What poultry are the most voracious gobblers of slugs?

I have a friend who has a slug problem. The six-inch-long omnivorous cannibalistic Spanish slugs with loads of slime, that only live one year, but lay hundreds of eggs. He’s given up. He thinks the slugs are inedible to animals because of the slime. He’s wrong, of course. Hedgehogs apparently do eat them, and I just saw someone on this forum say that ducks will eat them. My question for you is this: will ducks eat them with prejudice, and really hurt the population? Or will geese be better, or do I need another animal? What animal simply can’t get enough of giant slugs?

To be fair, they aren’t giant in the spring. This is a big plus. The slugs are really tiny when they come out. So if we can hit the population hard in the spring, that will do just fine, as well.

My ducks slurp down slugs big and small;  they even swallow big snails whole.  I definitely recommend ducks for slugs and any other bugs--when I was a kid in the southwest of the US we had a grasshopper plague and our ducks cleaned them out completely from our garden, so much that we kids would go out every night catching jarfuls from other neighbors' gardens to keep them fed.

My chickens on the other hand, are not particularly interested in slugs though they will eat snails if I crack the shells first.  I believe geese are herbivores, though I have no experience with them.

My chickens will eat the slug eggs and smaller individuals.  They generally won't eat the adults, but over time the areas they patrol wind up with very few slugs.  Ducks have the reputation for eating adult slugs.  Not sure how well they do with the juvenile slugs or the eggs.  If you want to eliminate them quickly, a combo of chickens of ducks will probably do the job pretty well.  Chickens will probably do a decent job, just might take a bit longer as they won't eliminate the adults very well.

My ducks never really developed a taste for slugs, but perhaps that's because they didn't have access to them as ducklings.I've heard this is abnormal however, but figured it was worth the mention in case the ducks you end up with don't go for them.  

Thanks, guys! That’s what I wanted to know. Although I’m hoping I can find out what breed of ducks that is, G Fredan.

Laurel Jones wrote:My ducks never really developed a taste for slugs, but perhaps that's because they didn't have access to them as ducklings.I've heard this is abnormal however, but figured it was worth the mention in case the ducks you end up with don't go for them.  

So my question for you, Laurel, is: what duck breed do you have? Have you tried teaching them how delicious slugs are?

Myron Platte wrote:Thanks, guys! That’s what I wanted to know. Although I’m hoping I can find out what breed of ducks that is, G Fredan.

I have two Pekins, a Khaki Campbell, and a big mongrel drake.  The drake we got at about 8 weeks old, but the other three ducks are ex-factory farm birds, and never saw the great outdoors till we adopted them at 2 years old.  They took to foraging very happily regardless.

If you want a duck that will provide lean meat, and go broody at the drop of a feather for any eggs (so chicken, turkey, etc eggs are as good as ducks to them) Muscovy ducks may be your ticket.  They're the only domestic duck not descended from Mallards.  They're originally a native, wild South American breed, IIRC.

Andrew Mayflower wrote:If you want a duck that will provide lean meat, and go broody at the drop of a feather for any eggs (so chicken, turkey, etc eggs are as good as ducks to them) Muscovy ducks may be your ticket.  They're the only domestic duck not descended from Mallards.  They're originally a native, wild South American breed, IIRC.

Yes, but most of my Muscovy turn their bills up at slugs. My Khakies hoover them up and look at me as if to say, "What - that's all?" and that includes the huge slugs that grow here on the Wet Coast - not just those wimpy little grey ones. Ducks also tend to be more garden compatible than chickens, who I agree, are generally not keen on slugs.

Being raised by real mom's in the great outdoors is a help, and I've been told that Golden 300's aren't keen slug eaters, but if you put ex-factory farm birds out for an hour or two so they start to get hungry and then show up with a container of slugs and start tossing them to the ducks, that may help them figure it out. Make *sure* they've got lots of water handy the first time, as they may need it to help until they figure out the technique. Our slugs seem to have a "reaction" to danger which is to produce a bunch of extra slime. My ducks seem to figure that out and realize the way to go is with a quick grab and swallow!

Jay Angler wrote:

Andrew Mayflower wrote:If you want a duck that will provide lean meat, and go broody at the drop of a feather for any eggs (so chicken, turkey, etc eggs are as good as ducks to them) Muscovy ducks may be your ticket.  They're the only domestic duck not descended from Mallards.  They're originally a native, wild South American breed, IIRC.

Yes, but most of my Muscovy turn their bills up at slugs. My Khakies hoover them up and look at me as if to say, "What - that's all?" and that includes the huge slugs that grow here on the Wet Coast - not just those wimpy little grey ones. Ducks also tend to be more garden compatible than chickens, who I agree, are generally not keen on slugs.

Being raised by real mom's in the great outdoors is a help, and I've been told that Golden 300's aren't keen slug eaters, but if you put ex-factory farm birds out for an hour or two so they start to get hungry and then show up with a container of slugs and start tossing them to the ducks, that may help them figure it out. Make *sure* they've got lots of water handy the first time, as they may need it to help until they figure out the technique. Our slugs seem to have a "reaction" to danger which is to produce a bunch of extra slime. My ducks seem to figure that out and realize the way to go is with a quick grab and swallow!

So in terms of slug control, khakies are probably my best bet.

I know how awesome Muscovies are, but I need specifically a slug solution.

Myron Platte wrote:

Laurel Jones wrote:My ducks never really developed a taste for slugs, but perhaps that's because they didn't have access to them as ducklings.I've heard this is abnormal however, but figured it was worth the mention in case the ducks you end up with don't go for them.  

So my question for you, Laurel, is: what duck breed do you have? Have you tried teaching them how delicious slugs are?

We had muscovies.  And I regularly presented slugs to them, they turned their beaks up at them every time.  

Myron, what kind of space does your friend have and how long-term are you looking at? And is this a one-homestead problem, or wider?
The reason I ask is that I haven't found Khaki Campbell ducks good at going broody or hatching young. Muscovy ducks are great at that. I've got two Muscovy moms right now sitting on clutches of Khaki eggs. They do a not bad job of raising them - they don't quite speak the same language, but the ducklings learn to watch for predators and grow up with feathered role models and I try to make sure they get access to the adult khakis fairly young even if it's just a view through fencing.

Basically, I'm suggesting that a combination might have a place if this is a larger community problem.

Jay, This is Russia. If anyone keeps ducks, the go-to is Muscovies, anyway. Don’t worry, they’ll get in there, somehow. But in this case, I just need to give my friend a slug solution. A bit of a gateway drug, ya’ know? He’s already a gardener, but hasn’t learned to look at things through a permaculture lens, yet.

Last summer a woman was selling Whiting true blue chickens so I got 3
They eat all slugs, especially the big ones.  As a matter of fact they fight over them, mice also. Huge foragers and blue eggs.
We have 3 but I can only find a photo of 2 of them, missing is Lucy.

Hoping I'm not off-topic here, but **I** am my best poultry as far as slugs go. I'm on an allotment site (UK), so no animals allowed - and barely a predator in sight despite my best efforts at biodiversity.

A pair of scissors after every rain shower and at twilight for a few days will hugely reduce the problem - with the additional benefit that slugs are more interested in their slaughtered colleagues than the most stressed and 'eat-me' of plants. I was appalled by how many huge slugs (Spanish, probably) were sliming around the site after rain, but I reduced their impact on my plot to almost nothing.

You can extend the system, too: plant your seedlings, lay wooden planks or similar around the bed, do a thorough slug-hunt around the bed, cut them up and leave scattered around the seedlings. Next morning, lift up the planks, find all the slugs (slugs like to live close to their food), repeat. The slugs will be too interested in the slug-buffet to notice your seedlings.  

Quick edit: And strawberry plants will host dozens of the little darlings, so check any nearby ones, too. And/or use them as a bed border instead of planks

Yes, while it's wet is the best time to hunt for slugs.  I agree: you kill one. Go to the same spot the next night, the slug is eating his buddy's corpse.  If you go out at night right before you go to bed, that's the best time to catch slugs and kill them. We used to have a terrible time growing green beans. Now I go out as late as possible to pick them off.  They are often extremely tiny, but they will eat your vegies.  Also, they love to eat the newly grafted scions, so I check them. I will often tie on a fruit sock (small nylons that women slip on when buying shoes). Now they sell them to protect fruit, ie Maggot Barriers.  Old ones with holes in them are fine for that purpose.

Also, if you have a diverse yard, with lots of beetles, that's good.  Beetles' favorite food is slug eggs.  Not to be confused with the Beatles.  

John S
PDX OR

Deleted what I wrote before because ( besides of  seeing a cute photo of a five year old future limacologist) ....the SIZE of THAT SLUG!?! WOW!
You've gotta be kidding!  (In my garden they're tiny! You can keep yours ).

John Suavecito wrote:

Also, if you have a diverse yard, with lots of beetles, that's good.  Beetles' favorite food is slug eggs.  Not to be confused with the Beatles.  

Ah, we have a ton of beetles so now it makes sense that we aren't overrun by slugs.

That and a five year old future limacologist who is very serious about getting rid all the non-native slugs and taking care of the native ones.

On the topic of birds eating slugs, I once saw a documentary where raccoon rolled a giant slug in dirt to combat the stickiness before eating it. I wonder if a person did that to the slugs they collect before tossing them to their birds, if that would make them a little more palatable to the birds. I've never liked the idea of cutting slugs up to teach poultry to eat them 🤢

Instead of taking on more livestock which will demand yet more time and resources to shelter water and feed, look into JADAM a Korean natural farming technique complete with home made natural pesticides. Time is the biggest investment in this system. Try it!
https://en.jadam.kr/

Andrew McDonald wrote:Instead of taking on more livestock which will demand yet more time and resources to shelter water and feed, look into JADAM a Korean natural farming technique complete with home made natural pesticides. Time is the biggest investment in this system. Try it!
https://en.jadam.kr/

Does the system provide duck meat and eggs? Is it 90% automated? How much work does it take? Does it produce duck manure? Does it weed gardens without having to bend over? Natural pesticides are still pesticides, and they don’t digest the things they kill. I don’t want to invest time in depriving myself of wondrous duck meat.

Regarding breeds of ducks for slug control, I vote for Muscovies. I had a slug issue in my poultry yards. Previously, I had a market garden in the same area as one of the yards. I found that setting down pieces of plywood (3x4 foot) on the ground at night, then flipping them over when I let the Muscovies, chickens and turkeys out for the day, all the birds RAN over to the plywood as I flipped the boards. I believe it was a competition between the birds after they saw the juicy slugs! I've had several breeds of ducks and would choose Muscovies every time. I think having broody ducks raise their young naturally has helped the ducklings learn to love slugs. After a few years, I had few slugs. A saucer with beer, set with the rim at soil level will kill slugs. They can't resist the yeast in the beer. Of course, you have to dispose of the dead slugs and they do stink! Using boards to collect slugs in the garden, then scraping them off with a scraper into a bucket, then take them out to the birds. I know the ducks do search in the mud for insects we can't see and love the mud. Turkeys don't scratch as much as chickens do...however that said, I had several broody chickens raise turkeys and those poults learned how to scratch like chickens. A note here...turkeys LOVE Gypsy Moth caterpillars! Good luck with your slug control!

So many slugs this Spring!  They swam across the Tomatos in the late Spring rain that kept coming.
I was mostly just impressed with how many and how big some of them were.

I slapped my forehead later in the summer when I was re-reading a feral skills book, Unlearn, Rewild ,that slugs are quite edible for humans.  My problem could have been a wonderful solution.
Though they can have Rat-Lung-worm parasites (destroyed by cooking).  Also they could have eaten some poisonous stuff, so one might either feed them on pure grains awhile before eating them, or gut them.  I have read that they can be dried then added to soups like a thickener.

To be clear, I have not yet tried eating slugs.  But we harvested snails from the beach with my grandpa and his friend when I was a kid and those were delicious with butter.

Also, When I was a kid we had a fluffy cat named Fuzzbucket that got her lips glued together once from slug slime.

cynda williams wrote:Regarding breeds of ducks for slug control, I vote for Muscovies. I had a slug issue in my poultry yards. Previously, I had a market garden in the same area as one of the yards. I found that setting down pieces of plywood (3x4 foot) on the ground at night, then flipping them over when I let the Muscovies, chickens and turkeys out for the day, all the birds RAN over to the plywood as I flipped the boards. I believe it was a competition between the birds after they saw the juicy slugs! I've had several breeds of ducks and would choose Muscovies every time. I think having broody ducks raise their young naturally has helped the ducklings learn to love slugs. After a few years, I had few slugs. A saucer with beer, set with the rim at soil level will kill slugs. They can't resist the yeast in the beer. Of course, you have to dispose of the dead slugs and they do stink! Using boards to collect slugs in the garden, then scraping them off with a scraper into a bucket, then take them out to the birds. I know the ducks do search in the mud for insects we can't see and love the mud. Turkeys don't scratch as much as chickens do...however that said, I had several broody chickens raise turkeys and those poults learned how to scratch like chickens. A note here...turkeys LOVE Gypsy Moth caterpillars! Good luck with your slug control!

We just got muscovies for this reason. This is a relief to hear. Our slug problem is awful and I'm hoping they will clean them out for us eventually once we scale them up.