Do Chickens eat Chiggers?

[Robotmomma]

The adult chiggers you can see and they don't bite. The larva are the biters and you can't really see them. We have them all over our yard and I hate them so much. They are much worse than the Asian Tiger mosquitoes that bite me all day long.

 

[enola]

But, if they find adults, isn't that kind of like birth control?

 

[ageranger361]

Although chiggers are very tiny in the biting stage, they are visible to the naked eye. They're about the size of the head of a sowing needle. They're a pain in the a55. Did you know that diatomaceous earth kills them and many other insects very effectively, and is safe for use on livestock. Actually, you can pay more and even get food grade. Put it in a grass seed spreader and spread it on your lawn (key: the grass or area spread on must be completely dry as wetness causes the product to lose all of it's effectiveness due to the mechanical killing action. If you put a cat litter box in your coop with food grade DE in it your chickens will bathe themselves in it and free themselves of all insects including chiggers, ticks, and lice.

Also, put up a bat house to attract brown bats. They eat a LOT of insects in one night. No doubt you will have far less misquitoe problems after a short while once bats colonize your bat house.

 

[anmog]

Just in case. I wanted to give my recipe that my husband and daughter and they did not get one chigger bite or any other ...tick, mosquito, ant. etc on our land when it was being cleared and worked on. I got some fresh rosemary and rolled and squeezed it until some oil could be expelled and I put it in a spray bottle with witch hazel and olive oil. I added 20 drops peppermint and 20 of lavender essential oil. I also boiled some water with lemon rinds and let it simmer then cooled it for a day. I added it to the spray bottle and added fresh rind from an orange all shaken and mixed up in a spray bottle. They didn't get one bite on the land that ate me alive two weeks prior using deep woods off. Also, when they ran out of my spray bottle, they used deep woods off and got a few bites.

 

[Attila the Hen]

I had chiggers in my yard before chickens and was afraid to move off the beaten path--ever. It was a nightmare. After I got chickens I haven't had a single chigger bite in my yard. That's why I let them go where ever they wish in my yard. I have considered restricting them to protect plants but when I think of chiggers I say go girls.
I am convinced they eat them. If we pick up ticks on the dogs or elsewhere I feed them to the chickens who love them. And to think I am eating them when I eat the eggs.........

 

[12 gauge]

i dont think so

 

[anmog]

I sure do hope so because chiggers are one of those awful things like fleas or mosquitos that I scratch my head about in wondering their useful purpose on this earth.

 

[StevenW]

I've read that chickens are the chiggers preferred host. Others say chickens eat chiggers. We had a terrible problem with chiggers last year and I haven't been bitten this year (yet). Perhaps it is too soon in the season, maybe the severe winter weather cleared some out OR I'm hoping the chickens have eaten the little buggers.
Opinions please? I don't think I can spoil my free ranging chickens more than I do, but I'm willing to come up with something if I find they are eating chiggers.
Thank you

When I bought my hobby farm it was so overrun with chiggers I couldn’t go outside without getting tore up by them. A dozen hens and a year and I rarely get chigger bites anymore. My hens absolutely do eat them