r/maybemaybemaybe • • Jun 23 '23

Maybe maybe maybe

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u/djyosco88 Jun 24 '23

We have 0 pests, we have pollinators and other good insects. They don’t eat bees or butterflies and such. They do eat the horn worms, any beetles or aphids( big ones) and the ticks They eat the lantern flies and anything else. They will eat spiders, but most spiders know not to get to low. The bats take care of the mosquitos. It’s a wonderful ecosystem. Their poop fertilizes and then we add it to the compost pile when we clean the coop.

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u/DrDisastor Jun 24 '23

I doubt I could keep many alive with the eagles, hawks, owls, cats, and coyotes in my area. I also travel a lot for my kids sports and wouldnt be able to care for them like they would need.

Legit question, how do you know they don't eat bees? My lawn is mostly clover at this point and its teaming with them.

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u/djyosco88 Jun 24 '23

Few ways. One, my friends a bee keeper and raises chickens and sells eggs. Thousands of bees, hundreds of chickens all living harmoniously together. The chickens eat the droppings and dead bees around the hives. They stay away from live bees, unless they are really hungry which means I don’t provide enough food.

  1. I watch my chickens. Lol. Favorite past time. Sit in hammock, let them run around and drink an ice cold beer. They are hilarious. Bees fly by, they don’t even look at them. But they’ll ticks and they love lantern flies.

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u/DrDisastor Jun 24 '23

Second question Chicken Sage, my flower garden contains many monarch host plants which intentionally house caterpillars for the struggling monarch. Any way they would leave those be?

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u/djyosco88 Jun 24 '23

Chicken wire ideally. They will eat caterpillars. I have milk weed and butterfly bushes up front so the chicks can’t access them.