To bug, or not to bug?

[Trish of the Coop]

I have searched and searched and connot find a definite answer. My girls get mostly free roam. They will eat anything that wiggles, crawls, or is otherwise nasty. My question is- are there any bugs that can poison my chickens? Are they smart enough to know not to eat them?

 

[Chickassan]

They know good from bad, but to my knowledge there are no poisonous insects in North America that would harm your birds unless eaten in huge amounts "like millpedes" or unless they were starving and ate universally distasteful things like hammerhead worms.
Now diseases can still be spread through insects poisonous, venomous or harmless but that is another worry for another day.

 

[Trish of the Coop]

They know good from bad, but to my knowledge there are no poisonous insects in North America that would harm your birds unless eaten in huge amounts "like millpedes" or unless they were starving and ate universally distasteful things like hammerhead worms.
Now diseases can still be spread through insects poisonous, venomous or harmless but that is another worry for another day.

Thank you. They do get plenty of treats and food is accessible at all times so they 100% are not starving. I was just concerned because they seem to prefer the creepiest bugs that come out of rotting wood. I had half assumed there weren't anything super poisonous, if there were I'm sure someone would have made a list by now. Even still I'm a tad over protective I guess. This definitely puts my mind at ease though thank you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

While anything can happen, it is really unusual for free ranging chickens to eat anything that hurts them, creepy crawlies or plants either for that matter. Part of that is that things that hurt them generally do not taste good. Since they free range they have other options. Part of that is dosage, one bite won't kill them. For practically anything harmful they'd have to eat a fair amount to harm themselves. Since it doesn't taste good and they have other options they don't eat that much. Their digestive juices can neutralize some stuff too.

An example. The leaves of a tomato plant contain a substance that is harmful to them.. They taste awful too. It takes a bit to harm them but it is toxic. If your free ranging chicken happens upon a tomato plant they might take one bite, shake their head, and move on. If you keep chickens in a bare run so they never get anything green and toss a tomato plant in there they might eat enough to harm themselves. They don't have other options.

They eat things we consider totally disgusting, spiders, maggots, slugs, whatever they can scratch up. Those are actually full of good nutrition. Don't be surprised to see yours catch and eat mice, frogs, or small snakes. I've seen them cut those into bite-sized pieces by pecking with their beak. They seem to live by the motto "Do lunch or be lunch". If it doesn't eat them they will try to eat it.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

While anything can happen, it is really unusual for free ranging chickens to eat anything that hurts them, creepy crawlies or plants either for that matter. Part of that is that things that hurt them generally do not taste good. Since they free range they have other options. Part of that is dosage, one bite won't kill them. For practically anything harmful they'd have to eat a fair amount to harm themselves. Since it doesn't taste good and they have other options they don't eat that much. Their digestive juices can neutralize some stuff too.

An example. The leaves of a tomato plant contain a substance that is harmful to them.. They taste awful too. It takes a bit to harm them but it is toxic. If your free ranging chicken happens upon a tomato plant they might take one bite, shake their head, and move on. If you keep chickens in a bare run so they never get anything green and toss a tomato plant in there they might eat enough to harm themselves. They don't have other options.

They eat things we consider totally disgusting, spiders, maggots, slugs, whatever they can scratch up. Those are actually full of good nutrition. Don't be surprised to see yours catch and eat mice, frogs, or small snakes. I've seen them cut those into bite-sized pieces by pecking with their beak. They seem to live by the motto "Do lunch or be lunch". If it doesn't eat them they will try to eat it.

 

[Trish of the Coop]

While anything can happen, it is really unusual for free ranging chickens to eat anything that hurts them, creepy crawlies or plants either for that matter. Part of that is that things that hurt them generally do not taste good. Since they free range they have other options. Part of that is dosage, one bite won't kill them. For practically anything harmful they'd have to eat a fair amount to harm themselves. Since it doesn't taste good and they have other options they don't eat that much. Their digestive juices can neutralize some stuff too.

An example. The leaves of a tomato plant contain a substance that is harmful to them.. They taste awful too. It takes a bit to harm them but it is toxic. If your free ranging chicken happens upon a tomato plant they might take one bite, shake their head, and move on. If you keep chickens in a bare run so they never get anything green and toss a tomato plant in there they might eat enough to harm themselves. They don't have other options.

They eat things we consider totally disgusting, spiders, maggots, slugs, whatever they can scratch up. Those are actually full of good nutrition. Don't be surprised to see yours catch and eat mice, frogs, or small snakes. I've seen them cut those into bite-sized pieces by pecking with their beak. They seem to live by the motto "Do lunch or be lunch". If it doesn't eat them they will try to eat it.

Fantastic information... now that I'm done heaving at the thought of my cute innocent chickens chowing down on frogs and mice .....lol. I do get what you are saying though and again thank you so so much.

To everyone really that answered this post. I feel 100 times better now thank you all again

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

I have searched and searched and connot find a definite answer. My girls get mostly free roam. They will eat anything that wiggles, crawls, or is otherwise nasty. My question is- are there any bugs that can poison my chickens? Are they smart enough to know not to eat them?

Not all insects make a good and nutritious snack for your flock. Here's the small, the nice, the poor, and the ugly. Blackbirds, caterpillars, earwigs, coddling moths, grasshoppers, ticks, millipedes, aphids, spiders and termites are all beyond the scope of a chicken beak and make a tasty snack.