Rollie Pollies?

[PineappleMama]

Seen a few topics about worms, earth and meal, for chicken protein... honestly those mealie ones give me the willies while fishin' worms don't... no clue why? Anywho, snooping at wormman.com and saw a Sow Bug (aka Rollie Pollie, Pillbugs, Isopods) and wondered if anyone's tried these? Good protein levels? Easy to do?

What kid doesn't like rollie pollies? Seems there's less risk of freak out with these.

Of course, there's less risk of DD getting attacked to them and not wanting them to be food but pets with the mealies...

Edit... see they've also got a cricket kit... hmmm...

Whatta y'all think? Crickets? Mealies? Nightcrawlers? Rollies?
Anyone know of a chart that compares protein levels?
Ease of care?
Best for bait?

 

[speckledhen]

Well, mine won't eat rollie pollies (pill bugs for some of you). They turn up their beaks at the ones under rocks I turn over for them. They love katydids and crickets and meal worms, though. No idea about the protein differences.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Mine eat them, though they don't exactlly love them. Also, please don't worder from wormman. 50% of the time your order won't even arrive, and if it does it's usually poorly packed or damaged. Just look at some of the reviews, and you'll see a majority are bad. This is also coming from a reviewer, I once ordered 1,000 mealworms next day ground. What did I get? A poorly packaged box, and 1,000 dead mealworms. The order didn't come the next day either, it came a week and a half later.

 

[Sjisty]

Petco.com has 5000 mealworms for $30 plus shipping. That is the best price I have found. They usually come the day after I order by Fed Ex. Shipping to me is about $8.00. It comes out to about $40 with tax, shipping, and the price of the mealworms. They are a nice size - 3/4 to 1 inch.

I don't know about pill bugs - I haven't seen any here. They do love crickets, though. I have no idea about protein, either.

Bottom line, I guess I didn't answer any of your questions, which makes me pretty useless!

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Oh right, forgot to answer the protein question.

Generally, crickets top out at around 21% of digestable protein. Mealworms top out at 20. Nightcrawlers are 61% crude protein, 9% fat, and 5% ash. Of course the amount of disgestable protein will be lowe than 61%.

Now as far as care goes, crickets suck. Unless you have a perfect set-up and will dedicate 24 hours a week to them, don't jump in to breeding them. They STINK, are loud, escape, and are extremely canniblistic. Mealworms are all around great for chickens. Easy to breed, good protein, and chickens love them. For nightcrawlers, you can't breed the typical bait store canadian crawlers. Well, you can, but you need VERY low temperatures to due that. Find an online vendor that sells EUROPEAN nightcrawlers, those are easily bred in a composter type set-up. Now for fishing, nightcrawlers are best of course, especially if you get a good breeding colony up. Mealworms typically don't get very big, but bluegills or brim are easily caught with them. If your lucky, you'll get a crappie. Crickets are an OK to good bait. The occasional bass will strike one, bluegill LOVE them, and crappie will hit them here and there. If you stick several on a hook and sink it down, all 3 of those will catch catfish. Hope I helped!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I mulch deeply in my garden and rollie pollies grow there in numbers difficult to comprehend. When my chooks were very young, they loved them. But now that they are older, they mostly ignore them in favor of the plentiful grubs and crickets. I wish they were their favorite, I'd be set for protein!

 

[artsyrobin]

mine ignore the pill bugs- in favor of worms, grubs and they adore the crickets- hilarious to watch them chase them- i guess the rollie pollies just are squishy enough

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mine don't like rollie pollies either. I haven't seen them eat crickets, but they LOVE grasshoppers and worms.

 

[linben]

Mine won't eat them either. They just watch them crawl by..my brother used to eat them as a kid and said they were good.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Well, despite your brother's recommendation, my chickens won't eat 'em.