Topic of the Week - Feeding mealworms, bugs etc.

[obicat]

Mine get Garvo which has shrimp in it, but I do give them crickets from about a few days old. They love them! they hunt them down like velociraptors! My chicks are raised inside so I think its good for them to have things like that. I'll bring soil in from outside for them, and little pots of herbs and things. The adult chickens are outside in a big run, and I try and make sure they free range a couple of hours a day, but I'm keeping them in a tiny urban back garden so not sure how much they find. They do seem to enjoy it though

 

[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.

 

[3riverschick]

Supplements to Regular Diet

Farmer's Helpers supplements are a great way to bring quality nutrition found in free-ranging into a confined situation. I raised some chicks using UltraKibble supplement and got great results.
Happy, robust, no sickness, or pasty butt. None dead. I was also using Nutridrench in the water.
Best,
Karen

 

[Puffy Fluffy Silkies]

I like providing my flock with dried crickets for a nice treat.

 

[LovelyChicks130]

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

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

We had a large chicken run beside our barn, when I was a kid. Right beside the run was an old rusted out vehicle with bushes and small trees growing all around and through the floorboards and wind shield opening(windshield was long gone). It was like an old milk van. Anyway, A man came to remove it and this was a big event for us kids, I don't know why. He hooked it up and began to move it. It hadn't moved far when mice began to scamper out, A lot of mice. Being kids, we instantly started chasing them. I don't know what we would have done if we had caught one, get a rabies shot I guess. Trying to get to safety, they all headed for the barn, but to get there they had to cross the chicken run. We were all shocked at how quickly those hens dispatched and consumed the mice. It was like feeding time at jurassic park. They were fighting over them and ripping them to pieces. Some were swallowed whole. We (the kids) thought it was the coolest thing we had ever seen. Our mom, however, was horrified and would not eat eggs that weren't from the grocery store after that. That was the day I became fascinated with chickens. These are not just birds... They are my own little private flock of feathered DINOSAURS.

What a great story.
I give my chickens live crickets from the pet store and they love them. My previous flock loved to hunt down moths at dusk.

 

[Pensmaster]

During the spring I run a bug zapper before the bats return. Catch the bugs with a bucket under the zapper and feed once a week to both chicks and adults.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

So far, we've been feeding the meal worms (dried or live) and crickets as treats occasionally. The ladies get to go out of their run occasionally, usually once a day, depending on the weather or the snow cover. Anyway, whatever they find free ranging, they gobble down.
I get a little horrified when I go to the grocery store and see 'Vegan fed chicken' in their packaging. Those poor things, never getting to chase and eat, which is fully in their nature. Anybody who thinks that chickens aren't meat eaters has to watch a flock free ranging!

 

[EggMan207]

I don't feed my hens live or freeze dried insects or worms. I do let them free range 1 hour before sunset daily (weather permitting), on more than an acre. We average 3 to 4 inches of precipitation a month and have many hardwood and some softwood trees. They love to search the leaves for bugs, salamanders, worms, crickets and grasshoppers.View attachment 1310059 Crickets used to find their way into my basement and keep me awake. Not anymore.
I feed a 18% layers pellet, and the only treats I give them are a mixed bird seed scattered on the straw in their pen View attachment 1310058 or under the raised coop in wet or snowing weather, twice a day. I also smash a soft shell, thin shell or cracked egg when I find one, on top of seeds on the ground. GC

I like your idea of letting them free range an hour before dark. I was contemplating something similar. I like to let them free range, but have had problems with predators and with my chickens visiting the neighbors (they destroyed their garden and pooped on their welcome mat).... I think an hour at the end of the night would help provide tick control and keep them form wandering too far.

 

[Nardo]

Mine get the grub worms I did up as I garden. And they love snakes. I never thought I'd feel bad for a snake, but the hens play keep away and it ends traumatically for the snake.