Do you use freeze dried or live mealworms? Chicken scratch?

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weenie007

weenie007

In the Brooder
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
31
0
22
Do you use freeze dried or live mealworms?

I am trying to see what people perfer and what is best for my girls. And where do people get their worms from?

Also, how much chicken scratch can 10 full grown hens have? Thanks!
 
Santa brought my girls a container of freeze dried meal worms last Christmas.
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My chickens like any kind of bug or worm, alive, freeze dried or zapped by the bug zapper. They are not picky eaters when it comes to bugs and worms! It's all good!

There are quite a few people on the forum that are culturing their own mealworms. It's pretty easy to do. You might want to search on mealworms and look at those threads. It's cheaper than buying them.

You can buy the live ones at pet stores and the freeze dried are often sold as wild bird feed, at stores that carry those supplies. Both are available online, also.
 
I buy freeze dried meal worms at the local grain and feed. You can get them pretty much anywhere wild bird food is sold. They are a little pricey, but my ladies love them!

I don't feed chicken scratch in warmer weather because i have read here that it increases the chickens' body temp.
 
I am feeding my girls chicken scratch now because I live in the norhtwest where it's not even leaving the 50's.
 
I'm trying hard to get my mealworms up to snuff. Right now they're so tiny I can't really see them, just watch them scoot around the bedding/feed + a whole lot of beetles. Mealworms are great food and they can be belly loaded to give your ladies a dose of kelp or something else good. The great, global mealworm crisis has finally caught up with me here and I've been unable to purchase any feed-sized mealworms. It's very frustrating, as mealworms are my favourite chicken bribe.
 
Well, not to sound ugly, but I'm glad to hear that the great mealworm shortage is truly that big....I was beginning to think we were just getting the short end of the stick here in Central AL!
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We also have a Chinese Water Dragon (lizard) that consumes a lot of mealworms. We have started a mealworm bin--actually an old 10gal aquarium, but we aren't having much luck. We started with about 2 1/2 small containers purchased at the pet store--the "medium" size. So far, we only have a few beetles and most of the mealworms a pretty life-less.

Our bedding is chicken layer feed, oatmeal, birdseed, and some corn meal. We try to keep potatoes in there for moisture, but they dry out quickly. Does this sound like a good set-up? I think I might have them in too cool of an area and probably need to move them to less drafty, warmer spot in the room. Since they aren't doing that great, I'd love any suggestions you might have!
 
Quote:
Haha! I love the idea of using bugs from the bug zapper as a treat! Midnight raids to the neighbors bug zapper will be made....
 
That's the first place they run in the morning, too!
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Toasty bugs for breakfast and live ones all day... Mmm! Yummy!

You should have seen how disappointed the pullets were last year, when the cold weather came and the bug breakfast feasts stopped. They'd run over all excited every morning and then - nothing! Then they had to live through the horror of their first snow! They were so happy when spring came, with green grass and live bugs to chase, again!

I started a worm bin again this year, so they'd have something else to snack on this winter. They just love worms. It's been rainy here and they've been out this week, grabbing all the worms that got flooded to the surface.
 
Isn't anyone concerned that all freeze dried mealworms come form China?? I was going to buy some, but I don't need melamine fed worms. I stay away from anything from China that I can.
 

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