Can Chickens Safely Eat Bees and Wasps?

[Lil Chickie Mama]

I've read two things: 1) Chickens won't eat bees even when they're dead 2) Chickens eat just about anything including bees and wasps (dead ones) and they won't get hurt because they crunch the stingers first.

One thing I read was a testimony from a guy who regularly emptied out bee and wasp traps after they were full and dead, let the creepy stinging $)@#(@)# (I'm afraid of bees) air out the attractant a day or two, then fed them to his chickens who went nuts over them and never were hurt by it.

What has your experience been? I know each bird is different in its preferences, but is it safe to try?

waiting...

 

[Highlander]

One of mine grabbed a huge bumble bee a couple of days ago. She then had to run like billy-o as there were suddenly 30 others chasing her to get it. It was quite comical and no harm came to any of them.

 

[Reinbeau]

My chickens pay no mind to the honeybee hives that are ten feet from their coop door. I'm sure if I tossed a frame of brood in there they'd go wild for the larvae. I have no idea about wasps. If you're worried about stings, I suppose it can happen, but chickens may not react to stings the way we do. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[soctippy]

my experience is that if the chickens can catch what they find around the house they will eat it. sometimes one chicken will eat a wasp and others won't.

 

[For-The-Love-Of-Chickens]

We have a bunch of wasps flying around our chicken yard and you would think they were hawks or eagles coming in for an attack the way the chickens run in terror!! Mine won't even go into the coop if there is one in there! DH has to do wasp patrol in the evening. I guess every chicken/flock is different.

It is hilarious though to watch them!

 

[gritsar]

My roo ate a wasp when he was about 10 weeks old and got stung for his trouble, but no harm came to him.
He never tried to eat a wasp again.
On the other hand, my 9 yr. old dog eats them - and gets stung - all the time and hasn't learned not to snap at them. And they say chickens are stupid.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Hey thanks all! I never even thought about it until there were a bunch of bees on one of my trees and I sprayed them down with a hose, next day there were a couple hundred on the ground.

 

[cw]

please dont kill bees there having a hard enough time as it is and they are so important
i would ratherhear you killin dogs as i would bees

 

[Tala]

Bees are beneficial pollinators and they generally leave us humans alone. Please don't go out of your way to kill them!

Paper wasps on the other hand, have no good use as far as I can tell and they sting you for walking by! They are the only reason I own a can of Raid (although carburetor cleaner works good too)

 

[danischi24]

My hen ate a wasp years ago & was stung in the crop. Her crop swelled up really badly & all the feathers fell off it but she survived & lived to a ripe old age. I wouldn't recommend purposefully feeding adult wasps or bees to chickens though if they catch them, they catch them. I did used to pull down wasp nests & give them the larvae though & they went nuts for it.