Can I cause my chickens to "acquire" a taste for slugs?

[matimeo]

My baby chicks are between three and five weeks. I've been cutting up slugs and feeding them to them. They don't seem too interested at first, but the pieces seem to go missing and today they fought over it. Anybody have any experience introducing foods to chicks when they are babies, and then finding them more likely to eat it as adults? Anybody who has ever lived in the Pacific Northwest knows why I'm asking this question.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Let them see you eat a few and smile, and maybe they will get the idea

 

[Baymule]

Quote:
That's funny

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'm a "ewww- a bug" person. So, I just ignore slugs. Then I'm happy.
And my chickens ignore them too, as far as I can tell. See? Everyone's happy.

 

[matimeo]

I'm a "ewww- a bug" person. So, I just ignore slugs. Then I'm happy.
And my chickens ignore them too, as far as I can tell. See? Everyone's happy.

Everyone except for my strawberries (and therefore me) are happy. I'm hoping they can help me out, and turn slugs into eggs. That would be awesome.​

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Everyone except for my strawberries (and therefore me) are happy. I'm hoping they can help me out, and turn slugs into eggs. That would be awesome.

Strawberries!

 

[GardenerGal]

I reckon slugs must be an acquired taste, but I can't say that I have any desire to train my palate to like them.

Chickens will eat pretty much anything that they can get into their beaks, but if your chicks won't eat slugs it might be the slime makes the slug bits too sticky and hard to manage and swallow. My ducks will eat slugs happily, with those broad bills of theirs it must be easy. For chickens, not so easy?

 

[matimeo]

They seem to eat them when I cut them up into little pieces. My hope is they will acquire the taste now and it will follow them into adulthood. Kind of like how they say to introduce bland foods first to babies, then work up to sweet foods last, otherwise they won't eat certain things. I want my girls to be slug eating machines. I'll post on here what I notice when they become adults.

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, I can tell you first hand, the adult banana slugs of the greater seattle area are far from the list of things to eat on my chicken's menu. But that is probably because they are larger than their heads when scrunched up, are often found 8 inches long on the side of the house when on the move and more than once they have been mistaken for dog piles when mating in the grass....

That said though, having chickens roam freely on 7 acres have greatly reduced the number of bugs and slugs in general, so can't say they don't eat them at all, probably just eat up eggs and hatchlings. They will occasionally eat baby slugs up to the size of a pea, but larger than that, they must be too gummy and sticky. My birds don't like sticky things on their beaks. Ducks on the other hand... watch a banana slug lump going down... it's hilarious.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

My birds won't eat slugs, snails, or even red wiggler worms!

But they love geckos and the small grey grass snakes...
Go figure!