Is there any bug chickens WON'T eat?

[eekgads]

My chickens won't eat fuzzy caterpillars or tent worms. Oh, also a local wood-boring black beetle.

 

[Tala]

Mine act like they dont' even see ants. Which sucks coz we have a major ant problem at this place.

They don't *like* slugs very much, but they DO eat them after they finish all the better stuff.

 

[HathawayHens]

My six week olds won't eat fuzzy caterpillars or Lubber grasshoppers... which is a bummer, cuz we have a zillion of each. I think they taste yucky.

 

[Lumenos]

Quote:
Mine ate mosquitoes when they were only a few weeks old. When one gets a special treat like that they grab it and run around the pen squeaking, as if to say "Don't nobody try to take my skeeter" which compels all the others to chase them around trying to steal it. They would do this with things that weren't even food, like a piece of paper, like it was a game.

 

[Lumenos]

Quote:
Many insects/worms/slugs can transmit parasitic worms. Here is a table, showing which transmit what. Mine seem to prefer the species that don't carry parasites, but they will eat things like pill bugs, earwigs, and earthworms sometimes.

 

[math ace]

Mine love grasshoppers - - - green, gray, and brown.

They won't touch black ones. COLOR seems to be the key with them. Any bug that is BLACK or BLACK with bright color they won't touch.

They eat gray squash bugs - - - squawking the whole time.
Give them a BLACK leaf foot bug and they won't touch it. The leaf foot is in the squash bug family - - - but they won't even try it.

These are bugs in my garden. I would let the girls out to get their own dinner, BUT they would probably eat my crops too ! ! !
So I bring dinner to them.

 

[nursemeh]

ok, nobody has mentioned roaches!! I think my chickens love roaches!!!

Last year, by this time toward the end of May, I had usually started spotting a roach, or two, in or around the house, which would prompt me to scream bloody murder until somebody killed it!!

After having chickens for a year.....I haven't seen a roach in or around the house yet!!

I know that we still have some out in the trees, but could it be that my hens scratching around out under the deck, etc, etc have deterred them from coming around the house?

and for those that dont know, cause they have never lived in a hot humid climate:
I am talking about the huge scary tree roaches that live outside, but that, to my horror, always seem to want to wander inside!!!

as far as ants, my chickens pretty much ignore them to, just too small for them to bother with!

Mary

 

[tree13ag]

set silkie & her nine chicks loose in garden this am....TONS of squash bugs....they are enjoying the nimphs & eggs, but won't touch the adults
the duckling likes the nimphs, not the adults, will eat the whole squash leaf encrusted in eggs

all my chickens love cockroaches, worms, snakes (the best entertainment anywhere), THEY FIGHT OVER GRUBS, butterlies & moths (when they can catch them)....

don't seem interested in ants, but i think their scratching deters the ants, because i've noticed them less since i've had chickens...won't touch a pillbug

 

[bigstack]

Mine love everything so far! Except worms!!! LOL I dug up a huge cup full of earth worms and they all looked at me like I was insane when I dumped them out in the pen! LOL I have seen them eat a HUGE carpenter Bumble bee, and even a toad! I was affraid they might be poison, but she never showed any sign of it! I know some toads are poison to pets! I found one fried (toad) by the electric fence and you could see all of the poison squirted out of the glands from behind the eye ridges! I can't believe the chicken ate one just like it, with out any problems!!! I wish I could let mine free range, but with my dogs its a no go for now!

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

mine love roaches, earwigs, sow bugs ,ants and alot of other bugs. But they don't eat alot of the ants and they don't like horn worms(green tomato worm)