Meal Worms

[Grams56]

My girls are hooked on meal worms. I've cooked up some ground venison and sweet potatoes. They haven't touched it, but if I throw out some meal worms they're gone in minutes

 

[CanadaEh]

may be they are spoiled just a bit?

 

[Grams56]

may be they are spoiled just a bit?

I believe you're right

 

[agarnp]

My girls are hooked on meal worms. I've cooked up some ground venison and sweet potatoes. They haven't touched it, but if I throw out some meal worms they're gone in minutes

lol, how much do you feed them live meal worms? I have 20 chickens and they are very quick but the older ones are sort of greedy and will goble a handful in a minute leaving the other more timid ones with no treats. Any ideas? I dont want to over feed them...is it like three worms each or something close to that?

 

[MrsNorthie]

lol, how much do you feed them live meal worms? I have 20 chickens and they are very quick but the older ones are sort of greedy and will goble a handful in a minute leaving the other more timid ones with no treats. Any ideas? I dont want to over feed them...is it like three worms each or something close to that?

I scatter some pretty widely in the run then feed some one at a time, by hand. I like the interaction with the flock.

 

[The Birb King]

Mine LOVE mealworms. I used to breed mealworms a few years ago to feed them, but now mostly just get the dried ones in the bags.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Mine LOVE mealworms. I used to breed mealworms a few years ago to feed them, but now mostly just get the dried ones in the bags.

We have thought about growing our own mealworms for ours, that way we can be 100% sure that they are non-GMO or treated with anything else we want to avoid.

 

[Perris]

We have thought about growing our own mealworms for ours, that way we can be 100% sure that they are non-GMO or treated with anything else we want to avoid.

it's really easy: if you want an insight into the details, I recorded my journey with it here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/first-attempt-at-mealworm-farming.1350136/
They are still going strong more than 3 years later.

Live mealworms are usually more nutritious than dried - you are in complete control of what they eat and can give them anything you think needs a bit of a boost for your flock, and it's MUCH cheaper than buying dried ones. Contrariwise, they will eat things like styrofoam too, and people have grown them on that, and are still experimenting with it, and that too has consequences for their nutritional value to your chickens of course.

 

[agarnp]

Mine LOVE mealworms. I used to breed mealworms a few years ago to feed them, but now mostly just get the dried ones in the bags.

i used to feed them the dry but when i read the back of the bag -the origin is China. so we just ordered live ones from here in Florida and just trying it out. The dried ones have gotren expensive too ...like everything else.