Can baby chicks eat meal worms?

[elmo]

I have fed live/ dried worms to chickens as young as 3 days old.

When our hen, Pokey, first led her batch of chicks off the nest, I wanted to congratulate her so I gave her a mealworm, thinking she would gobble it right down (she'd just lost a third of her own body weight brooding those eggs). She immediately gave that mealworm to one of her chicks. I was horrified! I started to run to my computer to look up whether it was OK to fed a mealworm to a newly hatched chick, but then I realized Pokey probably knew what she was doing. And she did.

 

[Kajoda929]

I have 7 little baby chicks that are about 2 weeks old.
I was wondering if they could eat some dried meal worms. We only have dried meal worms we got from the store.

I have dried mealworms that I got for my older chicks...In nature, chicks eat the same as mama hen, so insects are perfectly natural/fine for them, but they are huge in comparison to my chicks(one week old yesterday)...I took some of their starter food and crumbled a bunch of the mealworms in with it...I think the largest piece was maybe a quarter of the regular size...They absolutely loved it! One thing I did notice is that the mealworms are SUPER oily Lol They don't seem like it when you just grab a handful

 

[jaywin]

Hi
Mine seem fine at approx week old but they do love them and things get a bit frantic in the brooder when I give them a tiny amount of crushed up ones so make sure you’ve got plenty of room.
just like you see a fully grown chickens run off with a treat the babies try to do the same hence needing the space. It’s as if they know they are super scrummy!

 

[Kajoda929]

Hi
Mine seem fine at approx week old but they do love them and things get a bit frantic in the brooder when I give them a tiny amount of crushed up ones so make sure you’ve got plenty of room.
just like you see a fully grown chickens run off with a treat the babies try to do the same hence needing the space. It’s as if they know they are super scrummy!

I've been spoiling mine...I got a few chicks from a woman locally to add to the chicks I already had and when I got them, a couple were lacking most of their body feathers...I still don't know exactly why, but extra protein(as I've found in random research) helps their feathers come in quicker...Especially helpful during a moult, which these were far too young for, but got their feathers in nice and quick when I added a bunch of crushed mealworms into their food...They loved it and it worked great! Lol

 

[jaywin]

I've been spoiling mine...I got a few chicks from a woman locally to add to the chicks I already had and when I got them, a couple were lacking most of their body feathers...I still don't know exactly why, but extra protein(as I've found in random research) helps their feathers come in quicker...Especially helpful during a moult, which these were far too young for, but got their feathers in nice and quick when I added a bunch of crushed mealworms into their food...They loved it and it worked great! Lol

Good to know, poor little things, never seen chicks without any covering, but at least they are thriving now in their new home.

 

[Kajoda929]

Good to know, poor little things, never seen chicks without any covering, but at least they are thriving now in their new home.

I hadn't either...They had feathers on their wings, chests, and heads, but when I actually inspected them after getting them home, I was shocked to see nothing on their backs at all! I was curious if it had to do with their breed, but I wouldn't know...I haven't found any posts regarding that.

And yes, they're doing much better now. They were all under weight also and are filling out nicely all over now