Topic of the Week - Feeding mealworms, bugs etc.

[BarredRockMom]

Mine will consume almost all insect fare, with exception of insects that have red on them. Insects with red here typically use compounds they collect from milkweed to keep predators at bay.
We don't get many Japanese beetles here in my yard, but the girls sure do snap them up quickly when the do see them! The go to town in stink bugs, too!

May through June in some years I have placed a light near roost of young game chickens. Night flying insects (May Beetles mostly) then come into range where chickens can pick them off from their roost. Some nights allow for very rapid crop fill. This seasonal and not well suited for feeding more than a few birds at a time.

When working on beehives some of the chickens follow me and wait for me to drop burr comb. They consume the drone brood very well. I also have been throwing scratch at base of beehive to encourage chickens inspecting area for insects. Hope is to use that as a measure for controlling hive beetles in and just before the pupal stage.

At work I have a lot of ponds and a river nearby where mayflies (burrowing mostly) emerge in mass. Chickens really like those.

Recently I have begun exploring the use of mass harvested Japanese Beetles as eats. The beetles do not keep well outside of a freezer so working on ways to increase their density and dry them so they can be kept year round. Below is an ongoing thread working on the procedure.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/making-feed-from-japanese-beetles.1223688/

 

[centrarchid]

Rain, rain, go away, come back some other day.

When it comes to the nutritional value of insect dominated forages that are not limiting, I can not match it with any formulated feeds I can buy for my chickens. The formulated feeds are a much cheaper second best that come into their own when predators make supporting birds on free-range impractical.

 

[LovelyChicks130]

Mine steal what the cats catch. Mice, chipmunks, etc. I almost feel bad for the cats but it's too funny.

 

[GC-Raptor]

chickens visiting the neighbors (they destroyed their garden and pooped on their welcome mat)

Yeah, I used to let them free range up to 4 hours before sunset. One day my neighbor text me saying my hens were in her yard. That's when I cut it back to 1 hour. So far so good for over a month. GC

 

[quackingdom]

I'm not the squeamish type. If they want to eat it, let them eat it (unless it's something that I know is dangerous, which has never happened). Our dog killed a mouse recently and was mauling it, but not eating it. I scooped it up and threw it in front of one of our ducks. She pounced on it and ate it whole.

They've also eaten live lizards and frogs. I remember once hearing an odd crying sound, and I went outside to find out what it was. Meg was dashing around the yard, dodging ducks right and left, with a train of ducks following her, hoping to steal her prize: there was a live frog in her mouth, with all four legs stuck out like sticks and mouth wide open, screaming. It almost sounded like a kitten or maybe even a baby crying. It was gross, but kind of hilarious.

I tried raising mealworms and superworms, but I started with way too few and the geckos ate them. I'll try again at some point. When I get larger livestock like goats and horses, I hope to try raising earthworms with the manure.

Sometimes, when I have time, I'll turn up old boards and other objects around the yard for them so they can can catch whatever bugs and worms are underneath. One girl, Cola, has caught onto this game so well that she comes running if she even thinks I'm going to pick up a piece of plywood or concrete block. If I find a cricket, I sometimes catch it and give it to one of the ducks.

They sure love their meat!

 

[featherhead007]

It's a crazy free 4 all when I treat my flock to meal worms, I usually end up covered with chickens! on my lap, on my head, beaks in the bag, etc.

 

[featherhead007]

I like the 1 hour free range idea, how do you train them to return to the coop?

To get them in the coop, I go in and open a bag of meal worms....I make sure they hear the sound of opening the bag.

 

[Sussex19]

I think that they are great for the chickens, but I don’t make a habit of eating them!

Are you sure you don't want a locust pie?

 

[EIEIO Funny Farm]

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Chickens are omnivorous and when given the chance, will happily devour a surprising assortment of bugs and small animals. I've seen mine eat frogs, small snakes, mice… Most of us prefer to be a bit less adventurous when meeting our flocks' craving for meat and stick to providing things like mealworms, crickets, roaches, etc. This week I would like to hear your thoughts and practices on feeding "live" treats. What do you offer your flocks, what can you feed them safely, etc?

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https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

Oh yes, besides catching grasshoppers for them - when I let them out of their run to free range they race past me and get on the back porch so they can finish the cat food that was left behind

I’m not sure if its intentionally left by my cat as a trade off for sleeping in their temporary nesting box. Had to set this up for one of my hens struggling in this horrible heatwave. So now I have a broody cat

 

[Rocky86]

I breed mealworms and fruit flies for a house full of reptiles, and I feed them out 3-4x per week. It’s nice having all the different sizes because I offerred them to even week old chicks to boost them when they were not eating well. It’s to entertaining also! Lol it’s hilarious dropping in 100s of fruit flies and watching them run around like crazy.

They don’t eat the dry ones as well so I crush them up and mix them in with their food, tiny bit of scratch and make mush for a treat. They love the frozen cubes in this heat.