will chickens eat ants?

[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.

 

[kajira]

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.

I was looking this topic up, because our backyard is starting to get over run with tiny red fire ants. We are building a new coop, and I tentatively, was hoping to teach the chickens to destroy the fire ants.... I hate them.

 

[Flock In Texas]

I'm building my first tractor. I look forward to rolling it over an ant mound to see if they will exterminate for me. If they like them, that may help decide where I park the tractor.

 

[Bonnie in western WA]

I've finally finished my coop and am about the start the run and I just noticed that there is a pretty good sized ant hill in the run area. Does anyone know if the chickens will just dig this up and eat the occupants, or should I dig it up and try to get rid of the things before I move the chickens in? These are mediaum sized black ants. I'm in upstate NY and I don't think we have any ants around here that are really aggressive or, gulp, carniverous. Any thoughts?

I read in Mother Earth News that chickens will eat ants, including fire ants. I sure hope so because I have thatching ants...bazillion miles of underground tunnels with a kazillion number of above ground ants in/on many ant mounds.

 

[murgiyan]

My chicks are not showing much interest in ants That got all over their food. They are scratching themselves so I am wondering if they are getting on their bodies.