Live treats for chickens.

[Chicken101-07]

You'll do much better pricewise buying crickets and mealworms in bulk online. There are dozens of companies selling them by the thousands or even hundreds of thousands at a fraction of the cost of buying from a pet store. Even places like PetCo and Pet Smart have online stores where they sell in bulk.
While I agree that many small invertebrates do often harbor parasitic worms, that is only true of wild things that are found in chicken foraging areas. The worms, beetles, crickets, ants, grasshoppers, etc. will consume the worm eggs excreted by the chickens making them intermediate hosts. The same is not true of farm raised crickets and mealworms. There are no worm eggs in the substrate used to feed and foster them.
I also agree that chickens fed primarily a fresh complete chicken feed formulated for their age don't really need extra treats to be healthy.

I bought them to try something new,I was actually thinking of buying the 1,000 superworms from Amazon for 35 dollars,I read some reviews and doesnt seem so good.

Mine go nuts for live superworms and crickets!
This place sells them at a decent price:
https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/

hmm the prices seem too low to be good,have you bought here?lol

 

[casportpony]

hmm the prices seem too low to be good,have you bought here?lol

I did, and was pretty happy with them, though if you buy 1000, expect to get 750-800, seems most online suppliers have a bad habit of doing this.

 

[Chicken101-07]

I did, and was pretty happy with them, though if you buy 1000, expect to get 750-800, seems most online suppliers have a bad habit of doing this.

,they probably eat each other during shipping,out of the 50 count container I only found 41,I dont think they put bits of superworms in there in purpose lol

 

[casportpony]

,they probably eat each other during shipping,out of the 50 count container I only found 41,I dont think they put bits of superworms in there in purpose lol

They might.

 

[Kusanar]

,they probably eat each other during shipping,out of the 50 count container I only found 41,I dont think they put bits of superworms in there in purpose lol

superworms and mealworms are different bugs. Superworms will eat each other, mealworms will only try to snack on each other if they get super super dry and are desperate for moisture.

 

[Chicken101-07]

Seems like I will be purchasing more from amazon,found a breeder that has good reviews.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If I were to do it, I'd go for crickets. A handful thrown into shavings in the coop would occupy bored hens for quite a while.
It is also pretty easy to keep a large number of crickets (as with mealworms). I used to raise them. An aquarium with sand on the bottom, some food and water in a warm location, they will start reproducing and if successful, you may never have to buy any again.

 

[Chicken101-07]

If I were to do it, I'd go for crickets. A handful thrown into shavings in the coop would occupy bored hens for quite a while.
It is also pretty easy to keep a large number of crickets (as with mealworms). I used to raise them. An aquarium with sand on the bottom, some food and water in a warm location, they will start reproducing and if successful, you may never have to buy any again.

crickets can give off a smell dont they?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Crickets absolutely smell. Though it doesn't travel far if you keep it clean.
I had a tarantula for years and worked at a pet store so I have a lot of experience with em.

 

[JadeFarms]

Just don’t buy from petco please. I really don’t trust them! The abuse..... sad. I would choose live (or dead) crickets or mealworms. Hornworms are good to, just more expensive.