Slugs for dinner

[pumpkin cuddler]

Hi

I am about to get a couple of chickens and would like some advice on slugs.

We also have an allotment and are completely organic. So we catch our slugs and then drown them in the water butts. Gross I know but they crawl out of the buckets so we needed something deeper . Not sure if as they rot down they provide goodness or not, all I can say is they can get stinky.

Could I take the slugs home to feed to the chickens or will this cause any problems to them??

I want to do the right things for the chickens and am happy to continue to dispose of the slugs as we always have. Just wondered if I could put them to better use.

[rustylady]

Chicken run on allotment near my daughter's. We always collect the slugs and snails and throw them to the "girls" - they love them and don't seem to have any problems as a result. They always get really excited when we call them as they seem to know they're going to get an extra feed.

[Prickety-prackety]

Slugs

Same here, my chooks eat most of my slugs, especially the yellow ones you find in wood. Some they wont eat you'll soon know which ones and they also wipe their beaks afterwards, touching manners !!.
They will also eat other nasties like woodlice and ant eggs. Mine wont eat compost worms, but love the common earth variety.
We always get lovely orange yolks, make no difference how many slugs they have had ! just dont dwell on it when they are on the plate !!

[Polly Fouracre]

hello,a few years ago I had a well trained Black Rock hen who would follow me around the garden when I let her out.I had special "slug traps"around the garden,an old plank here,a bit of black plastic there and she would run to each one in turn,stamping her feet in anticipation and gobbling up all the slugs with glee. She lived,bless her dear heart,for a good many years so the slugs must have done her no harm.
My hens,(marans)will also not eat compost worms though neither will they eat slugs or eathworms. Black Rocks for me next time,both for eggs and for character.

[yoanbob]

ours eat slugs and snails with relish, they will fight for them! apparently it can give them worms, but unless your keeping them inside a plastic box all day they will pick up worms from time to time anyway, you can get powder to add to their food, we de worm 3 times a year as a matter of course.
somtimes with the bigger slugs you have to break there shells a bit, but otherwise go for it, if your digging over a new area let them in to forage, they love slug eggs etc so you will have your own pest force.
good luck.

[Egluntine]

Mine aren't keen on the very big one, but the fight over smaller ones and snails. I think too many can give them the squits so I'd go steady with them....oh....and I think slugs and snails are hosts for worms so be on top of worming them regularly.

[annaradiog]

My chcikens go crazy for slugs and worms. They aren't too keen on snails though. They can't get the meat out of the shell so they lose interest after a while!

[Dobby]

you could have a slug kebab

[AWard]

Earthworms can act as the hosts for Gape Worms. These are not pleasant for the chickens and their presence is often given away by the bird arching its neck forward and opening its beak at the same time. These parasitic worms congregate in the throat of the bird causing discomfort and sometimes death. Thanks to the EU anything that is even a mild irritant to parrasites is banned. The only thing left is "Flubenvet". I am not sure if slugs also act as hosts...