Can baby chicks eat bugs?

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
Hmmm, does that mean the common earthworm around the garden or compost heap? I have *tonnes* of worms around with all of the rain we've been getting.

Unfortunately, yeah! My birds don't even like earth worms, so mine don't complain. Every now and again it's ok, but just don't offer them a lot.

 

[JoyLQ]

My chicks are 12 weeks old, in a chicken tractor and seem awfully comfortable with scratching in the dirt and appear to be following flies with their eyes, so.... I caught about a dozen Japanese beetles and put them in their tractor and my chickens appear to be absolutely horrified. What's up with that? Are the beetles bad for chickens?

 

[azygous]

Your chicks have never seen these beetles before, so they aren't sure they are safe to eat, so they are avoiding them. Usually, a mama hen will show chicks what things to eat and what they shouldn't, so you will just need to eat one first to show them they are good to eat. Just kidding!

Leave the beetles in the run. The chicks will figure it out eventually. Japanese beetles are fine for chickens to eat.

 

[JoyLQ]

Ha! Love it! They did eventually figure it out. I felt as if I had tossed in a monster from the depths of hell, they way they acted. Of course, I felt plenty guilty.

 

[lazy gardener]

Japanese beetles = chicken crack. I hang traps every season, and dump the bags full of beetles in a water bucket. The chickens go bobbing for beetles! They go into riot mode over them. Yesterday, I swept a dozen june bugs up off the deck, and dumped them in the run for my 6 week old babies. Eventually, they disappeared! I imagine the babies had to break them up a bit to get them down!

 

[OnnieMae]

A Crane Fly flew into the brooder and all 12 chicks whet crazy trying to catch it. When one chick caught it the others chased her around until another took it away from her... and so on. It was a crazy ten minutes of fun!

 

[OnnieMae]

Any tips on raising your own meal worms?

 

[azygous]

Any tips on raising your own meal worms?

The easiest way to get a meal worm farm started is to buy a carton of meal worms, feed a few to the chickens, then put the rest into a shallow plastic tray (drill small air holes in the lid) filled with wheat bran, add a carrot, then put it somewhere warm and dark, and let them morph. In no time you'll have beetles and they'll start laying eggs like crazy, and in a few months, you'll have a whole bunch of new worms.

 

[ZeeAviatrix]

Hello, Everyone! I've gotten a big kick out of reading everyone's two cents on feeding bugs to chicks.

I have a question. I read a post where someone suggested adding a clump of grass with the dirt and all to the brooder to "inoculate" them from the outdoors. My chicks are two weeks old. At first, they were scared of it but now they go nuts over it. The rip and roar if they get some little something that another chick doesn't have. Does anyone know if they are getting grit out of the dirt? Tractor Supply has been out of chick grit for a while and I haven't given it to them yet, so I was wondering if they are getting grit out of the dirt which they seem to enjoy pecking at.

If anyone knows the answer to this, that would be great! They are growing fast and I want to give them mealworms but not until they've had some grit.

Happy Chickening,

 

[Sunny-Side Up]

My chicks LOVED potato bugs!
They don't like them anymore, but when they were still little they ate every one in sight.
I think it'd be fine to feed them anything, they just might not eat some things.
After all, chickens used to live in the wild where they got a lot of their food from bugs.
Just be careful with earthworms,
chickens do love them, but sometimes they carry tapeworms which can infest the chicken.
When they get older, you can feed them grasshoppers.
They will go CRAZY over them, but only the fastest chickens will get a treat.
Whatever you feed them, it's super cute to see them running around with the prize in their beaks
with the other chickens chasing them.