Snails anyone?

Yes that's right. Snails.

I thought I would share this with you all.

I have a 55 gal, 20 gal, and a 7 gal fish tank all stocked with happy fishies and planties.
(you are all probably wondering where this is going)
But my tanks are also very well stocked with SNAILS. Now I love my snails, they are those very cute Ramshorn snails, and they help balance out the ecosystem in my tanks, BUT I had just recently had a big burst of algae growth in my tanks and BOOM. A ton of snails.

Now I don't use chemicals to get rid of snails in my tanks, thats what my loaches are for. But they just could not keep up with all the snails, and before I knew it most of the snails were too big to be eaten by the loaches anyway.

Hmm so what do I do?

I decided to go outside and chillax with my chickens while I thought about what to do, when it hit me. My chickens! They would love the snails...or so I hoped.

So I found my trusty Fish net and set about catching as many snails as I could. I lost count at around 50 lol.
After I had a good sum of them I took them out to my ladies and tossed the yummy morsels to them.

At first our Rooster Pico-De-Gallo was not too thrilled about them. He gave out his alarm call and stared cautiously at them.
But Wait! Sweat Bell saves the day! She dove in and grabbed the first one she could get her beak on, which then sent the other ladies into a feeding frenzy.
Pico was still watching not sure what to do as the girls chased eachother around trying to get the best bite. When he finally decided he was going to join. Sadly at this point there were very little snails for him to have, so he was left chasing the ladies around to try and steal some of theirs goodies.

Success! I have less snails in the tanks. And happy hens.

A little while later another snail explosion. So I decided to try giving some to the ducks. Oh My, I think they loved it more than the chickens!!! Their little beaks working in the grass making all the silly sucking and slurping noises they do when they eat I then thought they would love it more if I put them in a water pan for them. OH MAN ITS CHRITMAS!! They couldn't get enough!!! I ran out of snails FAST! haha ducks are so funny ^___^


Now for a word of Caution. Most medication you use in your fish tanks are for fish that are not to be used for human consumption. I know that you would not be eating it directly but the hen absorbs the meds that she gets out of the snails and that is then transferred to the eggs she produces that we then eat. So if you do decide to start feeding your girls snails, just be mindful of what you are putting in to your fish tanks

Hope this was helpful!

Happy Fishing!!

~Chicken Littlez

 

Haha! I hear ya about the Zuchini! Mine won't go near a Zuchini, I even tried cooking it for them. But Nope. And there is always SO MUCH zucchini lol

 

Hahahahaha! That's so true! they are the expert bug hunters lol. They might give Timone and Pumba a run for their money haha