Chickens are omnivores birds that can eat both plant and animal base matter. However, they are opportunistic birds as well that can peck whatever they get, including fruits, vegetables, seeds, bugs, worms, insects, etc. Moreover, if you are used to feeding chickens, then they also keep scavenging food from their surroundings, like bugs. But what kind of bugs do chickens eat? Let’s dig into it.
However, if you are curious to know about it, then navigate this article as in this article, I’ll list all the bugs that chickens like the most to eat. So let’s start.
Moreover, chickens love to eat bugs as these bugs are favorite to chickens because they are healthy for them. However, chickens like to eat termites, slugs, grasshoppers, ticks, etc. Furthermore, eating bugs also help chickens to keep their place safe from such pests.
What Kind of Bugs Do Chickens Eat?
Chickens like to eat several types of bugs as their food consist of bugs as well. However, eating bugs by chickens also help them to keep their surrounding free from bugs. So, let’s discuss in detail that what kind of bugs chickens like to eat.
Termites:
However, termites are the favorite bugs to eat for chickens and thus, chickens help to keep our house and chicken’s coop safe. As termites can cause serious damage to the wooden parts of your house and also to the coop of chickens. Thus chickens help us to make our place termites free.
Slugs:
These bugs like to eat plants and leaves, and they can destroy every plant in your garden. However, chickens love to have a meal of them and thus can cave your garden from them. Moreover, these slugs are tasty and healthy to chickens.
Grasshoppers:
Like slugs, they are also leaves and stem eaters of a plant. But chickens also like to eat them and keep feasting on them whenever available. However, grasshoppers can also damage your garden’s plants, but chickens will help you control the destruction caused by them.
Ticks:
However, these bugs carry the diseases for us, chickens, and for the other animals as well. As they are used to sticking with the body of their host and sucking blood from them. However, chickens like to feast on them and thus play a unique role in the ecosystem in controlling their population.
Cockroaches:
However, chickens help in controlling the population of cockroaches whenever they are available to them. And cockroaches are safe for chickens to consume and also offer some nutrients to the chickens.
Potato Beetles:
These bugs are known as potato beetles because they are used to eat eggplants like potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc. However, chickens like to eat them whenever they are available to them and thus help to keep their populations in control and save your plants from them.
Crickets:
These bugs also offer an excellent meal to chickens, and chickens like to eat them. However, these bugs feast on small plants and flowers.
Flies:
Chickens can also eat flies after snapping them through the air. However, the flies are disease spreaders to chickens and humans as well. Not only flies but their larvae are also disease spreaders for us.
Read also: Do Raccoons Eat Kittens?
What Bugs Can Chickens Not Eat?
As chickens like to eat bugs, there are several kinds of bugs present in their surroundings that chickens don’t want to eat. For example, bees and wasps, box-elder bugs, stink bugs, Asian Ladybugs, etc.
However, chickens don’t like to eat and peck on the bugs that produce a solid unpleasant body smell. And because of it, chickens stay away from several bugs. Moreover, chickens don’t like to eat bees and wasps due to their stings and also they can be poisonous to chickens.
However, chickens are natural foragers, but they know which food could be harmful to them. That’s why they try their best to keep away from them.
Moreover, it is good that chickens don’t eat bees as they are helpful in the distribution of pollens which is necessary for every garden to thrive.
Benefits of Bugs for Chickens and For Us:
However, bugs for chickens are beneficial in many ways. And the biggest benefit of eating bugs for chickens is protein. As protein is necessary for chickens for the proper functioning of their body, chickens also need proteins for their muscles buildings.
Not only this, but foraging bugs also help them to maintain their good health.
However, chickens eating bugs is also beneficial for us as chickens help control their population. And this leads to a control in disease spreaders for us. Not only this, but eating bugs also reduce the feed cost of chickens.
That’s why eating bugs are helpful for us and chickens as well.
A Final Thought:
As chickens are omnivores and also can eat whatever they get, including insects, bugs, etc. But this article is all about that what kind of bugs do chickens eat? As they like to eat several bugs including, termites, slugs, grasshoppers, potato beetle, cricket. Flies, etc.
However, there are several bugs that chickens don’t like to eat as bees, wasps, box-elder bugs, stink bugs, Asian ladybugs, etc. In addition, chickens don’t want to eat bugs that produce unpleasant strong body odor.