One Georgia farm has become ground zero for cicada swarm

BOWMAN, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Swan Rubins had heard that the cicadas were coming, but she didn’t expect her farm to be ground zero.

“So, my feed bill for my chickens is, like, a third of what it normally is,” Rubins said.

Rubins, who is also a social media influencer, runs the farm under the handle “Hairy Farmpit Girls,” where she sells merchandise and soap and documents the day-to-day lives of her chickens, goats and guinea hens.

“We didn’t know how massive the brood was going to be,” she said.

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That is, until the past month when cicadas began taking over her yard each night.

The farm animals, especially the chickens and guinea hens, are having a party every night. Other predators have also ed in.

“This is Purcilla Presley,” Rubins said, carrying a tortoiseshell cat. “She’s been hunting cicadas with us non-stop.”

While the animals gorge themselves, Rubins entertains something a bit unique.

“So, this is a face that I sculpted of Vin Diesel out of cicada shells,” she said, holding out a sculpted face with hundreds of shells attached. “I call it Vin DEE-shell.”

With the evidence of emergence all over the farm, shells covering every tree, dead cicadas covering the ground, and emergence spots looking like tiny burrows, I had to see the cicadas and hear their mating call.

“Wah, wah, wah, wah,” Rubins imitated. “You can quote me on that.”

The problem? They appeared to be camera shy.

One of the few cicadas seen was promptly eaten by a toad.

Other than the toad, most bellies remained empty at daybreak. Brood XIX was expected to peak before Mother’s Day.

“It has been pretty exciting to see everybody enjoy this,” Rubins said.

Oh well, we can always work on a follow-up story... in 2037.

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