Raising feeder insects

[Kassaundra]

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The heat is a 25 watt lightbulb, don't know how much that costs but I can't imagine that much, the fruit is usually the uneaten core of an apple, but yes I will get maybe one orange per week, that is about $0.50 and the cat food is around 1 cup of dry cat food a week. Don't know again how much that costs but not much and the girls enjoy eating it sooooooooooo much more then the store bought food. So far my insects and such just supplement, and since it is their natural food in the wild I have to think there are micro nutrients and other good for them things. The roaches can also provide an income stream, I have not as yet sold mine, but you could.

I can't speak to the diff in cost of the meal worms and roaches as I have never done any other insects. When I was researching the diff insects you can raise as feeder I was most attracted to the roaches for there very easy set and forget type of raising, everything else seemed to have a high escape potential, or moving from one container to another, or a lot of hands on timing type stuff I just wanted an easy, brainless, insect idiot foolproof thing and the roaches have been that for me.

 

[Kassaundra]

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I throw out a few at a time, and trust me NONE escape, they LOVE them. I have read on other threads that earthworms can give chickens a parasite called gapeworm. (a parasite that attatches to their trachea) Don't know if raising them yourself would lessen the chances of them carrying the parasite or not, but I'd check that out before deciding.

So went to p/u my silkie today and stopped by pet store to get a tub of 500 med. mealworms. Can I just start that way- buy an extra container of 500 or so? I saw where some of ya'll ordered from a breeder- is there a difference or are you getting more bang for your buck with the breeder? I will only ever have 6 hens maximum, so how many meal worms should I start with?

On a different- but similar topic- found another way to get cheap (free) high quality food for livestock. Get spent grains (dry and wet) from your local brewery. Very healthy for chickens and free!

Don't know about the meal worms, have no experience w/ them, others on here have though so maybe one of them can answer your questions.

About the brewery grains yes I have read/heard that our closest brewery is over 40 miles away and has a 1.75 toll road each way so it is pretty cost prohibitive for us. But if I find a closer one I will definately be all over that!!!!!!

 

[animalover]

I did the mealworms with the 3 plastic drawer system as shown on YouTube. Then I read about the Dubia roaches here, and started raising those. Knowing that the roaches don't bite, climb or fly made the idea tolerable. I bought them from a local reptile shop. The roaches are SO much easier, that I eventually gave up on the mealworms. The mealworms required daily checking, and grew very slowly. The roaches are thriving with minimal care. It did take a while for me to get over the "ick" factor, and now I do even pick them up by hand. One roach is the size of maybe 10 mealworms. My chickens go nuts chasing after the roaches, and it is a total joy to watch them.

 

[hannakat]

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Oh geesh....you-all are wearing me down. Guess if I had more chickens, it would be more worthwhile to start this. ummm.... you keep me thinking for sure!

 

[Bulgarianlily]

So do you do this just because the chickens have fun or is there any other reason?

 

[Kassaundra]

It is a good food/protien source for the chickens and very inexpensive.

 

[animalover]

It is especially beneficial in the winter, when there are no insects for them to eat. I use them to add additional protein to their diet.

 

[Bulgarianlily]

The bugs are raised on chicken feed or cat feed? I don't understand where the cheap protein is coming from? What is generating it? Surely they are just taking the protein that is in the feed you supply, and that has to be more expensive then just giving the chickens the feed in the first place? Isn't this the same as feeding meat animals grain, that it takes many times more pounds of grain than you get meat? The bugs must use up energy in the food moving round and casting off skins etc...

Unless you have a feed source that is a lot cheaper than the normal chicken feed to give the bugs? I am really confused here.

 

[gumbii]

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LOLWUT!?...


my roaches are fed chick starter... since i've had these two huge colonies, they haven't eaten more than a pound of food... they also eat fish flakes, fish pellets, veggies and whatever i don't finish... by your logic, it's just a waste of money and time for us to eat a cow, instead, we should just go outside and graze on grass to cut the middle man out... same goes for mealworms and potatoes... millions of worms feeding on two potatoes a week... i doubt that my chicken can get all that protein out of a slice of potatoes...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Plus, insects and grubs are a better quality source of protein than the soy in most chicken feed. The insects and grubs also have other nutrients in them. They are one of the natural food sources for chickens and naturally provide many of a chicken's natural dietary needs. In many countries, people eat insects and grubs, because they are a good source of nutrition.