Grape skeletonizers

[whiskaye]

I have some grapevines in the back and we let our chickens roam but recently we got some grape skeletonizers on the vines and I witnessed a chicken eat one and was just wondering if it was dangerous for them or not.

 

[saysfaa]

if the skeletonizers are Japanese beetles, they are not dangerous for chickens to eat. If they are something else then it would help to know what they are and/or have clear pictures.

 

[whiskaye]

if the skeletonizers are Japanese beetles, they are not dangerous for chickens to eat. If they are something else then it would help to know what they are and/or have clear pictures.

Sorry bout that forgot to add one, it's the caterpillars.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Generally speaking, chickens with choice won't eat something dangerous to themselves in quantities that are actually dangerous over the short term.

Its chickens that don't have choice who will eat whatever IS available EVEN IF its dangerous to them.

Over the long term, its a different story - but that's an issue of excess calcium, excess fat/carbs, that sort of stuff, not seasonal creepy crawly availability.

Soon your birds will be eating grapes off your vines - mine like the grapes about 4-5 days before I wan't them - still a bit underripe and firm for my tastes.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and the toxin on the spines of your grape skeletonizer caterpillars is supposed HCN - Hydrogen Cyanide. The LDL50 (that is, the dose at which it has a 50/50 shot at being lethal) for chickens is around 11 mg/kg. Your chickens likely weigh 2-3kg, so they would need to ingest about 22-33 mg of HCN (NOT 22-33mg of caterpillar). That's not much, but its more than a few bugs worth.

Suggest BTi or Spinosad for controlling the skeletonizers, BTW.