Hey all, In this months (Aug/Sept 2010) Organic Gardening magazine, there is a short article about managing grasshoppers (p.71) that states as one strategy: Encourage predators. [chickens] can eat as many as 2 pounds of insects per day. That stuck me as interesting since searching through the forum, the consensus that chickens will, in general, average about 4-5 oz. of feed per day. Any thoughts as to why there is a 1.5+ pound difference between bugs and feed? ----- Ed
I believe this is the article, Organic Gardening. It mentions guinea hens and chickens. I've never kept guinea hens. Any chance they can eat 4 or 5 times what a large chicken can eat? I don't understand the very next grasshopper control suggestion: encouraging blister beetles . Does anyone with livestock really want a high population of blister beetles even if they prey on grasshopper eggs? The author says that grasshoppers can chew thru aluminum screen but the Extension Service recommends aluminum screen to protect plants and grasshoppers kept in labs are housed in aluminum screen cages. The thinking behind this article may be faulty. Steve
2 pounds of bugs? Not saying it ain't possible, cause I have seen chickens eat an amazing amount of produce. But an average chicken wieghs what 6-7-8-10 pounds, and the book says a chicken can eat what would be between 1/3 and 1/5 their body wieght. Like I said I ain't saying it isn't possible, but if they can eat that much, you better not fall down in the chicken yard.
