Is 9 days old to young for mealworms?

[chicknduck]

I have a coloney of them for my big chickens. Last year (first chicken adventure) I fed them to my chicks but I am not sure how old they were. Can someone refresh my memory of if it is to early for them?

 

[bluere11e]

I give my chicks little mealworms when they are about 4 weeks old. I worry about them not digesting them fast enough to avoid the chewing mouth parts on the worms from doing a little damage so I pull off the heads before I give them to the chicks. Same with my button quail

 

[chicknduck]

ok I was thinking along those lines maybe too harsh for their digestive system.Thanks.

 

[HEChicken]

I gave quite a few to my 12-day-olds this week and they had a blast. The first time was actually quite hilarious. I set four down in the brooder and they didn't even notice at first, and kept walking all over them, while looking up at me to see what I wanted. Finally one of them spied movement out of the corner of her eye and literally jumped backward, with this look of "OMG - what the heck is that?" Then some instinct took over and she stepped forward again, grabbed it, and raced off around the brooder giving the little "I got it, I got it" yell, while looking for somewhere to hide and eat her prize. The others meanwhile, couldn't figure out what the fuss was and watched this performance with great interest.

No ill effects from their treat. Keep in mind that Mama Hen will have them eating this stuff as soon as they're hatched! If you're concerned about grit, you can always put a little sand somewhere in the brooder that they can use if they want to.

 

[elmo]

Last spring when our first broody ever led her chicks off the nest for the first time, I was so excited and thrilled, I decided to give her a treat, so I offered her a mealworm. The hen immediately gave it to one of her chicks! I was horrified, because I didn't think mealworms were on the "treat list" for chicks barely out of their shells!

However, there's no treat list in nature. Out in the pen with their hen, chicks eat whatever they can get their beaks on (and whatever they can manage to swallow). I was also horrified a few days later when one of the chicks tried to swallow a bug that was almost as big as her little head. I thought she was going to choke, but she worked on it and worked on it and finally managed to swallow it. Her crop was distended for a while, but darned if she didn't finish digesting it by the end of the day.

I wouldn't give chicks a whole bunch of mealworms because of the high chitin content (the hard exoskeleton of the worm). A lot of that can be hard to digest, especially if the chicks aren't on grit. One mealworm probably wouldn't hurt...and it certainly didn't hurt my chick (although she was out in a run where she was able to get grit).

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Ditto.

There's nothing my mama hen hasn't tried to feed her chicks and they are doing just fine.

 

[chicknduck]

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
As a reptile keeper, I'd long believed that meal worms with their heads left intact can harm the animal since they aren't digested fast enough. However, after doing research and consulting with several vets who specialize only in reptiles, I learned that this is in fact, a myth, and that the mealworm can not chew up the innards of an animal before it is digested

 

[write2caroline]

I had a similar situation and I got these nice big fat meal worms for my mamma hen. She got one out of the container and fed one to each of her chicks even though I got them for her. These were huge too and they had no issue munching them down when momma fed them to them.
Caroline

 

[chicknduck]

Quote:
I cant wait untill I have a hed go broody and hatch babies.