Slugs and snails

[bodrighy]

Simple answer is you don't IME. We cover seedings that they like, young beans, squashes courgettes etc with half a plastic bottle and that seems to work. All the tricks such as gravel etc seem to be slitthered over with impunity. maybe Cornish molluscs have toetectors or something. The snails are edible by the way.(No I haven't brought myself to ty them but know a few people who do.) Best bet is probably leave piles of wood leaves etc somewhere to attract hedgehogs.

Pete

[applegirl]

I always give slugs I find to my hens who are always very enthusiastic about them. Having lots of pheasants roaming in my garden I don't seem to have many slugs, but then the pheasants do more damage to my vegetable seedlings than slugs... I have found the beer trap method works very well, as does putting grapefruit halves upside down on the soil.

[maggienetball]

I only use 1 method and with 100% success. A plank.

I put a plank by the veggies and all the slugs and snails congregate under it. Providing I check it every time I go into the garden, and get rid of the offenders, I never have any problems. It also costs nothing except perserverance.

If you have a big problem, lay a tarp or similar on a flat area and pool very shallow water over it. Leave it over night and early the next morning you will find all the slugs from the neighbourhood on it and under it.

In all my years of keeping them I have never known a hen eat slugs. But of course I am sure other people will have had different experiences.

I don't let my girls in the veg plot as they strip everything young and tender (and then have a go at everything else). I often tie up bunches of outer cabbage leaves for them and dangle from the lower branches of a tree. They love that.

Good luck

[Annpan]

Well, now my hens lo-o-o-o-ve slugs and fight over them And I am positive that since they moved in last week I have noticed a steady decline in the slug population, even though the hens are in a run. We stick all the slugs we find in beside them and they are gone within seconds.

[maggienetball]

What breed are they Ann? It would definitely be useful to know for future new stock.

I've had loads of different breeds and hopefully waved slugs at them all. Never a taker I'm afraid.

[Odsox]

Mine love slugs too, but their favourite is snails .. provided I crush the shells for them to give them a start.
Our hens are the ubiquitous brown hybrid egg laying hens, Warrens or some such.

[Annpan]

Ours are brown hy-lines (a hybrid) today they have hardly eaten any pellets as they have been getting grass and slugs, and they are begging for more - there are only so many slug hunts you can do in one day.

[Greengrass]

I leave them something to hide under, a plank of wood (large or small) for instance, then in the daytime when they're having a kip i turn the plank over and dispose of them. I used to put them in salt water but i've built a compost heap and i now throw them in there, eveyones happy !

[greenfingers]

the best methords we have found are
bran -use it as a barrier (in a similar way to eggshells) works a treat. have to reapply when it gets whet though (nb. mice ate into our bag this year, so probubly need to store it in something)

plastic guttering (i kid you not) work brilliantly, we put it round the veg patch and the snails live under it, so does i may mention, a toad wich finishes them off for us. but otherwise, do the old pick and plonk in bucket of saltwater trick.

soot is also good (again use as egshells)

copper pipe is suppost to work, but have never tried this as the bran/guttering combo worksa very wellfor us