Why not

[moodlymoo]

I have 21 chickens who free range almost daily but recently we saw a huge population of ants pop up in the back yard. Do your chickens eat ants? Mine wouldnt touch them and I cant figure out why. They are just those little tiny buggers who love to come inside.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've had chickens clean out ant nests when I move a board eating the eggs/larvae but they ignore ants.

 

[moodlymoo]

Why is that I wonder. I want those ants killed

 

[Avalon1984]

Mine didn't eat eggs until the rooster came over and gave them the funny noise at to "Hey look, there's something good to eat". Then they went nuts over it.

 

[ramirezframing]

I had a house chick that I would take out looking for bugs. She ate ants, and termites as well as other bugs. The down side was that my puppy ate them too (not the ants or termites just the other bugs) which made it hard for me to find bugs in the yard for treats or fishing.

 

[debid]

They have a very acidic, lemony flavor (don't ask me how I know that). It could be that your birds tried them and didn't like the taste. Or, it could be that they don't recognize them as edible yet. My chickens do eat ants but they don't seem overly thrilled with them. I've also noticed that they will chow down a centipede but turn their beaks up at a harvestman. It would surely be a different situation if they weren't being free-fed chicken kibble.

 

[erinszoo]

My chickens ignore ants too. The ones around here taste like black pepper. They definitely have a bite to them. (we tried them on a camping trip to amuse the kids one time

) I'm guessing that the chickens don't like the piquantness of them.

 

[erinszoo]

Forgot, if you want to get rid of them without using chemicals, try pouring dry cream of wheat on the nest. It makes them blow up.

 

[nickie]

Quote:
How long was the camping trip, 6 months? Lol, or do you have teenagers and you were there for an hour?

 

[nickie]

Quote:
Baking soda too, they hate that stuff.