Can Chickens eat Millipedes?

[Oakie75]

My wife is a school teacher and they have a bunch of Millipedes left from a science project. can I feed them to my chickens?

 

[WallTenters]

If they eat them in the wild, they can eat them. Sounds like they would be a wonderful little snack for our little domestic raptors

 

[Nambroth]

It depends on the species. Some millipedes are toxic! Of course, chickens will eat what they eat when they are free ranging, and that is one thing... but, intentionally giving them a toxic treat is another thing. If it was me, I would not.. but the choice is yours!
I know there are many species of millipede that humans are not supposed to handle. Some of these millipedes 'warn' us by having a bright color on their body, but not all do.

Many species also emit poisonous liquid secretions or hydrogen cyanide gas through pores in their body. I found a particularly pretty millipede last year in the woods and took photos and sent them to an entomologist to be ID'd. He wrote me back warning to never touch it because it could cause me skin damage and would be 'terrible to get in your eyes'.

Here is some further reading:
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/poison/millipedes/overview.html

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I watched a show on Discovery where lemmers (sp) bite them and lick them so they can catch a buzz. Of course these were huge millipedes living in the rain forest. But i think the small ones are poisonus as well. I can see it now: chickens giggling in the yard and scratching frantically to cure their horrible case of munchies