Picking Berries and Beetles

These days, the Japanese Beetles are swarming.

I generally don’t mind Japanese Beetles.  In my yard, they usually stick to the raspberry canes, roses, and beans and never seem to do too much harm to any of them beyond chomping on their leaves.  But this year they arrived just as my crop of beans are coming up and I don’t want those beetles munching on the new leaves of my beans.  Last year, they reduced my edamame leaves to lacy bits, but it didn’t seem to affect bean production in the least, so I wasn’t concerned.  Those plants were well established.  These bean sprouts are just babies and I want rid of those beetles.

I devised a fun form of beetle control.  When I go out to pick raspberries, I also pick beetles.  They all seem to be congregating on the raspberry canes, having a big orgy, so they are easy picking.  Grab a mating pair and it’s a two for one!

I quickly pop them into an empty yogurt container with a tiny bit of water in it, slap on the top, and give it a shake to disorient the bugs.  I keep picking until I can find no more.  Then I take to yogurt container down to the chicken coop, give it one last shake, and toss the beetles in for the hens.  The girls know what to expect now and they make a mad dash for the dazed beetles.  One minute those beetles were having fun, making more beetles, the next minute they were meeting their maker in the chicken coop.  And it’s great entertainment for the kids.  What kid doesn’t like torturing bugs at some point in life?

I like the "circle of life" I have going here.  My raspberries end up on the breakfast table eventually.  The beetles that were munching on my raspberries today will end up in tomorrow's omelette.  It's bug control without chemicals, entertainment for the neighborhood kids, and extra food for the egg producers.
If you don't have a flock of your own, you could just leave the beetles in the yogurt container for the rest of the day with a little more water.  They won't last long in there, then you can dump them into the garbage can.  In the meantime, head to the library for a book on backyard flocks and look into getting some chickens of your own.  You already have a great free food source out in the garden.