stink bugs - arrrrggggghhhh (off topic!)

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)

It's like a war! Dang stink bugs steenkin up the joint. Sound like B-52 bombers chasing the lights on the ceiling. Sitting on the couch, I felt something in my shirt. Yep, a SB and man did it ever leave its scent when I grabbed it and carried it outdoors. As the minutes dragged on, the smell got worse & it was off to the shower and the shirt to the ACW.



Vacuumed up several dozen this past Sat, but the stink emanating from the shop-vac's exhaust port was overbearing.



Anyone found a cure? I read that chickens eat them, but Lois is opposed to the idea of having free-range house-chickens as pets. Doesn't want me to utilize the 12-gauge semi-auto either.  



Here chick, chick, chick ............................. What could possibly be wrong with having fresh eggs and a nice Sunday dinner clucking about?

Mark Eatherton

What the cluck Chuck...

Reminds me of the years out on the farm, when we had a declared disaster due to Grass Hopper plague. We went and bought some "Egg factory" chickens that were destined to become Campbells Chicken and Noodle Soup. As soon as we got them home, we realized there was a couple of problems. First, these birds had never set foot on solid ground. They were raised their whole life in wire mesh pens.Their claws had grown almost completely in a full circle.



Secondly, to avoid the neurotic chickens pecking each others eyeballs out, they had their beaks clipped off, so they actually looked like they had lips.



Curing the first problem with a set of tree lopers got them to be able to walk, rather awkwardly on the ground. The other problem (chicken lips) couldn't be cured, but made for some rather funny scenes of the lipped chickens chasing the hoppers around, pecking them up, only to watch them fall out and hop off.



Take 2. My neighbor was going to buy some yearling turkey's. I told him to pick me up four while he was at it.



The turkeys were hell on wings, but got so gorged with hoppers (something like 50 per square yard) that they just laid around most afternoons with the hoppers crawling all over them.



I'd heard that turkeys were dumb birds, but didn't realize how dumb they were until 2 of the four birds drowned during a rain storm, looking straight up in the air...



I feel your pain...



Pray for frost!!



ME

Timco

chickens

We have 8 laying hens. Great birds and we love having the eggs, especially the blue ones. they will gladly eat anything that moves. Chickens do not understand the concept of friendship...just treats, food, water.



As for the SBs, sheeesh. Nothing comes to mind besides a professional spraying. We had box elder bugs bad this year, and a good spraying or 5 did the job this summer. Maybe a pinch of them between the cheek & gum? That way, the ones in the house would not be soo noticable....

Wayne_16

Tempo

Tempo works for all kinds of crawling critters.  A farm store should have some, maybe some hardware stores. IN Minn it was the ear wigs and now the japanesse beetles and the elm bug.   Mix up a batch and spray on the house, shrubs etc.  Reapply as needed.



Minnesota Wayne

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)

impervious to poisons

Well, I've hit them with bug ag dust, which made them look ghostly, but nary a SB was affected.



Next I tried household RAID spray & they just gave me a dumb look and plodded along.



So, I thought the kills-em-dead in mid-air bee spray might do the trick. They appeared to be laughing.



Robo-bugs!



I've worked in a few of those commercial egg-layer hen-houses ME. Makes my eyes water just thinking about it!

Paul Fredricks_3

Dave

My niece in Baltimore mentioned that she had hundreds of stink bugs on her front porch. Is this an annual thing?

Jim Bennett

Stink bugs.....

http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/westconseedbug.html



Is this what you got. The article says no pesticides control them. I found one in my bed one night. Actually woke me up with the stink when I rolled over on it. Yech!



Haven't had any in awhile. (knock on wood)

Pete M_3

try this

We have had SB's invading the house for many years.  Mostly in the attic, we get hundreds that swarm around the three windows.  They also get into the boxes we have stuff stored in, then you bring them down into the house.  We get some down in the home also.  My 2 year old does not like bugs, and when one of those B-52 bombing SB's buzzes by she really freaks.  They make a heck of a lot of noise for a small bug, freaks me out too.  So this year I decided they had to go.  I read that there was no good insecticide, but decided to try again.  Ultimately I resorted to chemical and electronic warfare.   First tryed ortho's home defense, sprayed it at all the places I thought they might be coming into the attic and house.  Also sprayed it on a few hundred SB's that were around the windows,  they just keep walking around like nothing happened.....  Then I bug bombed the attic with 4 bombs, more than recommended.  Went back up after a few hours and they were still crawling around.  Back to the INET for more research.  Found that they are attracted to light... that explains why they were around the windows.  So out to the store to buy a bug zapper.  Hung it from the collar ties, and came back a week later.  Well all the SB's are laying feet up at each window, so the chemicals did work.  Also have a pile of 30 to 40 each week laying under the zapper.  Seems to be working, not as many in the home as last year.  Only concern is that one might catch on fire from the zapper, should probably lay some cement board under the zapper to be safe. 

BTW I have not detected any bad smell from these SB's, but then again my sense of smell is not what it should be.  Also found that if you flick them with your finger into a wall, or whatever, they get knocked out and then I flush them down the toilet.  Have tryed to avoid squashing them.

Pete

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)

zzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppeeerrrsss

The PETA folks won't like killing off the beneficial bugs while zapping SBs. Funny but they do appear to die at high rates judging by the legs-up position after a few days indoors. But, as noted, they do crawl into cushions etc. & those buggers are very much alive.



As for flushing - makes me wonder what the drain-line-carry is per SB with a 1.28-GPF WC?!? Maybe they'll co-habitate with the main sewer line roaches and form a robo-hybrid-CSB - yikes!

Mark Eatherton

They are attracted to light and warmth eh....

Anyone remember my Moth Washer?



I will have to dig deep to find pictures of it, but basically, it is a 5 gallon bucket, stacked butt to butt on another 5 gallon bucket for a base. There is a 1/2" conduit mounted to the buckets that goes up to a single weather proof light bulb receiver. In this socket, you place a good ol' flood light.



In the bottom of the bottom bucket is a small aquarium air pump with a clear plastic hose running up to the upper bucket. In the bottom of the top bucket is a soap stone air bubbler. You fill the bucket with Dawn detergent and water, plug it in and when the bubbles get high enough, near the light, the bugs get near the light, get sucked into the soap, and Wala! Dead, CLEAN stink bugs:-)



It worked like a champ on Moths. No reason is shouldn't work great on stink bugs. I use to find ALL kinds of other flying insects in the bucket when I cleaned it out.



WIll try and find the pictures on my other PC.



I have plans to put some photoelectric eyes on it to automatically turn it on and off based on darkness, and another one for turning the air pump on and off. If you let it run wild, you will end up with a LONG intestine of soap running around your yard. Yard art.



Good luck, and let me know how it works,



ME

Mark Eatherton

Photos of Moth Washer

You can see the "history" of the night :-)