Ladybird infestation - HELP

[carpwidow]

Literally hundreds and hundreds of them - it's like Exodus all over again and I bet locusts didn't stink as much! There are so many of them that the ladybird stink is overpowering. It's a windy day here in Suffolk and the smell is being blown about. They are all on the wood-cladding and walls outside and getting through any crack and crevice possible. Anyone suffering the same plague? Any surveyors/pest control experts out there? Can they actually cause any structural damage to my property. Help! They are a huge problem and I'm at my wits end.

They are trying to hibernate, maybe they do it every year and you havent noticed? Please dont try to kill them or stop them, you are in fact very honoured, they will be asleep all winter and come out in spring as 100s of garden pest killing machines!

Do ladybirds smell?

not nornally no!!!! but they have a defence mechanism of squirting out a tiny drop of liquid from leg joints when they feel threatened and this naturally does stink!! I am guessing theyll stop it when they are all snuggled up to go to sleep.

I never knew that ,the things you learn on MN

We have quite a few too. Am putting them outside if they manage to get in the house. Our house was empty for a while last year and when we got back around this time of year there were horrible clumps of them on some walls and window frames.

and do yours smell Cider? And don't worry Cuppa will definitely not kill them, although finding it hard to feel honoured with the overhwhelming stink they are producing.

Yes. We have this every year.
There is nothing you can do about them arriving outside. We just shut all the windows and clean the frames regularly with a mild disinfectant. Apparently they follow their smell.

The first time it happened it freaked me out - the whole of the back of the house was a moving wall of ladybirds. If they get in the house it is usually upstairs and they get in my bedding and curtains - ughhhh.

Haven't noticed a smell tbh. Have just had to evict about 7 from front room and some more came in front door.

Here are some tips i picked up from a nifty little website i've come across:
To prevent ladybugs from getting in, make sure all cracks around windows, doors, clap boards, pipes, ect. are sealed up. Some extermination companies offer this service, sometimes called inclusion. This, too, is no small project, and may cost a small fortune, but it's worth it. Especially if you don't like ladybugs joining you for dinner.

But then again, if you can't beat them, join them!
www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com/afm-style-files/wp-content/uploads/cos-christina-milian-costume-lgn.jpg
[hwink]

I believe you can collect and sell them (alive but hibernating) to organic people with a greenfly problem.

Thanks for the advice folks. What's the going rate for a dozen ladybirds PigletJohn?

Don't know, I use a greenfly spray.