MEDIUM SIZED GRUB
I live in a small city in southern Arizona and am a novice chicken owner. I have eleven chickens: 1 Americana, 1 Black Maran, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 RI Red, 1 White LegHorn, 1 Red Sexlink, 1 Black Sexlink, 2 Aracaunas, 1 Black Australorp. All of them were born mid-April 2014 except the first 2, that are older but I'm not sure how much older--probably no more than 6 months older or so. (These 2 were given to me.)
One day I noticed a few small mounds of disrupted dirt in the morning inside the chicken pen. After paying attention for a week or so and some research, I figured out the mounds were from grubs that have taken up residence under the soil inside the chicken coop (and who come out every evening). In my research I learned that chickens LOVE grubs as a great treat. "Wonderful" I thought, "the chickens are gonna love these!" But...MY chickens don't touch 'em. They'll sometimes peck at them once, but then leave them, uninterested. Last night, after a tremendous rain yesterday, the grubs not only came out in full force, but then they died and are just laying all over the coop. As expected, the chickens aren't touching them (alive or dead). By the way, the FEW mounds have increased to a LOT of mounds and the LITTLE grubs are now GIANT grubs! What a waste of grubs if my chickens won't eat them. I thought chickens were supposed to help eliminate these kinds of things too. What gives? So, I have some questions: (1) Why are the grubs taking up residence in the chicken pen? (2) Why aren't any of my chickens eating them? (3) Are these grubs a problem then? and lastly, (4) Should I get rid of them (and how)?
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