Official BYC Poll: Do You Feed Your Chickens Cicadas?

[TheDuckGuy]

I would happily run around with a butterfly net catching them for the chickens if we actually had any where I am.

My chickens love the Dubia roaches my sister the reptile keeper gives me.

I am both

 

[Vickischics]

Chickens are scavengers. Foragers. Omnivores. Chicken love to eat a wide variety of insects & worms. Like most bugs, Cicadas are high in protein, low in fat and carbohydrates. This high protein bug and beneficial microbes are a favorite treat, and this free food not only improves the quality of the eggs, but it also reduces the amount of feed you have to buy.

This summer marks the much-anticipated mass-emergence of Brood X (Ten) cicadas which will see billions of them surfacing after 17 years underground. So, the question begs: Do You Feed Your Chickens Cicadas?

Feel free to place your vote and please elaborate in the comment section if you choose "Other".

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Further Reading:

• Deciding To Free-Range Your Flock
• Feeding Chickens: An Introductory Guide
• How Much Does It Cost To Raise Backyard Chickens

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

I dont have any yet. But, I'm sure my Raptors will do whatever it takes to grab one.including jumping!!! Lol.

 

[Jory]

In the pacific Northwest we only have the small yearly cicadas. They make an annoying electric-like buzzing noise but, isn't anything like the east coast hatches or the ear ripping noise they make.
I'm sure that the chickens eat them as they are pastured under the trees and the cicadas come up from the tree roots.
They definitely aren't big enough or plentiful enough for harvesting.
Now, paper wasps, hm. They need harvesting lol.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

I had to Google what they sound like but my goodness they're gross looking!

 

[thehenandchick01234]

I've only seen them a couple times.
Just a FYI, FDA has announced if your allergic to seafood don't eat cicadas, they are distant relatives in the same family of shrimp and lobsters.
I guess that means if you are not allergic to them go ahead and munch down

Yeah it’s the iron in them.

 

[adrikeen]

My area looks like the end of days/locusts with the infestation of cicadas. I've grown up with them and always thought they were neat...but this is beyond anything I can describe. I don't recall this 17 years ago!!! The noise is deafening to the point it drowns out the rooster!!! Initially the chickens were interested in the first to emerge but now the swarm is too intense/noise too much that the are not even bothering with them.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I am very disappointed - I’m in Virginia and not a one! At least not yet I hope! If we do get them, I certainly will grab some up and toss them in the run! May consider freezing them too!

Down here we also have access to live crickets at the feed store. Every now and then we pick up a small box of live ones and toss them into our pens. It's a show within itself how these chickens go at it. Especially the last remaining cricket... it's like a Rugby match.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

No cicadas here, but I am sure my birds would love them. They eat the huge cockroaches we have here.

 

[Sierra G]

I should probably freeze them

Me too. If only so I had bags of cicadas in my freezer to drag out when my opinionated vegan neighbor starts one of her rants. “Oh, that reminds me. I need to thaw something out for later. "

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yeah, I'm disappointed we don't have any here in SE MO. I'm sad my chickens aren't getting any. If we did, I probably wouldn't actually be "feeding" them to my chooks, but I don't see how you could prevent them from eating their fill.