I had just finished feeding the chickens when I decided to inspect the
electric fence that protects them from predators. Since it is hooked to
the fence that attempts to protect the garden from rabbits and deer and
stuff, I decided to inspect that one, too. Since I was already out
there, I decided to take a look through the garden. I found a couple
cucumbers, munched on some raw peas...

And noticed that something had been pruning my tomato vines (which are
big and healthy and full of *green* tomatoes sign). Ah, the first
tomato hornworm of the year! Goodie!

So, I shook the vine and listened for the little tick tick tick. Ah,
there he is! Even though it was getting dark, I found the little
caterpillar easily.

So, I plucked it off, hooked the fence back up, and took the tomato worm
and a grasshopper I had found earlier to the chicken pen. They were all
sleeping, but my son's favorite chicken (the only one old enough to lay)
was only too willing to grab the grasshopper out of my fingers. After
that, I gave her the tomato worm. She had a bit of a rough time with
it. :-)

You might not be able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but all
it takes is a hen to turn a bug into an egg.

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)



Ray Drouillard

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 22:04:35 -0400, "Ray Drouillard"
wrote:



So, I plucked it off, hooked the fence back up, and took the tomato worm
and a grasshopper I had found earlier to the chicken pen. They were all
sleeping, but my son's favorite chicken (the only one old enough to lay)
was only too willing to grab the grasshopper out of my fingers. After
that, I gave her the tomato worm. She had a bit of a rough time with
it. :-)

Yeh for the hen!

I found my first tomato hornworm of the season on a Devil's Tongue
Pepper, but it made me smile. It was covered in tiny white wasp
larvae.


Penelope

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 22:04:35 -0400, "Ray Drouillard"
wrote:



So, I plucked it off, hooked the fence back up, and took the tomato
worm
and a grasshopper I had found earlier to the chicken pen. They were
all
sleeping, but my son's favorite chicken (the only one old enough to
lay)
was only too willing to grab the grasshopper out of my fingers.
After
that, I gave her the tomato worm. She had a bit of a rough time with
it. :-)

Yeh for the hen!

I found my first tomato hornworm of the season on a Devil's Tongue
Pepper, but it made me smile. It was covered in tiny white wasp
larvae.


Penelope

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would certainly be
able to benefit from them.

As for us, the few we find are simply turned into chicken food :-) I
found another yesterday. It was a huge, fat one. Poor little henny
penny could barely choke it down. She managed, though. :-)


Ray

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would certainly be
able to benefit from them.
...
Ray


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm
Olin

"omi" wrote in message
...
"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would certainly
be
able to benefit from them.
...
Ray


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing
photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm
Olin

Probably not, but I doubt if that bug will get much sympathy from anyone
who has had their tomatoes 'pruned' by the little monsters. They
munched on some of the fruit, too.

By the way, my son found one last night, and I found another four today.
That hen is going to get fat on them. :-) I'm playing favorites. She
is the only one who's laying, so she gets the extra protein.


Ray

On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:30:41 GMT, "omi" wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in messag

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would certainly be
able to benefit from them.


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm

Oh, oh! That's what mine looked like! I didn't feel sorry for him
at all. As a matter of fact, I was rather gleeful.


Penelope

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message ...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)


I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message ...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)


I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

If I get a hen and turn her loose in the garden as a semi-permanant
resident, is she goiing to pick at tomatos etc or is it better to have a
separate area for said hen? How many hens could a 9'x60' garden
accomedate? More importantly, do they eat white flies and spider mites?

simy1 wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message ...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)



I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

If I get a hen and turn her loose in the garden as a semi-permanant
resident, is she goiing to pick at tomatos etc or is it better to have a
separate area for said hen? How many hens could a 9'x60' garden
accomedate? More importantly, do they eat white flies and spider mites?

simy1 wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message ...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)



I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

They'll eat your cabbage and corn if they get a chance. I like Simy1's
idea. I might try it next year.

Eventually, I want to keep the chickens in the orchard. They will eat
bugs and deadfalls, while fertilizing the trees.


Ray


"Flatspin" wrote in message
news:ND3_c.84942$4o.28572@fed1read01...
If I get a hen and turn her loose in the garden as a semi-permanant
resident, is she goiing to pick at tomatos etc or is it better to have
a
separate area for said hen? How many hens could a 9'x60' garden
accomedate? More importantly, do they eat white flies and spider
mites?

simy1 wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so
they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we
can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)



I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have
to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job
with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one
could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

They'll eat your cabbage and corn if they get a chance. I like Simy1's
idea. I might try it next year.

Eventually, I want to keep the chickens in the orchard. They will eat
bugs and deadfalls, while fertilizing the trees.


Ray


"Flatspin" wrote in message
news:ND3_c.84942$4o.28572@fed1read01...
If I get a hen and turn her loose in the garden as a semi-permanant
resident, is she goiing to pick at tomatos etc or is it better to have
a
separate area for said hen? How many hens could a 9'x60' garden
accomedate? More importantly, do they eat white flies and spider
mites?

simy1 wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

As soon as the corn is all harvested, I'll let the chickens out so
they
can get some free protein. I need to fatten the roosters up so we
can
enjoy some stir-fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken pie, chicken
soup, fried chicken..... :-)



I hear from someone who uses chicken in the garden that they
completely eliminate slugs, and strongly reduce weed seeds (I have
to
spread sluggo if I want to garden). Because they scratch, they get
seeds all the way down to maybe 1/2 inch. They also do a good job
with
all sort of insects and grubs, good and bad. Of course, they will
eliminate tomatoes and green seedlings if you let them in in the
summer. She only lets them in for the month before spring planting,
approximately April 15-May 15, but that is enough. I suppose one
could
have the compost pile in the kitchen pen, and get free turning and
some nitrogenization.

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:30:41 GMT, "omi" wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in messag

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would certainly
be
able to benefit from them.


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing
photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm

Oh, oh! That's what mine looked like! I didn't feel sorry for him
at all. As a matter of fact, I was rather gleeful.


Penelope


I haven't seen any parasitic wasp pupae yet, but we managed to pluck
about twenty hornworms off the tomatoes today. They are doing some
serious munching.

Most of them went to the one hen who is laying. We took her out of the
pen, held out a handful of worms, and let her take her pick. She has to
shake the worm a bit to get it to deflate, then she swallows it.

Interestingly enough, some of the worms were mostly black. I have never
seen a black tomato worm before.


Ray

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:30:41 GMT, "omi" wrote:

"Ray Drouillard" wrote in messag

I wonder if you can buy those little wasps from an organic
growers'
supply company or something. A larger scale grower would
certainly
be
able to benefit from them.


Am I the only one that feels sorry for the hornworm after viewing
photo at
http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/c...fici/ce174.htm

Oh, oh! That's what mine looked like! I didn't feel sorry for him
at all. As a matter of fact, I was rather gleeful.


Penelope


I haven't seen any parasitic wasp pupae yet, but we managed to pluck
about twenty hornworms off the tomatoes today. They are doing some
serious munching.

Most of them went to the one hen who is laying. We took her out of
the
pen, held out a handful of worms, and let her take her pick. She has
to
shake the worm a bit to get it to deflate, then she swallows it.

Interestingly enough, some of the worms were mostly black. I have
never
seen a black tomato worm before.


Ray


Update:

Another twenty or thirty found this late afternoon. The kids had a
great time hunting, capturing, and feeding them to the chickens. The
other pullets got a taste once everyone's favorite hen got so full she
refused to eat another bite. LOL

The kids and chickens enjoyed it greatly, but the bugs are starting to
do some serous damage. Fortunately, there are 50 or 60 less bugs than
before. I have never seen an infestation that bad. I'm tempted to let
one grow to maturity just to see what the moth looks like.


Ray

Ray Drouillard wrote in message
...
[snip]
Update:

Another twenty or thirty found this late afternoon.
[snip]
I have never seen an infestation that bad. I'm tempted
to let one grow to maturity just to see what the moth
looks like.

Are these pests congregated on one or two plants? Or spread
throughout the entire crop? If you can localize the source it might
save what's left of your burgeoning harvest.

The Ranger