I typed "lubbers" into google images and didn't get any pictures of plants or animals. May I ask what you mean by lubbers?

try this one! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: lubber grasshopper images

Thanks Love, I hate those things!!! I've killed 20 already this morning, most are yellow/green already.

Yesterday we killed over 30 again. I am at war!!!

I've been killing them on a nearly daily basis at my house too. Some days it's only a few, other days it's dozens at a time! Haven't seen any yellow green ones yet but some of the juveniles are getting pretty big. They're munching on my rain lily blooms and my big red leafed crinums!

you need chickens hungry chickens.

My parents, who live next door to me, have chickens. The last time they were let out of their pen to free range they went after my backyard flower beds and destroyed them! I was picking mulch out of the lawn for days afterwards. I shudder to think of what kind of damage they could do in my front flower beds. I'd much rather just knock the lubbers into a bucket of soapy water!

Kara

yikes! were there seeds or insects in the flower bed? Or do they eat flowers too? Wonder why they messed up the flower beds.

Tina,
Chickens will eat anything and everything right down to the bare dirt if you let them. You wont have lubbers, you wont have bugs, you wont have plants or flowers -- just bare dirt with splotches of chicken poop everywhere to step in and track into the house. Truscify's roving chicken house (Chicken Tractor) is the best way to control them in your yard unless you have a lot of acreage and no critters that eat chickens.

Lou

Did you know that we have 70 species of grasshoppers in Florida?
Some of them are rare and endangered.
The Lubber is NOT the most destructive grasshopper we have.
That honor goes to the American bird grasshopper.
Learn more here and view color photos:

Here is a link that might be useful: Common Grasshoppers in Florida

only kill lubbers, the manual way, heads off! we have some cool green hoppers....not as destructive. no pesticides here, gives me something to do during the hot summer months....

I have noticed a drop in lubbers and other bugs in the yard already, and we've only had the chickens a couple of months. They are the best pest control I have ever seen, but Lou is right - they eat everything down to the bare dirt if you let them. Of course, they till and fertilize it at the same time, so it has it's positives. ;)

Katkin, my situation is similar to yours, I'm next to the conservation area in our neighborhood. Endless source of lubbers! Cleaned off the house after work only to go out after dinner and pick 78 more off of my walls and plants. Haven't seen an adult yet but the black ones are getting quite large and very hungry.

I don't think chickens will work for me. With hawks, bobcats, gators and whatever other predators are nearby I don't think they would last very long.

Have to take the bad with the good I suppose.

We have about average numbers for the year. No more soapy water for me though. I am a confirmed lubber squisher these days. I put on my lubber squishing gloves and smash them. When they get bigger, I rip the heads off. I learned that from gatormomx2, who is tougher than I and can do it with her bare hands.

Interestingly enough, those big white/gray assassin bugs eat lubbers. I saw a lubber and was about to kill it and then realized the assassin bug was sucking out its bodily fluids like a slurpee.

Tis the season for Lubbers and Lovebugs. Can't win for lossen.

I have a cat, Koneko, that is very good at snatching the flying grasshoppers out of the air which is great because that reduces the numbers of grasshoppers but bad because she likes to bring them inside the house to play with in the A/C. It is not fun trying to catch a flying grasshopper as it bounces of the living room walls while tripping over the cat that is also trying to catch said grasshopper. Koneko doesn't seem to care for lubbers until they are adults at which time I find those in my house as well! I know that the worse of the damage done to my crinums and rain lilies is from the lubbers because I catch them at it. The seem to be particularly fond of the red/purple leaved crinums.

Here's Koneko taking a break from hunting in the garden so that she can get some scratching.

Kara

What a pretty kitty!! My dog now goes after the lubbers because he's seen me do it so much. I got another 30 today. And yes they love the crinums as well as the amaryllis.

Hi:

I read in Organic Gardening magazine that guinea fowl will not harm gardens. They don't scratch when they hunt for insects. I don't know if they eat lubbers, though.

Julie in WPB

I've always thought that these pests were toxic due to their coloration: black/orange or black/yellow,so have always squashed them & then just left them.I have some ducks & have never wanted to feed them the ones I get from the veggie garden,because of the risk of poisoning.So does anyone know if it is safe to feed these as a treat to my ducks?I am probably overly cautious with my guys,as I lost 5 in one night due to poisoning.I saw them munching on the new growth of one of my sago palms & never thought anything of it.The next morning those 5 were all dead.So after looking up sago palms on the web & finding out how toxic they are & then removing every last one from around my pond,I am a little cautious now.

Thanks, love-the-yard!

I have heard they are toxic. Only gackles will kill them by pecking them and letting them drain and then come back the following day to eat what is left. If the chickens eat the babies maybe it doesn't harm them. But I wouldn't feed the adults to the ducks.

We have the black and yellow lubbers here and the chickens love eating them and ripping them apart. In the spring the lubbers seem to hatch out around my amaryllis (they love eating them) and the chickens gather round and pick them off the amaryllis plants.

Our chickens free range through the garden and the flower beds. I also grow tons of brugmansia (poisonous) and they don't eat them.
They don't eat the gardens or the flower beds either. Sometimes they scratch around in certain areas of the beds or under plants looking for bugs or taking dirt baths. They have pens they stay in part of the time and do scratch up the grass and trample it down in thier pen area.
I have been letting them freerange for most of the day since they were little and they seem to know what to eat and what not to eat. They have plenty of room here (several acres) too so don't know if that makes a difference. Last summer they were all over the garden that was full of veggies and they didnt do anything but eat the bugs and occassionally dig a hole next to a plant to dirt bathe in lol.

katkin,after you added to my suspicion about them being toxic,I have just done a search via UF-IFAS & they are toxic-apparantly at all stages of their life cycle.I'm sure many larger birds can handle them in small numbers,but I am not going to risk it.Many thanks