Can I feed chickens Japanese beetles caught in trap?

[Jmiller89]

This year we are having a Japanese invasion in our garden. So we put out a couple Bag A Bug traps out. They use sight and smell to attract the beetles that then fall into the bag and can’t get back out. Do you think it’s okay to feed these bugs to the chickens or is there possibility of harming the chicken if the bug came in contact with the smelly lure? The lure does not have pesticides in it.

 

[Chicken Heel]

They should be fine. I used these traps several years ago and my chickens then loved the stinking mass of dead and dying beetles. I no longer use these traps as they seemed to draw even more of the pests on to my property.

 

[Jmiller89]

I no longer use these traps as they seemed to draw even more of the pests on to my property.

Yeah, I’m worried about that happening. I found some frogs and praying mantis that I relocated to the garden to help as well.

 

[AgnesGray]

I saw a YouTube video of a guy who set up a Japanese beetle trap that funneled down into his chicken run. The beetles fell through a tube into a water bowl so they didn't fly away and the chickens could pick them from the bowl. I'm not set up with that yet, but I do take a jar with a bit of water in it and catch them from my garden and pour them out into a bowl of water for the chickens. I can say, the chickens love them.

 

[Jmiller89]

I saw a YouTube video of a guy who set up a Japanese beetle trap that funneled down into his chicken run. The beetles fell through a tube into a water bowl so they didn't fly away and the chickens could pick them from the bowl. I'm not set up with that yet, but I do take a jar with a bit of water in it and catch them from my garden and pour them out into a bowl of water for the chickens. I can say, the chickens love them.

That sounds cool. I may try that.