Japanese Beetles => Chicken Feed

Here's a new way of giving chickens bugs, which is part of their traditional diet. Get a tanglefoot Japanese beetle trap. Empty it daily into a bag and put the bag in the freezer. Serve to chickens.

I've trapped over a pound of Japanese beetles a week and given them to a neighbor who raises chickens. She says her chickens ate them up and laid eggs with thicker shells and darker yolks.

Honey, when I had chickens a few years ago, they were on patrol all day long. There was never an ant in the house, or a tick on the dogs. Chickens are relentless. Funny how mice never seem to get into the chicken feeders. . . because the chickens kill them.

We've been debating whether or not to get chickens just because of how aggressive those beetles were this year. Sounds like we need to, especially if they eat ticks.

William G. said:

We've been debating whether or not to get chickens just because of how aggressive those beetles were this year. Sounds like we need to, especially if they eat ticks.

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Wow, if they eat ticks then that's quite handy. If chickens can deal with german cockroaches and fire ants too, then I guess I need a pair of these chickens Though I think eating those ants may harm chickens and it would be better to use spray dusts as mentioned on this page.

I'll have to try this. Our chickens free range our pastures in mobile shelters on a rotational grazing system following our beef herd so they get a lot in the summer time. People with personal shelters here are always begging us to move them across the farm to near their yards in the summer so they can have tick free yards. I always wish we could move them up into community and just have chickens everywhere for the insect control (plus I just love watching them), but most of community isn't into that and we have way too many dogs for that to work. I've never thought of trapping them and then taking them to the chickens, but it seems like a really good alternative to just putting the chickens in our front yards. This also seems like a way more pleasant feed supplement than growing soldier fly grubs in a bucket containing a dead animal (there's more detail to that, but it's not really important unless anyone really wants to know) which I've always thought about but never really wanted to try.

Paisley said:

Here's a new way of giving chickens bugs, which is part of their traditional diet. Get a tanglefoot Japanese beetle trap. Empty it daily into a bag and put the bag in the freezer. Serve to chickens.

I've trapped over a pound of Japanese beetles a week and given them to a neighbor who raises chickens. She says her chickens ate them up and laid eggs with thicker shells and darker yolks.

Click to expand...

Oh.. I did not know about it.. time to send some tips to my farmer friend