Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[elpolloloco!]

we're just planting out our veggies in our veg plot and were wondering if the chemicals in slug pellets can accumulate in the soil as we let the chickens have the run of the plot over winter and don't want to poison them next year.

We've tried all the beer traps/ grit etc but nothing deters the slugs like pellets!!

also if the chickens escaped from their run and ingested some pellets what kind of effect do people think this may have on them?? diarrhoea or worse????

[Egluntyne]

A bit of *googling* and I found this:

Effects on birds: Death of birds feeding in metaldehyde-treated areas has been reported, although the precise acute oral LD50 values or subchronic dietary LC50 values were unavailable. Excitability, tremors, muscle spasms, diarrhea, and difficult or rapid breathing was observed in poultry that were exposed to metaldehyde.

 

Metaldehyde being the main constituent of slug pellets.

[Janepie33]

Why don't you go out at night and collect all the slugs and feed them to the chickens in the morning?

Mine just love slugs and snails - and we seem to have run out of them in our garden. I have sugested my neighbours throw them over our wall for our girls to eat.

When my children were little (before we had chickens), I used to pay them 1p for each slug or snail they collected and then we would release them on a nearby recreation ground.

You have to be a bit careful though, as snails will return to their own gardens - eventually. we tested this by painting the snail's shells with nail varnish. It took up to 3 weeks, but back they came!

 

I think anything is better than pellets.

 

Good luck

[Olly]

I just wouldn't risk it with the pellets - and what if wild birds ate them? I believe there are some organic slug pellets you can buy which are not harmful, I think this was mentioned on Gardeners World a couple of weeks ago. I do sympathise, my girls won't touch slugs and I was over-run last year with them after the wet weather, but I wouldn't risk it.

 

I'm going to try nematodes this year.

[kiwichick]

Do you get Sluggo over there? It's an organic Slug bait thats safe around animals and wildlife. Works great despite the stupid name.

 

http://www.montereylawngarden.com/

[Egluntyne]

Have found an agricultural co based in Lincolnshire that seems to make/stock it.

 

Have emailed them to ask if they sell it to the public.

 

Thanks for that Kiwichick.

[Matthew]

nematodes are expensive but very effective if on a double dose and safe for chickens as far as I know

[Roxanne]

I don't use slug pellets any more I use crushed shells.

I bought a large sack for use in the hen house and have put it round all my hostas... so far totally un-nibbled. It worked last year and it was very wet.

The shells are much cheaper than slug pellets so perhaps they could be used round seedlings too??

[Egluntyne]

I got this reply to my enquiry re Sluggo in the UK.

 

Thanks for your enquiry. Unfortunately we only sell Sluggo to farmers for use in arable production. However, it is available under the brand Advanced Slug Killer from Growing Success in all leading garden centres, or you can buy it online from http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/v3/advanced-slug-killer-p-6340.html or any number of other sites

 

Interesting.

[Gallina]

Starbucks give away sacks of used coffee grounds free of charge to gardeners.

 

Not only does the coffee fertilize the garden, but it kills off slugs and snails. The only drawback I have found since plastering it all over my garden is that plants which like poor soil don't like being fed.

 

I think using slug pellets is wrong, but I do sneak a few into my hosta pots, hidden by the leaves so "Ooops, word censored!"ody sees. But I have to make sure that the hens don't go near them, because they adore hostas.

[BarbaraJ]

Hubby nearly got hung drawn and quartered the other day, he liberally sprinkled pellets around some of the pot plants where hens could reach them i was mad had to pick them out of the pots!!!

why did he do this??? because on the front of the pack it said 'for safety with kids and pets.... if he had continued to read it it said 'see reverse of pk' where it said totally unsafe/poisonous men!!!

[Valkyrie]

Growing Success do pet, child and wildlife friendly pellets. You can get it from garden centres. From Chase Organics (they do all sorts of garden sundries and seeds etc) you can get something called Slug Stoppa granules all natural stuff and no chemicals in it - at the same time you can get all sorts of sluggy things from them. Their website is:

 

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/index.php

 

It has a discount of 10% for HDRA members.

 

Otherwise I use the coffee grounds - er, at the moment I have been a bit hyper in an effort to build up my plan of slug attack!

[kiwichick]

It looks like the Sluggo has been re-branded as Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer. I use it in my vege garden which is fenced off from the chooks and cat. BC (Before Chickens) I used it all over the garden, sparingly though because it goes along way, but now I rely on the girls to do the job.

 

Hubby nearly got hung drawn and quartered the other day, he liberally sprinkled pellets around some of the pot plants where hens could reach them

 

I found my DDDH spraying ant barrier all around the garage at the weekend which is the chooks favourite playground

[FruitandNutCake]

I got growing success "slug stop" non-toxic granules, but when I opened the box, it just appears to be grit and dust! No chemicals listed on the box. I wouldn't have minded, but I already buy bags of grit and sharp sand to go around my Hostas. I have beer/ yeast solution traps and copper tape around pots only to find

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Bran is a good slug deterrent and its cheap. Just sprinkle around the plants ..........if the slug slithers over it the bran dries up the slime trail and kills the slug......if the slug eats it it will explode

 

Nematodes are excellant too......the garden at my old house was infested with slugs. Over the course of several months I attacked them with the nematodes and soon had the problem under control.

 

My current garden has very few slugs thanks to the chickens. I let them onto the veg patch before I planted it up and hey presto the lettuces are still intact.

[FruitandNutCake]

My chickens are fussy - won't eat snails even if I break them up. I'm not sure if they are eating slugs though. Do nemetodes work in the soil in the garden, or do they only work in potted plants? I have a large garden but will try anything at the moment - apart from slug pellets.

[Stevie]

One way of reducing slug & snail populations is to turn over the soil early winter so the first frosts kill off the eggs.Or do it now with your chickens around and they'll eat em'.Clear fallen leaves and keep borders fairly tidy because dark & damp debris gives them somewhere to hide during daylight hours.

 

Blackbirds & Thrushes have a voracious appetite for them too so attracting the smaller birdies like Tits,Sparrows etc with seed/peanut feeders soon encourages the bigger birds.Place large stones around your garden under shrubs for them to crack snail shells.

 

I used to be plagued with slugs and snails and used poison pellets years ago,but the birdies have swung the favour round to me now.There not entirely gone and never will be,but i dont regard them as a serious pest anymore-just a slight nuisance.My chickens absolutely love me handfeeding them the most disgusting slugs and watching them rootle around for them gives me great satisfaction.