e:

Dyannesh at aol.com wrote:

> ...afterwhich said slug was consumed by said robin.
> Anyone else observed any other birds consuming our fat garden fiends (
> slugs)?
>

While living in a rural area near Pasco, I was considering getting a couple of
domestic geese, primarily for pets. I mentioned this to a farmer/neighbor who
had experience with them and he wrinkled up his nose and said: "Ugh, they eat
slugs". While slugs in Eastern Washington are not as numerous or as large as
they are here in the Seattle area, there are some in that region. At that
time, farmers in the Yakima Valley were using geese as weeders for their mint
fields. They would let the mint get to a certain height - 8 to 10 inches, I
think - then turn a flock of domestic geese loose in the fields. The geese
would eat all the weeds and not touch the mint, which they found to be too
strong. I don't know if slugs would be a problem for mint, but would imagine
that if they were, they got those too. I always found it fascinating to watch
domestic geese lined up military style in a mint field, weeding away. I know
that in recent years there has been a blight that invaded the mint in that
area and don't know if they grow it any more.

Jim Brewster
Kent, Washington