Ducks and Japanese beetles

[featherfooted]

I have 2 pear trees in the back of my yard that get Japanese beetles in them every year. We don't eat the pears, but the chicken love them. This is the first year I've had ducks and the last couple of nights right before dusk the ducks go back to the trees and pig out on Japanese beetles. My DH even gets a pole and knocks them out of the trees for the ducks to get. It's fun to watch them enjoy themselves so much. I hope they don't get too fat from them. The beetles are sort of a bedtime snack as this is usually right before I put them in the their pen. My little pest control company. I'll try to get pictures tonight.

 

[streemers]

yummy yummy!!

 

[MagsC]

Finally something that eats those things!! Thats great!

 

[FenDruadin]

Yes, the ducks LOVE Japanese beetles. Next year, they'll be out of luck, because what you haven't noticed yet is that your ducks are also snacking all day long on the Japanese beetle grubs in the grass, and there will be no Japanese beetles in your pear tree next year.

When we moved into this house two Springs ago, the Japanese beetles covered every leaf surface in the backyard. It was obscene how many they were, and how... um... "active" they were. It was like a constant insect orgy in the backyard. The poor plants all had holey leaves--some of them actually died from it. The property's previous owners told us all kinds of tricks they used to try and keep the populations down, but none of them seemed to really work (obviously).

However, that same spring I got ducks. The ducks loved the beetles. The next Spring: no beetles. Actually, that's a bit of an overstatement--we still get some fly-ins from other properties, but not enough to do serious damage.

So watch and wait. You're going to be amazed.

 

[helkat]

Wow! Can't wait to see pics!!

 

[featherfooted]

Havn't been able to get pictures yet due to rain. But I'm not complaining as we need the rain. It's really fun to watch them pig out. They see my DH coming with the pole and run to the tree. He gets a kick out of watching them. He never had animals growing up, but we've made up for it with 4 dogs, 3 cats, around 40 chickens and 5 ducks. Oh and a mini and modern shetland that are boarded.