Teaching Chickens to Eat Carpenter Ants & Termites

[gunDriller]

http://oi52.tinypic.com/f055xl.jpg

Those 3 ants in the bottom of the picture - their days are numbered.

http://oi55.tinypic.com/2sacigw.jpg

Some other bug had the misfortune of being in the same pile of rotting wood as the Carpenter Ants. The chickens taste-tested it but didn't eat it.


How I got these pics - I went up the hill and found a rotting tree that had carpenter ants. Put them in a bucket, sealed in a garbage bag since I don't want them eating my house.

& fed them a handful at a time to my 3 chickens. They are Rhode Island red hens.

Their coop is not yet predator proof, so I have been keeping them in a cage indoors. (Bathtub in extra bathroom). Now that they're 2 months old, it was time to introduce them to their new home, even if it will take me a few weeks to patch up all the holes, and to lay down some screen so that nothing can dig in from the bottom.

I have heard the same story probably 5 times from various neighbors - they used to raise chickens, there was "an incident", they came home to find their chickens eaten by a fox/ cat/ coyote ... and they no longer raise chickens. In one case, a bear breached their chicken coop trying to eat the chicken food, then the other animals came in to feast on the chickens.


Now I wonder - if I get them trained well enough, could I rent them out to people with carpenter ant & bug infestations ? They are relentless, now that they've discovered they like ants. I'm thinking about giving them some "quality time" in the crawl-space beneath my home, and in the attic, just to eat whatever termites & carpenter ants might be crawling around there.

[willie pete]

I thought a chicken would eat 'em anyways? ...OR anything else crawling arounf on the ground :D

[gunDriller]

I thought a chicken would eat 'em anyways? ...OR anything else crawling arounf on the ground :D


true.

but i want them to focus on eating bugs that might otherwise eat my home.

the biggest one is learning to scratch the straw away to find bugs underneath.

they don't take verbal directions at all, but they are learning, when i point at an ant, they will come over to look and then eat it.

[SLV^GLD]

Those 3 ants in the bottom of the picture - their days are numbered.

In the fractions!

[gunDriller]

I had an old Banty hen that would sit outside the backdoor and fuss until I would come out to take her bug hunting, as soon as I walked out the door she would run over to the gate and wait for me to follow her.

Had lots of boards lying in the grass outside the gate and we'd walk up to them and she'd get poised and wait for me to lift one up, as soon as it was an inch off he ground her head would be under it pecking away, I'd flip the board over and wait til she finished off every bug and then she'd move up too the next one waiting to repeat the process.

She had me well trained :D


they have me well-trained too !

i was just working on a travel cage for them, so them can travel with some degree of comfort & style.

i was thinking about putting a harness on them and then taking them up to go tree-stump hunting.

i wonder how many they would eat if there was an unlimited supply. maybe my patience would run out before they decided their bullies were full enough.

some bugs i like, e.g. the giant millipedes, i wouldn't want the chickens to eat one of those. but i know at some point i will have to "let them go", and eat whatever bug they want.

[muffin]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D

[willie pete]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D






our grandparents had chickens growing up, we'd stand at the gate of the chicken yard and yell '''here...chick..chick...chick..." and they'd come running, flapping their wings, cause they knew they were gonna get something good....usually it was watermelon rind or corn

[muffin]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D






our grandparents had chickens growing up, we'd stand at the gate of the chicken yard and yell '''here...chick..chick...chick..." and they'd come running, flapping their wings, cause they knew they were gonna get something good....usually it was watermelon rind or corn


Best trick EVAR! ;) Sometimes they follow me just because I'm the treat lady ;D

[Dogman]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D






our grandparents had chickens growing up, we'd stand at the gate of the chicken yard and yell '''here...chick..chick...chick..." and they'd come running, flapping their wings, cause they knew they were gonna get something good....usually it was watermelon rind or corn


Best trick EVAR! ;) Sometimes they follow me just because I'm the treat lady ;D


Yep see you and think food and they are always hopeful , And some have very good memory's, when I was a kid grandparents would go to Kansas to see family, and always stopped at a friends house to over night, they had a BIG rooster that did not like me at all. Others that dam bird could care less about, but me showing up that bird would go on the war path, And I never did anything to him except help collect eggs. 4 years in a row I had to deal with that sob. ;D So ether a coincidence or good memory, I think memory for 4 years running and only a couple of hours a year that bird knew me!.

[gunDriller]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D


no kidding.

i had a bucket of tadpoles, with about 500 tadpoles.

then the wild turkeys came by late one evening or early one morning - there's maybe 10 tadpoles left in that bucket.


as far as the watermelon rind - i'm going to try that right now.

[gunDriller]

Yeah chickens love fruit, that Banty hen of mine would fly right up into your lap if you were sitting on the porch eating green grapes, she wouldn't go away until she was convinced the grapes were gone.
Have you ever tried to tell a Banty hen to go lay down. :D


well, actually, i almost stopped talking to the birds, they don't pay any attention ! ;D

this morning when i went to turn on their light, the biggest one was pecking at the little one. so i said "bad bird !" and flicked him with my finger. he squawked and hid in a corner of the cage behind a 4 gallon plastic bucket.

i wonder to what extent chickens can learn. they did learn to come see what i'm pointing at.

i did feed them some grapes, i would have to say that is one of their favorite foods, right up there with bugs. they ate every grape i gave them.

[willie pete]

I have yet to see any of our chickens eat ants of any kind. They will step over them to get to a spider or junebug. They loooove frogs too. I've taught mine to come from anywhere on our acreage to the call of "chick chick chick" really loud. It's funny to see a stampede of 20 chickens come out of nowhere and follow me down to the coop ;D


no kidding.

i had a bucket of tadpoles, with about 500 tadpoles.

then the wild turkeys came by late one evening or early one morning - there's maybe 10 tadpoles left in that bucket.


as far as the watermelon rind - i'm going to try that right now.



we were kids, in summer time, out in the yard eating ice cold watermelon to try and cool off.....afterwards, we go call the chickens, and throw the rind over the gate, they'd peck it down to almost nothing.....the inside part..... :D

[muffin]

Yep I would actually go buy grapes just for my (rotten) chickens when they were babies. They looove those. Also, scrambled eggs. I toss all rotten strawberries over the garden fence and they gobble those up just as well. Tomatoes too not to mention the hornworms :P

[gunDriller]

Yep I would actually go buy grapes just for my (rotten) chickens when they were babies. They looove those. Also, scrambled eggs. I toss all rotten strawberries over the garden fence and they gobble those up just as well. Tomatoes too not to mention the hornworms :P


i spent the day cleaning the garage ... no major bug-fest for the chickens today.

gave them some watermelon and some macaroni noodles.

they gobble down the macaroni noodles, but i'm not sure if refined foods (spaghetti, noodles, white rice) are good for them. i think it give them the Big D (Diarrhea).

and because of their method of elimination (projectile pooping), and because i like letting them sit on my arm ... i have to be careful.

i don't want to end up with a big chocolate decoration on my shoulder.

[willie pete]

Yep I would actually go buy grapes just for my (rotten) chickens when they were babies. They looove those. Also, scrambled eggs. I toss all rotten strawberries over the garden fence and they gobble those up just as well. Tomatoes too not to mention the hornworms :P



I think a chicken will eat ANY kind of worm :D for example; Horn worms...something else we used to throw in the chicken yard was those big black grasshoppers.....my grandmother hated those things, we see'em in the yard, and go tell her...she'd tell us to go throw it in the chicken yard...and of course we would :D ...you know, I sometimes miss those days

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HGtw0_8VDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrBgaKUAzvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5hBR3XbxFg

[Dogman]

;D


A FARMER DECIDED HE WANTED TO GO TO TOWN AND SEE A MOVIE.

THE TICKET AGENT ASKED, "SIR, WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR SHOULDER?"



THE OLD FARMER SAID,
"THAT'S MY PET ROOSTER, CHUCK. WHEREVER I GO, CHUCK GOES."

"I'M SORRY SIR," SAID THE TICKET AGENT
"WE CAN'T ALLOW ANIMALS IN THE THEATER."

THE OLD FARMER WENT AROUND THE CORNER AND STUFFED CHUCK DOWN HIS OVERALLS. THEN HE RETURNED TO THE TICKET BOOTH, BOUGHT A TICKET, AND ENTERED THE THEATER.

HE SAT DOWN NEXT TO TWO OLD WIDOWS NAMED MILDRED AND MARGE.



THE MOVIE STARTED AND THE ROOSTER BEGAN TO SQUIRM. . . SO, THE OLD FARMER
UNBUTTONED HIS FLY SO CHUCK COULD STICK HIS HEAD OUT AND WATCH THE MOVIE.

"MARGE," WHISPERED MILDRED.

"WHAT?" SAID MARGE.

"I THINK THE GUY NEXT TO ME IS A PERVERT."

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK SO?" ASKED MARGE?

"HE UNDID HIS PANTS AND HE HAS HIS THING OUT", WHISPERED MILDRED.

"WELL, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT", SAID MARGE.. "AT OUR AGE WE'VE SEEN 'EM ALL"

"I THOUGHT SO TOO", SAID MILDRED, "BUT THIS ONE'S EATIN' MY POPCORN!"