Do they eat pests like mosquitoes?

[Forestine]

I just started raising chickens in my home, and recently my mom was wondering if they would eat the bugs in the backyard. The breed I have are golden comets that we bought from TSC, and I can't find out whether or not they eat those kinds of bugs. They're about 4 months old and spend almost all day in the back but I can't really tell if they eat the bugs, specifically mosquitoes. Also are there any breeds that you would recommend for bug control?

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Haven't seen mine eat mosquitos, my girls are usually in bed by the time they come out and bite. But we have a distinct lack of grasshoppers, spiders, and frogs in our yard : ) they do eat bugs, not sure about mosquitoes

 

[clickchicks]

Mine love to chase and eat mosquitoes. They aren't particularly good at catching them, so probably not really doing all that much to help control, but they certainly enjoy doing it

 

[GC-Raptor]

As young pullets about 8 weeks till the first egg, my Golden Comets were excellent at catching skeeters and pretty good at catching beetles, butterflies and moths flying through their pen.
My ISA Browns (11 weeks old) are also excellent.
I was crouched in their pen about an hour before sunset on a cloudy day and they were jumping to catch the skeeters around me.

Also are there any breeds that you would recommend for bug control?

My Barred Rock hens aren't good at catching bugs that are flying, but they are a heavy breed. Catching crickets and grasshoppers on the ground are no problem.
I would think lighter Asian chickens would be better flying insect catchers.
But from what I've read nothing beats Guinea fowl, especially for tick control.
But don't get any if noise could be a problem. GC

 

[Baumshell28]

I love watching my girls (7 Barred Rocks & 5 Golden Comets) catch sight of a bug and start running around acting like fools to catch it. I’m not sure exactly what kinds they go for. I’m in south Louisiana where we sometimes literally get “clouds” of mosquito swarms, but I don’t think they really go after them since I don’t see them catching things out of the air all the time like they would if mosquitoes were something they wanted. I CAN tell you that they see & choose not to eat the big black carpenter ants, termites and flies (I guess abundance made them bored...like the mosquitoes)!