Do Chickens Eat Ants?

[3KillerBs]

One of the reasons we're getting chickens is for the control of insect pests. We're sure that they'll love the palmetto bugs and the assorted garden pests, but we were wondering about the ants.

Do chickens eat ants when they encounter them? If so, will they do seek and destroy missions against anthills if penned into an area with an anthill?

We don't have fire ants, just those big, black or red ants that make big lumps in the yard and carry off newly-planted seeds from the garden.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Maybe the big ones, the small ones are probably too small to bother with.
When I turn over a board with a nest under it and they find it before the workers move the larvae they'll eat them.

 

[chickney]

Our meat birss have been going nuts for ants!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mine don't, but they go crazy for just about any other bug. They also like moths. They especially love beetles, earthworms, and caterpillars. (especially the moth larvae that curl up in a C )

 

[Hayduke27]

I have a bunch of ants that hang out on the side of one of my compost heaps. Each afternoon I see a few chickens over there, gulping them up by the dozen.