Horn worm picked the wrong garden to eat tomatoes

[patman75]

Yesterday I noticed horn worm damage on my tomatoes.

So after a little hunting for those buggers I found 4 giant horn worms and then they were immediately thrown in the chicken run. At first the chickens did not know what to do with something that big. But they figured it out pretty quick and then it was a game of who can run the fastest with the horn worm in its mouth.

Death by chickens you nasty catapillers!

 

[beth59]

We had some back in April (when our tomatoes just get going). They ended up as chickie treats too. Yummmm.

 

[LarryPQ]

yuuuck. We dont get hornworms here, but I DO remember a slew of awful hornworm threads with pictures. 5 gallon buckets full of hornwormey chicken treats.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Quote:

I used to do the same thing. Japanese beetles, snails, slugs, horn worms...any bug that decided to take food from my garden, became food themselves... Lol nasty buggers!

 

[Annabella]

Hooray for the chooks !!

I was repotting my ferns which were looking a bit sad, and found a dozen christmas beetle larvae in amongst the roots. Thats why the ferns were sad.

Threw these large grubs, into the chooks.
They were initially "what the heck" with the look on their faces, but realised quickly it was food. But sooo funny watching them with the worm in their beak getting chased around the run by the other girls

 

[patman75]

Quote:

I used to do the same thing. Japanese beetles, snails, slugs, horn worms...any bug that decided to take food from my garden, became food themselves... Lol nasty buggers!

The japanese beetles are next on my hit list.

I'm going to try to modify a trap that will despense the bettles into the chicken run.

 

[ladytoysdream]

When I am in the garden next to the chicken run, and I see any snails,
over the fence they go, to the chickens. I have a year old hen who just
stands there and watches me, and if she sees me throw something in
the yard, she is right there. She loves snails

 

[frankenchick]

I don't have trouble with hornworms, but we get lots of JBs around here.

Somewhere, I read how to set up a trap that would also work as a treat dispenser for chickens: Set up one of those commercial JB traps as directed, but before hanging the bag, cut off the cone-shaped bit at the very bottom. Set a pan of water beneath the trap (something the chooks can't tip over and empty). The JBs are drawn to the bait, fall thru the bag, and land in the water. As they're paddling around trying to get out, the chickens can snap them up.

We call it Bobbing for Beetles; my chickens love it, and they get a lot of free protein! One year I collected them the usual way -- I gathered 7 lbs of JBs in 4 days!!

When the kids were little, I sent them on JB Safari. Each one got a plastic baggie and was sent into the backyard. They got a nickel for each JB they collected. It ended up costing me about $6, but it kept them busy for quite a while and earned them some walking around money for the fair.