Like a lot of you out there I'm always looking to feed my chickens as much as I possibly can on bugs or any live foods around my little homestead.
That is why I let my girls free range:) If you have not already done so give this book a read and tell me what you all think please!
I also catch crickets using cricket traps (See how to make one here!) and this is just one more free live food source for my girls:)
The other night I was digging around in my planner boxes and I noticed these huge larva! I also took note that the larva come out way more at night than they do in the daytime, so if you're going to gather them, you want to gather them at night. That's when they are close to the surface of the soil. I've seen them before and I'm sure a lot of you have as well while you're digging around your compost piles. A lot of people call them "June bugs" but I actually bothered to look up what they were before I made this blog. There called "Figeater Beatles".
The reason I knew what type of beetles to search for was because I have been seeing them flying around (like all of you I'm sure have seen them some time in your life) during spring and summer!
They are those big green metallic looking beetles that turn into the adult beetles around July through September that happens to be the same time that they're laying eggs in decaying compost piles or decaying plant matter which happens to be what the larva eat! I've found they love decaying grass:)
Also, these larva can grow to be about 2 inches long and sure are thick but no problem at all for your girls to eat!
The larva really can eat lots and lots of decaying plant matter and actually preferred decaying plant matter. I've read that they also really love to eat manures of all kinds!
Like a lot of you I've heard that they eat roots of plants in the garden but I have never had problems with them myself so I'm thinking people may be confusing the larva of the Figeater beetle with the larva of the green June beetle.
The Figeater beetle is often confused with the green June beetle but the green June beetle is smaller.
A good way to tell if you are seeing green June beetles or Figeater beetles is green June beetles are nocturnal and most other beetles are as well, but the Figeater beetle comes out during the day.
It is really awesome that you can have a bug that can eat decaying plant matter than be fed to your chickens!
Hope you guys like this article and like always God Bless:)