Who eats the Colorado potato beetle from birds

All gardeners who grow potatoes in their garden and backyard plots every year face their most hated enemy - the Colorado potato beetle. Chemical control measures aimed at destroying this pest do not always give results. However, poultry and wild birds eat this insect, which can be used for their own purposes. In this article, you will find out which bird eats the Colorado potato beetle.

Which bird can help

The natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle are many insects that are found in our country. Such insects include, for example, the lacewing. But the use of insects to combat this pest is impractical, since there will still be more harm from them, and it will not work to breed them.

But in addition to insects, several species of birds live on the territory of the CIS countries, which in this situation can act as assistants in the fight against the Colorado potato beetle. Which bird is eating it? The list of such birds that live on the territory of our country includes:

• guinea fowl;
• pheasants;
• turkeys;
• regular chicken;
• partridges.

All of the above birds are domesticated and therefore can be used to destroy the Colorado potato beetle in vegetable gardens. In this situation, the most effective breeding is considered guinea fowl. Guinea fowl is a poultry related to chickens, has tasty meat and is absolutely unpretentious in breeding. This "exterminator" of the Colorado wide insect is grown in our country for the following reasons:

1. dietary meat;
2. guinea fowls lay hypoallergenic eggs. Therefore, they are great for feeding small children;
3. good tolerance to any weather conditions, for which our country is so diverse, including even the winter period;
4. resistance of birds to many diseases. Unlike ordinary chickens, guinea fowl get sick much less often. The most common are diseases caused by spoiled and moldy food;
5. can eat many harmful insects, including the Colorado potato beetle.

Another advantage of these birds, along with turkeys, is that they do not rake the soil in search of food. Such a bird eats beetles and their larvae from the tops. Thanks to this, you should not worry about the plantings of cultivated plants.

For these reasons, the use of guinea fowls for the fight against a pest insect is considered the most optimal. Keeping them in the open range will allow you to significantly reduce the population of harmful insects in the garden. Guinea fowls recognize pests by their specific striped color, which stands out against the background of green tops. For them, the larvae are a real delicacy that fully satisfies their nutritional needs. Indeed, in fact, all insects contain proteins and pure protein.

Walking guinea fowls or other poultry to destroy the pest population should be done at the beginning of the larval development period (first half of summer). The partridge and pheasant also eat the larvae of this pest. They, like guinea fowls, will also do an excellent job with the task. When using them, an effective fight against a number of harmful insects is possible. At the same time, gray partridges are more preferable, since they can be grown in all weather conditions. By the way, therefore, they are widespread in the wild.

Turkeys, after guinea fowls, partridges and pheasants, occupy the fourth place in the "rating" of beetle killers. But the disadvantages of breeding them include the fact that they are prone to various diseases and have a difficult disposition. Turkeys are prone to depression, which is manifested in the refusal to feed.

All of the above poultry perfectly withstands temperature fluctuations in a fairly wide range - from +30 to -30 degrees.

The use of birds allows you to effectively reduce the population of beetles and their reproduction in the future, and in addition to this, you can also get food such as meat and eggs.

In addition to the above domesticated species, wild birds can also reduce the population of these pests to some extent. These include:

• starlings;
• crows;
• sparrows;
• hazel grouses;
• cuckoos, etc.

As you can see, there are fairly simple methods of control and containment of the Colorado potato beetle population.

How to train chickens to eat beetles

Poultry and other types of birds bred in the household can act as insect killers when they are taught to do this, since they still rarely guess to peck the larvae on their own. The bird eats them purposefully only after some preparation.

It is necessary to start accustoming future exterminators to eating beetles at the age of three to four months. Although some experts recommend it is for domestic chickens to start training at three weeks of age.

At this age, it is necessary to add crushed larvae to the feed in order to evoke a visual association in the wards. In the future, they themselves will move around the garden, pecking up parasites from the tops.

You can also mix chopped potato tops and some grated potatoes into your food. This will teach the hens to smell the potatoes. One week after the start of the training process, their dose in the feed can be increased. At the age of three months, your wards can already gradually begin to release into potato plantings.

As you can see, it is quite easy to accustom birds to eating the Colorado potato beetle. And there will be a lot of benefits from this.

Video "Colorado potato beetle"

On the video, you will find information about potato pests and methods of dealing with them.