ordinance that says to have any "farm" animals certain requirements need to be met, ie amount of land will govern not only which animals but how many. I know some cities that allow homeowners to have chickens, but only hens no roosters, while a small, nearby town does not. You may have no restrictions but you may also have some very tight rules to live with.
This episode from Growing a Greener World might be of interest to you. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing a Greener World 223
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