Will chickens eat termites?

[beergnome]

I have some 2-week old EE pullets and happen to have a bunch of winged subterranean termites. Would they be good to introduce to the chicks?

Thanks!

 

[wegotchickens]

Yes!
As long as no one has sprayed poison around them.

We let our very first chicks start playing outside around the same time as the termites started swarming in our area. I was pleased to see how they chowed down on them. And even more pleased when I looked at how many were in the air and knew THAT MANY MORE were in my chicks bellies!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Yes they will love them (I also introduced ants at this age - sadly they ate them when they the chickens were young, now as adults most do not care for ants).

Make sure you offer grit or sand also (needed for gizzard grinding)

 

[beergnome]

Awesome, thanks y'all. I wish I had started catching them when they were pouring out if this piece of wood in the backyard, I could have had hundreds. Now I just got some stragglers but the girls got pretty excited and pecked em up.

I can find all sorts of bugs around here. Are there any to avoid? Rolly-polys (pillbugs) are the easiest to find. Junebugs are starting to come out. Cockroaches are around. Should I buy some meal worms or something? The kids will find this very entertaining when the get home. Oh, here they are now...

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Oh - get them some mealworms and you will be a HERO! They love them so much, I have started raising my own.


I offer them all bugs, but stinging types - some bugs they really love, and some are spit out.

My sweet Amelia is my spider muncher - I yell spider, spider and she comes running to save me.