how much should I feed my hen mealworms??

[ppiyak]

i raised only one hen in my apartment.
to celebrate my little hen's first birthday, i bought alive mealworms and gave her them instead of dried ones which she ate usually.
the amount of alive mealworms would be 550,, and she ate them all in 3 weeks.
it means she ate 30 a day!

and i take her out to my apartment garden, and take a walk for a while and she eats many earthworms.

but.. is it okay for her??
i read some articles that alive mealworms could make chicken fatter.
and fat hen could die when they lay eggs.. right?

so here's my question!!
> how much you guys give alive and dried mealworms(or even earthworms) to each of your chicken?

i worried that she could get any disease because of me.

thanks

 

[azygous]

A chicken, especially one that lays eggs, should have a balanced diet. To be sure she eats a balanced diet, unless you live in such a remote setting as the Amazon, you should be able to find a feed store that sells commercial chicken crumbles. Not the cracked corn and junk seeds known as scratch grain, though. That isn't balanced nutrition.

One chicken will eat from half a cup to one cup of feed per day. Once a week, she can have about ten meal worms. Once a week, she can have a grated carrot. She won't get a treat every day, only her chicken crumbles. If you do that, and keep letting her scratch around for bugs and worms, she should remain healthy and happy and lay lots of eggs. If she lays eggs, she should also be getting oyster shell for calcium.

 

[centrarchid]

Mine can eat 200 mealworms per day for at least a few days in succession without ill effects. I do this most often with juveniles, but have some similar with broody hens and hens in lay as well.

Thirty meal worms per day is a treat where the treat is superior in quality to the complete diet formulation. The live meal worms just cost more. A lot more and do not have large feed manufacturers pushing their attributes.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

The 3 week indulgence was likely harmless provided you fed normal nutritious rations otherwise. But it's not a good idea to give that much regularly. Chickens can suffer from too much body fat much as we can.
Mealworms are good trats though:
https://www.backyardchickencoops.co...s-why-you-should-feed-your-chickens-mealworms

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

A chicken, especially one that lays eggs, should have a balanced diet. To be sure she eats a balanced diet, unless you live in such a remote setting as the Amazon, you should be able to find a feed store that sells commercial chicken crumbles. Not the cracked corn and junk seeds known as scratch grain, though. That isn't balanced nutrition.

One chicken will eat from half a cup to one cup of feed per day. Once a week, she can have about ten meal worms. Once a week, she can have a grated carrot. She won't get a treat every day, only her chicken crumbles. If you do that, and keep letting her scratch around for bugs and worms, she should remain healthy and happy and lay lots of eggs. If she lays eggs, she should also be getting oyster shell for calcium.

That was part of a question I've had. I hate processed food (for everyone). But I do not have the budget for organic food.
I have 11 chickens and they have crumbles at all times but I usually drop 2-3 cups of scratch grains. The scratch grain bag actually warns it is not full nutrition. Should I cut back on the grains? I occasionally see livestock oats, how are those?
Thanks

 

[azygous]

Buy organic, but buy a commercial balanced chicken feed. Look at the label. It should have a list of vitamins and minerals and a protein %. The latter should be between 18% and 20%. A chicken should be eating about half a cup of that feed each day, more if laying.

Scratch grain should be doled out as you would cookies to a small child. My chickens get maybe an eighth of a cup of scratch each, twice a week, and the same amount of BOSS (sunflower seeds). This is what puts fat on a hen and causes her to stop laying, so you need to feed those very sparingly.

 

[twendt]

Agree, Mealworms = protein, BOSS = fat. I limit the amount of BOSS my girls get. In the winter, I'm generous with mealworms, I buy a 5# bag of dried mealworms just about every 2wks for 7 hens. It was 10'F yesterday.

 

[twendt]

i raised only one hen in my apartment.
to celebrate my little hen's first birthday, i bought alive mealworms and gave her them instead of dried ones which she ate usually.
the amount of alive mealworms would be 550,, and she ate them all in 3 weeks.
it means she ate 30 a day!

and i take her out to my apartment garden, and take a walk for a while and she eats many earthworms.

but.. is it okay for her??
i read some articles that alive mealworms could make chicken fatter.
and fat hen could die when they lay eggs.. right?

so here's my question!!
> how much you guys give alive and dried mealworms(or even earthworms) to each of your chicken?

i worried that she could get any disease because of me.

thanks

Chickens can get intestinal worms from earthworms. You should read up it. I would rather give mealworms, it's less risky.

 

[azygous]

Chickens can eat earth worms and not get parasites from them. It depends on those earth worms being infested with parasites. In twelve years of keeping chickens, mine have never had worms, even though they dig them up and eat them year round as they free range.