Chickens won't eat stinkbugs?

[cherylwillard1]

So I've heard chickens will eat just about anything, but my hens that I bought as adults refuse to even look at a stinkbug. When I presented them with the first few that appeared this spring, they looked and quickly retreated from this foul offering. Has anyone else found any predator that will naturally diminish the stink bug population?

 

[Jayecookie]

I believe the stink bug looks like another poisonous insect to the chickens. tough to say what will eat them tho.. maybe ducks?

 

[Njroosters]

My chickens eat them sometimes. Guinea fowl eat them all the time.

 

[Jayecookie]

Mice eat stink bugs. So do daddy long legs, spiders, ground beetles, praying mantises, wheel bugs, wrens, bluebirds and cardinals. looks like your options are pretty low

 

[lazy gardener]

I can't blame them. My dog hates them, and any time she finds one, she goes into attack mode. When she is poking at a stink bug in the living room, I can smell it from the kitchen! She ate one, and was sick for 2 days. Evil insects. My chickens won't touch stink bugs, squash bugs, potato bugs, or the super large slugs.

 

[centrarchid]

There are many species of "stink bug" and they can vary based on that alone. Additionally, with some of the bugs taste / toxicity can vary with diet of the insect. My chickens as a general rule avoid insects with red on them. The bugs that feed off milkweed have lots of red on them and are relatively abundant.

 

[Chickassan]

The ones here are brown/grey like tree bark my old cat eats them like candy then drools for days. We have a bright green stronger smelling type too, iv'e seen spiders eat them but not much else.

 

[Beckid974]

My son had to "save" the chicks in the brooder from a stink bug the other night. He got up to use the bathroom and heard frantic peeping from the brooder. He went to check them and chicks and ducklings were running around screaming because the stink bug happened to wander in. He took it out and everyone instantly settled and went back to sleep. Poor little things, but it did give us a giggle to hear the story the next morning.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

We have a huge stinkbug population! My cat ate one once and won't touch them now.

 

[sd38-2]

My chickens will not touch a stink bug. One of them tried to eat one before but spit it out instantly. Now they go nuts for night crawlers and they do like alot of other bugs.