Army Worms are taking over!

[kfrank12]

Hi there!

I am new to raising chickens, and am still trying to figure out the ropes. We got our 4 girls when they were 5 weeks old, and they are now 18 weeks old and close-ish to laying!

Within this past week our neighborhood has somehow been taken over by Army worms. We started noticing them in our yard yesterday, and they appear as though maybe they have just hatched due to their size.

My question....are these harmful to chickens? We have sprayed a pest-aside in the yard to kill the army worms so we aren't currently letting them graze at night like they are used to. But if they get into their run, will it harm our girls if they eat them?

 

[BlueBaby]

Mine were eating them last year when there was a bumper crop of them here. It didn't hurt them, but I didn't spray them. But, since you said that you have sprayed your yard to kill them, it might not be safe for your chickens. What spray did you use?

 

[SueT]

Welcome to BYC! Wow, I never heard of army worms. Just googled it. Where do you live? I think the chickens could eat them--as post#2 says.
.....we had tent caterpillars really bad 3 yrs ago, the chickens didn't like those.

 

[tomfromsc]

Hi ..I'm not sure what army worms are but you should research the pesticide and find out how long it will be viable before letting the girls forage any vegetation you sprayed and if the worms ingest the pesticide and are eaten is there a residual in the worm enough to be toxic

 

[Cluckerzfamilyfarm]

Yes the spray will soak into the ground and if it has rained it will just stick around longer not wash away depending on the product used. I would definitely check and see how long that pesticide stays around. Definitely can be harmful to foraging chickens.

 

[Cluckerzfamilyfarm]

It's like mopping your floors with whatever chemical and letting your dog walk on them then they lick their paws and so on. Right away might not be harmful. Over time can be.

 

[BlueBaby]

That's what I was trying to say. The chicken's can eat them without harm and would love them, but you would have to worry about the spay ingredients being in any of the army worms that the chickens were eating.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

My chickens eat them and it hasn't bothered them.

 

[kfrank12]

Thank you all so much!! This has been very helpful!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... Within this past week our neighborhood has somehow been taken over by Army worms.... My question....are these harmful to chickens?... if they [armyworms] get into their run, will it harm our girls if they eat them?

I'll answer your questions. Yes armyworms are dangerous to chickens. Armyworms will result in rapid growth, and obesity in chickens if you allow your hens to feed on armyworms exclusively for a long enough period of time. The good news is that armyworms are a seasonal (end of season occurrence) Don't worry about whether spraying for armyworms is dangerous to chickens but rather be concerned that the treated armyworms will instead kill the much smaller songbirds.