my chickens ate rose chafers tonight- can i counteract the toxic effect??

[damonjessica]

Please help if you know! I didn't realize and collected rose chafer beetles (as they have exploded in my area and are eating my gardens). I threw them in the chicken coop and while most chickens didn't seem interested- which I thought was strange- a few ate many of them. Now I am really worried it may kill them. Is there a way to counteract this??
Thank you so much for any help!

 

[sunflour]

So sorry, at some point in raising our own flocks we all make a mistake.

I don't think there is a way to counteract the toxin. And I don't know how many eaten will result in toxicity.

Are you positive those were Rose Chafers - hoping they may have been Japanese Beetles? Which are not toxic.

And hope your flock will be OK

Welcome to BYC, glad you have joined us. You should consider posting an intro under the New Members forum to get a proper welcoming.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

You should be worried about your chickens eating these beetles because now your chicken keeping neighbors will want to grow this insect pest to feed to their chickens. This will multiply your Rose Chafer problem. BTW, the damage to your garden begins as soon as the female beetle lays her eggs this month and the hungry larva attack the roots of your garden plants. If these insects caused anything other than a little gas in your chickens I would be surprised. Because otherwise how did the Natural, Organic, Heritage, chicken keepers of the past several eons ever manage to keep their poultry from eating these beetles?

 

[Intheswamp]

Well, dj, how are your chickens doing today?

Ed

 

[damonjessica]

Thanks for the responses. As of now all the chickens are fine. Our top rooster must have eaten 20-25 of these things and so far so good. I feel so bad I gave them these bugs. Most of my chickens looked at them but opted not to eat them, but a few tried 1. I will post again for the benefit of other readers, if anything adverse occurs. Thanks again for the responses!

 

[Birdydeb]

Ugh! I had to google to see what this beetle looked like. I've seen those but not lately. I am the worst for grabbing bugs and throwing them in the run....maybe I should cool it a little. I have to wonder though, just like chickengeorgeto said, how did chickens get along before they had us monitoring everything. Of course a few of your chickens knew better didn't they? I bet they'll be fine if nothing seems amiss yet but let us know. Glad your rooster seems none the worse for wear.