slugs

[richje100]

guys,
my chickens are kept in a very large fenced area (in an allotment away from my home) which once was covered with grass. now its just dirt. i did parts over each week to give them something new to scratch in.
in my backgarden i have a small vegetable patch which naturally attract a very large number of slugs. instead of using the blue pellets, i want to trap them & feed them to my hens.
whats the best way to capture them?
i heard of putting a jar in the ground with beer but not only a waste of beer but would it hurt the hens if they ate a slug caught with beer?

 

[Rennie]

Im not sure how the beer would affect the hens ..But that is deffinatley the best way to catch them...or by hand

 

[robin416]

Are you talking about the shelless slimey type? The birds won't eat them. I'm having a heck of time with slugs getting in to my waterers this year. The birds want nothing to do with them. That suggests to me they are not healthy for the birds.

 

[gettinaclue]

I've fed the ladies a few slugs this year. They really seemed to enjoy them.

 

[HHandbasket]

I go out in the evenings armed with a flashlight and a bowl to collect slugs from my garden. I toss them into the coop the next morning & the girls go NUTS over them. They don't like the sticky-sliminess on their beaks when the slime starts drying, though. I've seen them "wipe" off their beaks on the grass. It's pretty funny. My leghorn won't eat the slugs, though. She loves earthworms & caterpillars but not slugs. The rest of the girls like the slugs. I can't watch them eat slugs or worms, though... just grosses me out too much.

 

[emys]

My 5 week olds fight over who gets to eat the slugs they find. Maybe they have to have them as chicks and develop a taste for them. If they never had them as chicks, maybe they won't eat them later. I've heard that said about ducks - train them to eat them while they are young.

 

[richje100]

im just thinking what a waste when im killing them with pellets when i could just catch them & feed them to the birds.
not to sure about the beer though, dont want the birds to get a taste for beer!!!

 

[HHandbasket]

Isn't there an exotic dish from some country called "drunken chicken"?? Maybe they're fed beer-soaked slugs... LOL! Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[MotherJean]

Before you begin feeding slugs to your chickens, you might want to do some research on whether gapeworm is a problem in your area. Gapeworm is spread via an intermediate host like slugs, snails, and earthworms. Gapeworm is a pretty nasty business. These things attach themselves to the trachea. Bad infestations can kill the chicken due to smothering and/or strangulation. If you are the type to worm your chickens faithfully every 6 months, then feeding them slugs would probably be no big whoop. Just thought I'd mention it. Knowledge is power

 

[pattgal]

its not the beer slugs like its the yeast in the beer. keep your beer and go get some yeast mix it with warm water and sugar to activate it and youve got yourself a trap
I would have a hard time feeding slugs to my chickens and then try to eat anything that comes out of them ugh!!

but if it works for you all the power to ya
we have a pretty nasty slug thing going on here because our soil is so clay-ish
I will be doing this recipee with the addition of salt, to kill the slugs in the cocktail, hehe, but if you have the money the thing to do is to lime your soil. it makes the soil more alkaline and the slugs hate it as they are acidic creatures
here is a good link for slug infestation control
http://www.hillgardens.com/slugs.htm
Enjoy