[eneville]

I've noticed what I'd call strange behaviour with our hens, why does just one hen (in this video) like worms but the others don't seem to be at all interested:

http://www.usenix.org.uk/pictures/2012/10/VIDEO0015.3gp

Thanks

[themagicaltoad1]

Not all of mine will eat worms, none will touch slugs but they go mad for woodlice

[eneville]

They all used to *really* love worms, I couldn't find enough in the garden for them. Now only this one will eat worms, she seems to love them just as much as when she was a pullet.

We give them meal worm occasionally (alright, a little each day). In a way its a good thing that they don't like worms because the worms are important for keeping the ground in good condition.

Ours wont eat wood now lice either, they would when they were really young, but they're probably too crunchy now. I did spot one eating what I think could be a slug behind some stones, which is a nice surprise as I'd not seen them eating slugs before, no matter how hard I've tried to get them interested in it as we're very over populated with slugs and snails at the minute.

[tosca100]

We used to regularly turn some ground over for the chooks and our warren was a voracious worm scoffer. I don't know if the others were just slow off the mark or they weren't keen. They didn't really get chance. The speckledy used to un around with snails, growling, with the others running after her. The black rock would jump at your hand if you had mealworms.

They all got excited about fresh soil for scratching about at though, even though they were quite capable of digging their own holes.

[bainsk8]

I had the same with my chickens. They liked all when young but seemed to of gone off them. That was until I discovered something. One of our girls was still eating worms but not the slugs, so I wondered if it was the slugs that had discouraged the others from eating worms, snails and slugs.

So I gathered up small and large slugs and fed them to the one that was still eating worms. The small slugs she would go for but the larger ones she was shy of, then I thought that it might be because they are slimy and hard to swallow. So I dissected a large one and fed that to her and she ate it with no problems. I have now encouraged the others to eat slugs again, but I have to cut them up. They have also recently started to eat worms again.

I would be interested to see if anyone else has success with doing this.

[eneville]

None of mine eat large slugs. Today I found a slug, sliced him a few times with a spade and tried to feed him to the hens. One sort of had a sniff, poked around but then shook her head and moved on.

I'll try again tomorrow, I'd be very fond of getting them eating the slugs and snails from the garden.

[helens-hens]

Mine won't eat slugs & I have wondered if the fact that slugs are so slimy is putting them off. If you watch blackbirds eating slugs they spend a lot of time wiping their beaks clean during & after the process.

As slugs are carriers of parasitic worms I'm not too concerned of the girls lack of interest. Having said that the number of slugs in the garden this year is unbelievable 

[feelingbroody]

Hi

So glad this topic was raised I thought I had fussy hens, none of them will eat slugs, small medium or large, when they are placed in front of them they turn and walk off.

So plan B to have an organic garden was to foster some hedgehogs for our local hedgehog preservation society. They came and inspected the garden to check it was safe and appropriate and hey presto I have three lean mean slug killing machines and happy hostas in the summer  and my girls dont have to be force fed slugs 

[helens-hens]

feelingbroody, that is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately our garden wouldn't be suitable for hedgehogs (near v.busy main road) but otherwise I would be tempted...

[joyfull]

yes slugs do carry worms but treating you hens with flubenvet every 3 - 4 months will get rid of them 

[symonep]

send your worms my way, my chooks love them! i gave a small worm to one of the chicks yesterday and she looked at me like i was mad, turned her nose up and walked away!

no insect is safe in the garden!

[Number 7]

nothing that moves is safe in our garden, our girls will eat most things that happen to cross their path!

[Sassy]

Ducks for slugs!!

[bainsk8]

I just wanted to thank all that has posted in this thread and for its creation. It led me to do a bit of reading up on slugs as I had not realised of the parasites that they carry. While reading I became alarmed that they carry parasites that can transmit Lung Worm to dogs.

Brambles our little Jack Russell started coughing about three weeks ago, not all the time but we were stumped as to its cause, and because of his foraging nature we thought he had eaten something he was trying to regurgitate, like grass or something.

I went to feed him yesterday, going to the outhouse for his food when I saw all the slug trails around his big bag of food. I had seen them before but it never registered that this could be the cause of his cough. We have him booked in with the vet tomorrow at 4pm. His food has been disposed of and we will keep it in the house from now on.

I have also decided that beer traps will be left next year and no more will be cut up for the Chooks. Luckily we regularly add an organic parasite killer to their water.

My views of slugs has changed somewhat since my last post that is for sure.

[joyfull]

what is it that you add to their water? if it is Verm-X then this is just a preventative and there is no guarantee that this works. It also doesn't protect against all parasitic worms and you would be better using flubenvet every 3-4 months. This is guaranteed to work against all parasitic worms.