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I was very, very brave the night we were swarmed by the june bugs. Managed to get a few pics by sticking my camera out a crack in the door. The little monsters soon discovered the flash from my camera and started flying at me, so no more pics! :crackup: We did figure out after that first night to go ahead and take out the fuse for the yard light. Solved the problem! 
We'll just have to plan on doing that for a few days each summer.
Anyway, I thought these pictures showed a little bit just how many bugs we had. It's too bad I couldn't get any of them flying around the yard light, since that's where most of them were. YUK!!!! 
Back Road BearsOMG!!!
I'd have fainted just looking out the window!!!!
:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: I almost did Daphne! Then I really almost did when they started coming down the fireplace. AAACK!!
Jellybelly BearsOh gosh! I didn't know what June bugs werr Tracy and avoided this post coz I hate swarms of bugs!!!! arghhhh!
How cool are your photos! Stunning!! thanks for showing 
xo sarah
Good grief! What does one look like up close? I'm not sure I even know what a June bug is...???
Ooh! They're hairy! Bleech! That degree of hairiness only looks good on bears, and broad-shouldered older men!
Ooh! They're hairy! Bleech! That degree of hairiness only looks good on bears, and broad-shouldered older men!
:crackup: :crackup: Only if the hair isn't on their backs.....on the men that is!
Gina--That's close to what our bugs look like. Ours are more of an orangey brown color. I don't think they hiss and spit either, but they're still gross!!
General June Beetle Biology
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a May Beetle is the same bug as the June Beetle. The month that the adults are seen as they emerge from their pupal cells usually designates what locals call the pest in their part of the United States. (These beetles are called Junebeetle, June beetles, June Bugs but their proper name is June Beetle)
Knowledge of when the adult beetles are mating and depositing eggs in the soil will be of the utmost importance for determining when insecticides should or should not be applied to lawns and around shrubs.
What we consider a typical June Beetle can vary in color from pale yellow to black but most are brown to dark brown. The Green June Beetle has a different appearance but its damage to lawns in its larval stage is similar to other white grubs and is controlled in the same manner. The adult beetle is known as a night flyer. The Japanese Beetle (another pest whose grubs damage lawns) is a daytime flyer.
Depending on the particular species, area where it breeds and environmental conditions, the June Beetle can have a cycle that is short as one year or up to four years. While inspecting lawns for grubs of this pest, people often report seeing various sizes of grubs beneath their turf grass. This is caused by over lapping generations of immature beetle grubs that can take 3 to 5 years to complete their cycle.
Mated female beetles make intermittent trips from plant foliage to the soil. After feeding on leaves of plants she will dig into nearby soil where she lays her eggs. These eggs hatch in two to three weeks, depending on environmental conditions and species involved. The larvae that hatch from these eggs are commonly called white grubs, the same term used for Japanese Beetle grubs.
The white grubs of the June Beetle are C-shaped when they are at rest. This C shape appearance is common of White Grubs. The newly hatched grubs are too small to feed on the major root system of plants but they are capable of eating organic materials in the soil and (as they grow larger) the smaller hair roots of plants.
When cooler temperatures arrive, the beetle grubs begin to dig deeper into the soil where they are protected from frigid winter weather. As warmer weather approaches the grubs end their hibernation and return to more shallow depths where they again feed on roots of grass and shrubs. Depending on the exact species, the grubs will either pupate or continue the cycle through another winter. Once pupation is complete the adult June Beetle emerges from the soil. In this manner, the cycle and re-infestation of the pest in lawns and landscape shrubs continues.
I looked this up after we realized we had bunches........and I mean bunches of them burrowed into the ground at the base of gutter downspouts and other nice, damp areas of soil. Darren dug around in some of these places and the ground was literally saturated with June bugs.....even as far as 8-9 inches down. It was a squirming mass of brown bugs mixed with dirt. Eeeewwww!
Posts: 1,836Oh MY GOSH that is beyond Hitchcock! I would be in tears 
I can't stand ugly flying bugs (lady bugs, lightening bugs...those are ok). These swarmers are furry even. The ground probably crunches under you right now....(big girly "eeewwwwwwww")
Can't look anymore, I'm getting the creepy crawlies
~Chrissi
ebay, ctcatherwoods
coming summer2006...www.CatherWoods.com
:crackup: :crackup: Renae, my chickens and peacocks did their best with june bug consumption, but they were just outnumbered! Way too many bugs for my birds to handle! You should have seen them go at the bugs after Darren dug them up.......yeehaw! Go chickies, go! :dance:
:crackup: So Chrissi.......does that mean you will not visit me during that particular week each summer? :hug:
Posts: 1,836:crackup: So Chrissi.......does that mean you will not visit me during that particular week each summer? :hug:
Oh Tracy my dear how to put this....ahhhhh.... NO!! :crackup:
We were swarmed last summer with Japanese beetles and that was enough for me. They're daytime swarmers so it pretty much ruined my gardening last summer for a few weeks. Are the june bugs destructive?? The Japanese beetles destroyed all roses, tree leaves, etc around us.
~Chrissi
The guys are blonde too Renae!
Next year, when the june bugs come again, I'll be sending for your chooks ma'am! We need all the help we can get! :crackup:
Oh darn it Chrissi! :crackup: Ah well, there's lots of other weeks in the year for a visit! :hug:
I did find out that the grubs of the june bugs are destructive to lawns and shrubs. They eat the root systems. 
We are going to treat our lawn in another couple of weeks after this latest round of eggs should be hatched. Doubt that will help with the swarm next year though. I think we had all the june bugs from a half-mile radius visiting our yard light. It's the only light in all that area!!
Oh Renae! Tell your hubby that he would get used to the sound and tune it out eventually.......it works for me anyway! I hardly notice that old lady yelling help from the barn roof anymore. She really should stay off of there 
..................
Kassie Bears TM/Creations of Mysticismok - I am a pretty tuff tomboy/cowgirl - but that made me cringe. way too many!!!!
hugs kassie
Kim-Bee BearsBLEECH!!! That is scary! I thought it was scary how about three times a year (at my dad's house) ladybugs would attack the front of the house and start coming in the house... I mean there were TONS of them! stinky little things!
Bine-TeddiesIn Germany we call them May beetles. They are bringers of luck, which is why there are chocolate May bugs in wrappers printed like a real bug. They are rare nowadays and symbolize better times with less intense agriculture and less pesticides. So they are actually viewed in a positive way, but then we never had such numbers during my life-time, if ever. I remember an invasion of ladybugs in the 1970ies. We stepped on them everywhere, brrr. In small numbers I find those cute.
JeannieB BearsThose pictures look like my house! My hubbie calls them July bugs because they have arrived late the past two years!
Sabine,
My grandmother (oma) used to send me the May chocolate bugs when I was little. They lived in Korntal near Stutgart. Also Martzipan lady bugs.
JeannieB 
