Meal worms....

[Erin80]

Do you feed live ones? Or something else? I am clueless on what to buy. So far I have only found the live ones and found them to be super creepy!

 

[Hillaire]

you can buy meal worms that are packaged specifically for chickens at tractor supply... they are dead so you don't have to be creeped out by them lol

 

[Erin80]

Ahhh ok thanks. Here in Canada we don't have Tractor Supply, just TSC. And our TSC doesn't sell chicks right in the store like in the states, which is such a bummer! We have to pre order 4 weeks in advance.....or else find them on kijiji (which is like Craigslist).

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We give our hens dried mealworms. We get them online from either ChubbyMealworms.com or MealwormsByThePound.com

 

[azygous]

If you've never handled live meal worms your idea of them is far worse than the reality. They are dry to the touch, and they do not bite and are very clean. They are, however, much more appealing to chickens than the dried variety. They are also much higher in nutrition than the dried ones, being 50% protein.

I raise my own, which is super easy and even fun. It makes offering live worms to my flock very affordable since the only expense is the cost of wheat bran.

Even my new baby chicks are eating the live worms at just a few days old. There isn't any treat, dried worms included, that beats live meal worms to ingratiate you to your chickens.

 

[snow5164]

Ahhh ok thanks. Here in Canada we don't have Tractor Supply, just TSC. And our TSC doesn't sell chicks right in the store like in the states, which is such a bummer! We have to pre order 4 weeks in advance.....or else find them on kijiji (which is like Craigslist).

Any feed store or peavy mart has meal worms , or in cities pet stores also sell them as lizards eat them too.

Here in southern MB we have only dried

 

[Erin80]

I saw them in the lizard section, but they were $6.99 for a super small little container. I think I will order them off amazon

Stupid question here.....is Tractor Supply actually TSC? Or is it a different store? LOL, thanks!

 

[snow5164]

I tried raising meal worms ... easy for sure but I didn't appreciate the smell.

I changed to sprouted lentils , super easy, good protein and the girls love it

 

[azygous]

The smell associated with raising meal worms comes from the dead beetles, and it can be mitigated by removing the dead beetles, easy to do with tweezers. I readily acknowledge this odor is very acrid and unpleasant and it's why I remove the dead critters once a week. My chickens eat the dead beetles with great relish so no waste.

Other than the dead beetles allowing to accumulate, there is no smell whatsoever to meal worms. Dried meal worms have a much stronger odor than live ones, which isn't unpleasant, being similar to something we'd eat out of a bag from the chips and dip aisle in the super market.

 

[snow5164]

Oh.. interesting, thanks !!
I had them for 2 years in an aquarium with mesh on top . I did get a lot of worms and the girls loved a scoop of the worms /beetle mix!!

There were dead beetles too ,now I know .