Tomato Hornworms

[swordgeek]

I got those nasty worms on my tomatoes one year, and didn't know what to do. (And I didn't have chickens!) My father - the kind of gardener who can poke a dead stick into the ground and it will sprout something amazing and edible - told me to wrap newspaper around the base of each plant and secure it. They don't like the newspaper, and won't climb the plant. I never had another problem with the worms.

 

[deanawo]

My hens will knock you down if you have some in your hand. They love them!

 

[FarmGirl01]

Those worms turn into the most beautiful moths. I just couldn't feed them to the hens. Now crickets are another thing.

 

[halo]

My chickies love them, if I can get past the "EEEEWWWW" factor and pick them off. It is good for a good few minutes of entertainment, tho.

 

[sixsisters]

I have tried to feed them to my girls. All the do is peck at them. But they love tomatoes. I feed them the ones the birds get to before I can harvest. Now grubs are a whole 'nother story! They love love love them grubs!

 

[mener6896]

to get around the gross picking them off the plants, I let my 13 year old son do it. They can get up to 4" long!! but my chickens LOVE them! it's hilarious to watch the keep away game...usually my roo ends up winning!

 

[jasonmerritt]

Thanks for all the responses on this. Just found one very large one on my tomatoes and instinctively tossed it to the chickens. Glad I checked to make sure, but I should have before tossing it over. The ladies played keep away before the dominant hen cornered it and the others gave up.

 

[Appylover]

Fed one to my roo because he is usually left out by the girls. All he did was drop it and call them over to get HIS treat. Its a wonder the poor bird is as fat as he is he feeds all the goodies to the girls.

 

[duckinnut]

Thanks for all the responses on this. Just found one very large one on my tomatoes and instinctively tossed it to the chickens. Glad I checked to make sure, but I should have before tossing it over. The ladies played keep away before the dominant hen cornered it and the others gave up.

Chickens love them but if you find one with white specks on its back about the size of a red pepper seed leave them be. Those white specks are parasitic wasp eggs that will make lunch out of the worm and create more wasps and so on.

 

[BoltonChicken]

As I have said before and will say again: Never, never, never feed a chicken anything it won't eat. They are hardwired to know what they can or can't eat, and what is or isn't good for them. I get a kick out of all the human angst about feeding chickens.