Posted: 6/7/2016 4:58:58 PM EDT
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Yup, I need to raise bugs. As many as possible. Here is the story: So this summer I will be moving the chickens, run and all. I don't free range our birds for 2 reasons: Predators and my garden. The new run will be very large, hopefully sustainable during the summer months so I don't have to feed them outside of winter. I am looking for all your best ideas for making a bug rich area for them. I'm already thinking a water feature with a LED light to attract bugs at night, rotting wood pile for grubs and such. Of course, chickens get all chicken appropriate food scraps already. Any other ideas? Oh, I'd like to try to avoid raising mosquitoes if possible. The chickens seem to avoid eating them. |
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Crank up a worm farm as well. I figure you will have to do a lot to keep chickens fed. I know for a pond you can set up a bug zapper and fish eat the bugs as they fall in but I don't know if a chicken would eat dead bugs or not. Research what people do for their reptiles when it comes to breeding crickets and stuff as well. I don't know what it takes, I just remember buying em for reptiles when I was a kid. Neighbor had some chickens and if they found an ant nest or ground wasp nest the chicken would settle down and just sit there by the hole and eat anything that came out. Was funny as heck the first time I wandered in the barn and saw a chicken sitting there by a wasp nest hole. I guess you could work on fly larvae as well. |
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Quoted:
Yup, I need to raise bugs. As many as possible. Here is the story: So this summer I will be moving the chickens, run and all. I don't free range our birds for 2 reasons: Predators and my garden. The new run will be very large, hopefully sustainable during the summer months so I don't have to feed them outside of winter. I am looking for all your best ideas for making a bug rich area for them. I'm already thinking a water feature with a LED light to attract bugs at night, rotting wood pile for grubs and such. Of course, chickens get all chicken appropriate food scraps already. Any other ideas? Oh, I'd like to try to avoid raising mosquitoes if possible. The chickens seem to avoid eating them. mississippi already beat you to it. |
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I raise dubias. Look them up. Superworms burrow and disappear before they can be eaten, I don't like them. Mostly I feed crickets though I don't want to raise them. I keep wondering about introducing Wood Roaches to my environment but haven't made the leap. |
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Quoted:
I keep wondering about introducing Wood Roaches to my environment but haven't made the leap. Quoted:
Quoted:
I raise dubias. Look them up. Superworms burrow and disappear before they can be eaten, I don't like them. Mostly I feed crickets though I don't want to raise them. I keep wondering about introducing Wood Roaches to my environment but haven't made the leap. I wouldn't introduce anything to the environment, I use tubs. |
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Many good ideas so far. Here's another: make as big of a compost pile as you can inside their run.
You can also dig a pit, fill it with food scrapes and such, place chicken wire over it and add more organic material on top. It will attract all kinds of bugs and the chickens can scratch around and pick them off. Compost worms are easy to raise and if you can bring them indoors, you will have a year round supplemental food source for your birds. Meal worms would also probably be pretty easy. |
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Thanks! That video is great. Makes me really think. |
