blister beetles

[Krystal]

I have some alfalfa hay that has lister beetles in it and was wandering if i could feed it to the chickens. The beetles are dead and dry

thanks

 

[ellieroo]

Considering how lethal these beetles are to horses think I would pass even for chickens1 Tiny parts can kill a horse!m

 

[Koolduck]

I would NOT feed it to an animal eg: your horses,chickens,goats. You can how ever use it as a plant food/tea/mulch for your plants. My husband feeds his show roses alfalfa cubes and I swear you can see a big difference in the blooms! I hope you didnt spend a lot of $$$ on your bales. As a horse owner, if I bought that from someone, I would load it up and bring it back!
P.S. that is one bug we dont have to deal with here thank goodness!

 

[Katy]

I don't think all animals are affected like horses are. We feed alfalfa to our cattle and I'm sure there are blister beetles to some degree in the second and third cuttings. I also throw out alfalfa to my chickens during the winter and they've never been adversely affected by it.

 

[ellieroo]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765072 this is short but is a warning they aren't good for chickens. be cautious