will chickens eat ants?

[Equus5O]

I haven't seen ant mounds around here. The piss ants nest in, under and around all sorts of things, like the borders of my flower beds. The chickens haven't shown any interest in them. However, show them a split log filled with carpenter ants and they gorge themselves. My husband was splitting wood yesterday and was surrounded by chickens!

 

[rbd171]

my young chickens were penned up where an ant mound was established. chickens aren't born smart but learn quickly. at first the ants walked up the hens legs and started biting them. i could see it distressed the girls. as they learned about the ant "temper" and taste, with in about 3 months the ant hill no longer existed, they scratched it into a hole in the ground.

 

[Debs8]

I'm in South Carolina, and naturally share my property with fire ants... ewwww. I now have eight, 8 week old chicks, and I am going to free range with them. I had them out yesterday, and they found a small fire ant mound and went to work! I was soooo excited. This morning they walked with me around the yard and went straight for the mound they were at yesterday. My peeps are loving the ants and I'm glad, I'm a barefoot gal unless I'm riding my horses, and those darn fire ants are a real pain in the rear! I love my little chickies even more now...

 

[patman75]

Mine like the big black ants but not the small brown ones. spoiled chickens.

 

[moareggsplz]

We left out a couple of corn cobs last night for our ladies, they didn't finish cleaning them off before bed so they attracted a ton of ants overnight. Needless to say the hens had themselves a nice little ant feast this morning when they came out of the roost.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Last I knew fire ants haven't adapted well enough to live near Ithaca--lucky for us. I haven't seen this in chickens but other birds will "ant". They will roll on an ant hill and let the critters clean off dead skin and mites. Some will even pick up the ants and apply them. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28256/anting

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Quote:
Last I knew fire ants haven't adapted well enough to live near Ithaca--lucky for us. I haven't seen this in chickens but other birds will "ant". They will roll on an ant hill and let the critters clean off dead skin and mites. Some will even pick up the ants and apply them. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28256/anting

They also use the formic acid some ants spray as a protective barrier against mites and lice, it also cleans the feathers quite well.

 

[grandmaof5]

Mine like ants, but absolutely LOVE the ant grubs! When they are outside ( they are still in the garage...sigh) and I put a scoop of an anthilll in with them, they go crazy scratching to get at the grubs.

 

[Daox13]

what can I say, I like digging up old threads...
We are getting chickens this weekend finally!!!

I can't wait for them to destroy the crazy amount of ant colonies I have.

 

[JaysGirl]

I like digging up old threads too! Lol! Hope you and your chicks are doing good! Mine are 3 wks today so I'm still learning. In the south we have a lot of fire ants so I hope my girls like them, that would be a big help!!