How To Get Rid Of Ladybugs or Asian Lady Beetles

They aren't really Ladybugs but since that is what everyone calls them, that is how I titled this post. Ladybugs are helpful and useful insects that you don't want to kill. I am not sure if Asian Lady Beetles are helpful or useful, they probably are but they are also total pests when they come by the millions trying to gain entry into your home.

 

Yesterday on October 28th they swarmed our neighborhood in numbers greater than we had ever experienced before. They crawl into every nook and cranny of your home, get in your hair and hitch a ride on your clothes. It was a plague of Biblical proportions. Plus they stink when you smash or excite them and they bite. I got a few bites yesterday.

So here is my plan of action: I am going to buy and use this spray which has excellent reviews and is a best seller at Amazon.com

Suspend Sc Insecticide
Flea, Tick, Roach, Ant, Spider, Wasp, Gnat, Fly
Professional Pest Control Product
Price: $38.50
Free Shipping

•   The Same Products Pest Control Companies Use
•   Active Ingredient: Deltamethrin -75%
•   One pint Suspend SC makes up to 64 gallons of solution
•   Indoors and outdoors, including food handling areas
•   Target Pest: Ants, Carpenter ants, Carpet beetles, Firebrats, Fleas, Gnats, Midges, Centipedes, Millipedes, Pantry pests, Silverfish, Ticks, Bees, Bedbugs, Boxelder bugs, Cecid Flies, Cockroaches, Crickets, Stable flies, House flies, Cluster flies, Horseflies, Elm leaf beetles, Ground beetles, Moths, Midges, Hornets, Killer bees, Lice, Mosquitoes, Multicolored asian lady beetles, Pillbugs, Scorpions, Sowbugs, Spiders, Yellowjackets, Wasps, Formosan, and Eastern subterranean termites.
•    Lasts up to 3 months after application
•   Cannot be shipped to: NY, AK, CT. 

This all sounds pretty good to me!!

Here is a sprayer, if you don't already have one:

Worming

This morning was worming day for the goats. I milked Collette early this morning then wormed her, her milk tonight went to the dogs. I will go back to using her milk tomorrow evening. I don't worry much about getting the wormer in the milk that I drink since the wormer that I use is used to worm people in third world countries.

The wormer that I use is Jeffers Ivermectin 1.87% Paste Wormer for Horses it is currently only $2.59 per tube and made in the USA. You also can get free shipping if you order $60 worth of Vet supplies from them, which is easy to do because they have so much really neat stuff at reasonable prices (I love Jeffers!). I use this wormer for the horses, the goats and the dogs.

I dose it at three times the horse dosage for my goats, so if the goat weighs 100 lbs. then I treat it like a 300 lb. horse. I hit them again in two weeks with a second dose for any worms that have hatched out since the first worming and this seems to take care of all of my worm problems. It also takes care of lice and mites if they are a problem.

I have been hurrying to get this post done because I wanted to get it in before tomorrow, in trying to blog everyday. However it is time to say "Good-bye" because the thunder is rolling outside and it is getting louder which means it is getting closer. We are under a Tornado Watch for tonight, so I hope to post again tomorrow, Lord willing!

Bootstrap

Bootstrap, my feather footed banty rooster, is slowly improving. He slept on his feet last night for the first time since we found him nearly frozen. He is still in the house and will stay in the house until I am convinced that he can take care of himself outside. I am not sure what happened to him but he did show signs of leg mites and lice, that had most assuredly drained him plus his beak was frozen shut.

He is talking to me now when I go into the room, which is another sign that he is improving. We have taken care of his mite and lice problem, so he is starting to gain some weight and get his strength back.

The reason that I didn't notice that he was having a problem was because he stays in the goat/chicken shed all of the time with the little D'Uccles during the cold months. The rest of the crew are always out and about, so I can spot a problem with them but the D'Uccles and Bootstrap are always nestled in the straw of the nests or on the roosts. With his fluffy feather cover, I just could not see that he had lost so much weight and his foot feathers hid the leg mite damage.