The free range bugs and feed bag bugs makes for a good question, elf.
Our backyard isn't a bag of feed. There is all sorts of life out there and, hopefully, our chickens can fit into it.
Things are different in the feed bag. There may only be one type of insect in there and the microbes may be those that the bug can live with but may not be healthy for a chicken to eat.
This is really OT but -- I was recently reading about nematodes that attack insects - they are considered beneficial for protecting plants from bug damage. But, it isn't the nematode that kills the insect, if I understand right. The bacteria that live with/in the nematode kills the insect after the nematode has burrowed into it!
Kind of a horrible thing . . . the nematode eats the insect after its "friendly" bacteria have killed it
.
And, if you think that all is well and good for the nematode . . . ha! After eating the remains of the bug, it develops eggs. Reproduction results in the
rupturing of the nematode! The babies then eat the mother
.
I tell you -- it's a
dog-eat-dog world out there
!! Best to error on the side of caution with our backyard, feathered friends. They are doing the best they can for us . . .
Steve