Why don't my chickens eat the flies??

[spacecowgirl]

Depending on what I give them as treats, and how hot it is, sometimes they have swarms of flies just ripe for the picking ( or pecking, haha )!!!

Yet they will not eat them...why is that? They will nab other bugs straight out of the air, but ignore the flies, and bees, for that matter. They're such a nuisance...why won't my chooks get rid of them??

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

they probably don't taste that good, mine don't like slugs or earthworms either

 

[LoreenH]

Mine would eat the flies if they could catch them...I've seen them try. They will eat slugs!!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Mine drop them and wipe their beaks, kinda like - yuck, but they eat alot of other stuff, thelittle chicks used to chase and catch flies, out of boredom I think, alot of them would drop them after catching, they love all kinds of spiders though.

 

[woodmort]

Actually they will eat the larva if they can get to it. If your setup is such that the manure is accessible to the chickens--you don't clean it up every day and haul it away to a pile someplace--the birds will do a fairly good job of keeping flies down. Once the flies hatch, however, they have a hard time catching them to the point where they usually don't both.

 

[ILuvMyPetChickens]

My chickens don't eat ants or flys.

 

[Mattemma]

No flies or slugs for mine.I did see one hen choke down a cicada the other day!

 

[florida lee]

I've seen my Australorp's catch flys and eat them. Ants they seem to leave alone.

 

[woodmort]

Some of you sure have chickens with strange dietary needs or you're spending more time with them than is necessary. Mine eat anything that crawls or flies.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

no, I just think we are just alittle more obsevant than some