Topic of the Week - Feeding mealworms, bugs etc.

[EIEIO Funny Farm]

I Found this awesome frozen raw meat dog food called primal, our dogs love it, I tossed some to the chicken feeders and they devour them like vultures.

Do you thaw it out 1st then give it to them raw?

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Bug Catchers good morning one and all!

82 partly sunny 80 % humidity feels like 100 rain off and on.

Have a great day!

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I had a mealworm farm in a 10 gallon aquarium.

Had to take it down during some remodeling in the house.

I loved having them to feed to my Ladies.

 

[BeanNoot316]

I use a bucket with a bunch of holes drilled in it and a metal grate inside. Scrap meat goes in on the grate and maggots come out of the holes. Our chickens love em!

 

[Cheetah Chicks]

When feeding extra protein do be careful with the forms of live protein that you chose to feed your chickens. Meal worms are the larva stage of the DARKLING BEETLE and both meal worms and darkling beetles are a major pest and a serious disease vector in commercial chicken houses, besides the meal worms destroy the very chicken house that they live in by boring into the walls of the chicken house in order to pupate. This behavior is more pronounced when using the deep litter method of of chicken manure control.

Don't take my poor word for this, research it and find out for yourself. Also other things like Earth worms, slugs, crickets, snails, and grasshoppers all transmit disease bacteria and intestinal worms to your flock.

What about the earthworms they find in the ground? We cant stop them from digging .

 

[Happy hen lover]

Hi, try raising mealworms but was unsuccessful. They died, molds. I used cornmeal and oats. Bran wheat was too expensive.

Me too ? I can get worms into beetles, but never have any baby larvae from beetle tray! Yes my farm turned moldy too. ? I'm done with that experiment

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

My kiddos get out and about a bit, and they really enjoy my manure pile, when I am cleaning stalls they love to dig in the manure pile catching all sorts of bugs.

I also collect Japanese beetles (a small bucket with a couple inches of water, when you see a cluster of the beetles shake them into the bucket, the water prevents them from flying away), when I have gone through all my fruit trees and roses and collected what beetles no can, I dump the bucket out on the barns brick floor and watch the chickens go wild!

It’s a free for all, 3 weeks olds up to 7 yrs old all fighting for those beetles

I have seen mine eat small snakes and small frogs. Large snakes they don’t attack, but they will harass.
View attachment 3586989
This would make an awesome meal I would think!

Great pic!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I garden while my chickens are free-ranging, and toss them all the Japanese beetles, grubs, June bugs, and mealworms that I find. Of course, they also find insects themselves.

 

[ashleeey1515]

I'm not brave enough to try raising live mealworms yet, but my girls love the Chubby brand dried mealworms. They are not huge fans of the BSF larvae for some reason.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I feed mine mealworms and they seem to not care too much for them. When we’ve let them out to free range, a few of them have JUMPED and killed moths… I was cheering them on.

I've seen my chickens snatch bees and wasps out of the air and swallow them. It was surprising to witness at first

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

I raise my own mealworms to feed my birds but mostly I give them to baby chicks. I feel like giving chicks lots of live mealworms for the first few days of life greatly enhances vigor and survivability. Live mealworms are also a great device when trying to make birds tame or to get their attention for taking photographs.
I raised Dubia roaches for a while and they were great in every way except for the fact that they are giant cockroaches and that gives them a big “ick” factor.
In the summer I put brooder waste in big pots in the woods, add water and let it ferment. Starting in June the wild black-soldier flies show up and quickly fill the bins with larvae. I can usually harvest a ton all summer unless wild animals discover them.