I watch my chickens today eat ant eggs (larva????)

[toyzbox]

I've always heard that they will eat the ants but I was afraid that if they got into a mound the red ants could hurt them. Is that a problem with the big girls or is it just the chicks???

 

[kinnip]

I've never seen mine eat adult ants, but the larvae are clearly good eats. I like to wait for a group of birds to stroll by and knock the top off a bed with a stick. They see those little white snack packs and go nuts. The turkeys love them.

 

[toyzbox]

Kinnip, when you do that what are the ants doing? I mean are the chickens being bothered by them???

 

[kinnip]

I've seen a couple of them stomp a little, but mostly the ants run off and the birds are too absorbed in eating to care about a couple of bites. I've never seen anyone suffering from bites. They're big birds, they can move off if it hurts too much.