I remember my Gpa catching those large monstrous beetles (he referred to as June bugs), attaching a length of thread to one of their legs and then turing them loose... instant kite for the kids to float around the farmyard. As a small child, they always seemed large enough to me to pick up a small chicken.

Anybody else ever do this?

-- otter360 (kitchen@eng.fsu.edu), April 09, 2002

Answers

I've never tied a string to one but I do enjoy watching my birds chase them!

It's funny when one flies through because oftentimes I can't see its jewelgreen body against the background green of the trees and bushes but I'll see forty chicken heads come up and all begin tracking as one as they follow its path. Reminds me of the NASA radar "farms" with all the antennas tracking as one giant antenna. Suddenly one hen will bolt forward, leap high, and snatch the bug out of the air and hit the ground running with a herd of other birds chasing her to get it for themselves.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 09, 2002.

yes. and thanks for bringing it back out of the dim mists. the beetles would go round and round and the chickens would make themselves dizzy running after them. what we called "June Bugs" in Arkansas were an iridescent green beetle.

well, I just pulled out my handy Guide to the Insects book and found a beetle that looks about right - name, appropriately enough: Green June Beetle (Cetoniinae). what are the odds...

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.

Yes, my mother did this for me when I was a child. I now have two children and it's been fun to do it for my eldest (5 years old). I have trouble getting the string tied around a leg and we usually end up going next door to get grandma to do it for us. What memories!!!

-- Mel Carroll in N.C. (frank.a.carroll@worldnet.att.net), April 09, 2002.

Some people have arachnaphobia; I must have Junebugaphobia. It's not that they scare me so much as gross me out so much my hairs stand up! It has to do with that hard shell--their exoskeleton. Any other similar bug will affect me the same way--I HATE them! The worst is coming out on the porch in the morning and CRRRUUUNCH...

-- Debbie in MO (risingwind@socket.net), April 09, 2002.

We used to do this when little. Now, I'm lucky if I see any. The muscovey prize them, and is such a sight to see them and the chicken go after them.

-- Wendy A (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), April 09, 2002.

june bugs are brown,, the shiney grren ones are japenese beetles, I used to super glue a string to them,, and let them fly

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 09, 2002.

Stan - according to the book I'm looking at both the brown and the green one I mentioned above are considered "June Beetles" and are members of the scarab beetle family. in Arkansas the green ones were called June bugs while in neighboring Oklahoma the brown ones were the June bugs. I recall being troubled by that when I was a kid. maybe they are "April" bugs in Kansas for all I know.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.

(as if anyone's still following this thread) speaking of Kansas...while lurking in a sister LUSNET forum this morning I ran across this url:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2510.html

supplied by Cheryl in KS in answer to a question there. it's a nice grub/beetle id page. a veritable kite catalogue.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.