Japanese Beetles and Winter Eating

[Hopulence]

Hi all,

First post (non-reply) so bear with me here Just sharing an idea that I had, and researched, during the summer due to the annual infestation of Japanese Beetles that we get around my house. I set up 3 beetle catchers that I "harvested daily." By the end of the Summer I had 1/2 of a Quart Mason Jar full. Gross.

I like to give my girls a lot of scratch and corn during the brutal Massachusetts winters. Usually throw the treats in the run or coop to encourage scratching and rotating of the shavings (I use the deep litter method). But this year I throw in about 1/4 c of Japanese beetles every other day! Bonus being it helps them get through their molting so much quicker.

About once every other week I make a Japanese Beetle/mealworm/corn/BOSS suet cake using the animal fats that I saved up during the year. I hang that in one of those hanging bird suet cake feeders to also help with entertainment.

For those wondering - my process was to capture the beetles daily to lessen the amount of dead beetles in the traps. I would 1/2 fill a small bucket with a vinegar & water mixture and place the 3 bags in the bucket to submerge the beetles. This would kill some of them but also would clean up any poop or other matter I wouldn't want to feed the chickens. Also, once they were covered in this mixture, they wouldn't be able to fly away during the next step of transferring them to a sealed Mason Jar to put in the freezer immediately.

Thanks for reading, if you did. Just felt like sharing my method of upping my chicken's protein intake during the fall and turning lemons into lemonade!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I like to give my girls a lot of scratch and corn during the brutal Massachusetts winters.

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Ugh, I hate those Japanese beetles.

Most feed are already made from mostly corn (which has about 7% protein) Giving Corn and scratch... does not keep chickens warm and is a common myth. But it does decrease protein content of your normal feed as well as decrease amino acids, vitamins and mineral. It's a great boredom buster and way to get your litter turned... but should be used in very limited quantities... under 10% of total daily intake.

About once every other week I make a Japanese Beetle/mealworm/corn/BOSS suet cake using the animal fats that I saved up during the year.

Just felt like sharing my method of upping my chicken's protein intake during the fall and turning lemons into lemonade!

First let me say I LOVE that you are using up things, sharing your methods, and working hard to give your birds a fantastic life!

Now let me share that while many of those things you list are fairly high in protein and good sources of enrichment many if them are also excessively high in fat... eggs are a great source of many nutrients. Their energy comes from 34% protein and 64% fat. Following blue link to meal worm nutritional info...
mealworms

For me.. when I really want to up protein... instead of buying expensive meal worms... I will use a game bird starter feed or pellets. This ups protein without diminishing nutrients. My birds still enjoy and know it is different than their normal feed. In addition I might use some ground beef or a little tuna... or other lean meats.

I do understand that some folks with extremely short days may need the added fat simply to get enough calories on board to maintain body condition.

Another thing to consider... using a flock raiser type feed with oyster shell on the side if "layer" is your normal feed. Also please note that I'm not pointing fingers or accusing you of wrong doing... just sharing information also.

 

[Hopulence]

Thank you for your post! This is the 3rd year I've had them so somewhat familiar with what works and doesn't, but I do appreciate your advice. I'm always learning

The scratch I got is a lot of corn and grain so I do limit it to more of an activity and less of a "diet." Interesting to hear it doesn't warm them as I have read before... I also typically mix a blend of layer pellet and grower pellet to up the protein as they are laying less during the winter anyway. They get more than enough fat with the suet so I try to limit that on the treats.

They always have oyster shell to eat - I've yet to see any calcium issues and they do eat it when necessary.

One more thing I've started doing is sprouting mung beans during the winter. I let them get pretty big (2 to 3 inches long or so), then put them in a sunny window for a couple days to get green up. The girls love those and I feel happy to get them some fresh veggies when the grass is snow covered. Very cheap and easy to do - I am actively looking into a growing system for barleygrass or similar.

I use very few mealworms in the treats because I reserve that for only when calling them back into the run. I want them to know they are a very special treat only as a reward for coming back in when we need them to come back (leaving the house, predator sighting, have to let my dog out, etc)

 

[so lucky]

A few years ago when we had a horrible Japanese beetle infestation, I used a pheromone trap and harvested daily, into a zip lock bag then into the freezer. I accumulated several gallons of beetles, which I did toss out to the chickens during the winter. Chickens love them but not as much as they love mealworms.
You can grow your own mealworms. It's pretty easy and some kids love to take over the mealworm growing job.
Welcome to BYC, by the way! We love pics here, so feel free to post your favs.

 

[Hopulence]

Then I guess I'll have to share one of my 3 ISA Brown, Leghorn, and Barred Rock sunning their wings to warm us up during winter

"Fun Fact" - I saved the white one from a fox attack. Found her hiding about 2 houses away. She had about 2/3 of her tail feathers ripped out and I was scared she wasn't going to make it. But got her cleaned up and dried off and she's doing just fine! Her name is now Houdini.

Edit - When my daughter is a bit older (she just turned two), maybe I'll look into raising my own mealworms. Does seem easy but a bit of work - but if I can make it fun for my daughter to do and instill some responsibility, then that's a great win/win. Thanks!

 

[so lucky]

I love to see chickens sunbathing!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

If you haven't seen this thread yet, it's worth a look:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/making-feed-from-japanese-beetles.1223688/#post-19604687