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Insect Eaters: Turning Pests into Chicken Feed

Mosquito image

It's that time of year when mosquitoes are everywhere. Their feasting on your blood can be an itchy nuisance and, in some cases, a serious danger. But  a team of enterprising ARS scientists are looking  to turn the tables on mosquitoes and other insect pests like house flies by making them into lunch for other animals.

The idea of farming insects as an animal food source was already the subject of an ARS initiative but this project added a new dimension, by specifically proposing the use of nuisance insects like mosquitoes, which are abundant in agricultural settings, as the insect food source – not so much killing two birds with one stone as feeding many birds with one pest. In fact, chickens seem to vastly prefer mosquitoes to their current feed. What to know more?

Check out Harvesting Agriculture's "Natural" Insect Farms