Nacktschnecken omlet Cube

[genericjanedoe]

Reading up on several posts here, I've noticed a lot of members are feeding their girls mealworms.

 

I'm looking to give my girls a bit more variety in their diets as they seem to be fussy eaters (a lot of the fruit and veg I've fed them they turn their beaks up at!) and I was wondering do you feed them fresh or dried mealworms? And what size - mini, standard or giant?

 

Also has anyone tried them on Morio worms?

[veggiemad]

hi

my 3 ex batts gp mad for dried mealworms- just standard ones- you can get them from pet shops or wilkinsons, but they can be abit pricey so its only a REAL treat else hey'd eat me out of house and home!!!

 

x

[Sandychick]

I get a tub of dried mealworms for mine. i have to admit they don't get them as often as they would like as they are quite expensive. They are no doubt their total favourite though.

 

My new chickens have just been what I call 'mealworm trained' They know the sound of a rattling tub of them, which is very useful if you can't find one of them - they soon turn up!

[genericjanedoe]

Thanks for the resonses. I've found a seller via ebay who sells small (50g) tubs of both live and dried so I think I'll try them out and see which one works.

 

Can't afford to spend loads if they're just going to leave them again!

[docsquid]

If you want a larger quantity, Ann Kennedy do 3kg for about £30. This is much cheaper than other vendors, and my chooks love them. I buy in bulk because I also give these dried mealworms to the wild birds.

[shelley8179]

Wilkinsons do tubs of dried mealworms 100g for £2.49 and sometimes do deals, my girls love them.

[Miss Millies Chicken]

I've purchased mealworms from Anne Kennedy as well and they are good value. I soak my chooks dried meal worms for about 10 mins in warm water as it stops them shattering to tiny pieces

[pipistrelle]

Wilkinsons worms here, good offer on them and the girls love them

[Janty]

We give our girls mainly live meal worms with a few dried ones when we haven't got any live ones that are big enough.

 

We breed them for the girls.

 

[Laura & CTB]

Mine get dried as treats - dont think I could handle live ones

[Chucky Mama]

I feed the dried ones usually. I did give them some live when Wiggle Wormers or whatever they are called had an offer on. They loved them but they give me the heebeejeebies

[bessandra]

Thanks to Janty, I breed my own too!

[jimnpaula]

Having just researched breeding my own, I may do the same...

 

P

[bessandra]

It is unbelievably easy! A little gross, but easy!

[The Dogmother]

My girls love live ones, but I'm not paying out that much all the time, so they make do with dried ones in with their super mixed corn.

[chickencam]

Mine get dried ones, which I buy from Wilkinsons, which seems to be the cheapest place by far for the 100g tubs £2.50. They get a handful of super mixed corn and a sprinkling of mealworms just before bed.

[yellowrose]

oooh very interesting, how do you breed your own, do you have a good link?

Thanks

[beulah59]

Any tackle and bait shops nearby? Maggots can be an occasional treat and are much less expensive.

[genericjanedoe]

Like Yellowrose, I'd be interested to know how you breed them. Are there any links out there worth researching?

 

I have to admit I'm feeling a bit squeemish about the thought of feeding them the live ones - but I've already ordered a small batch, along with some dried ones, so I'll just

have to take a deep breath and go for it.

 

Or I might be able to persuade hubbie to do it instead!

 

I'll definitely look into the larger bags if the girls really love it.

[Janty]

My hubby breeds them for me...I'm far too squeamish!

 

[genericjanedoe]

Any tackle and bait shops nearby? Maggots can be an occasional treat and are much less expensive.

 

MAGGOTS??

 

Good grief!!!

[jlo]

I get my dried ones from Natures Grub on EBay. Two 5 litre buckets are £30. They last for ages and I feed the wild birds with them as well. I often think that they must be like "crisps" for chooks.

 

I did get some live worms delivered on a weekly basis but they make for a very expensive treat. They do love them though so I still get them occasionally.

[Alis girls]

I saw some in the supermarket the other day - they look yukky - I will have to get the dead dry ones. Anything which wriggles will make me I'm a wuss I know

[beulah59]

Any tackle and bait shops nearby? Maggots can be an occasional treat and are much less expensive.

 

MAGGOTS??

 

Good grief!!!

Really good as a treatment for crop impaction ...

[genericjanedoe]

Well, a quick update. I ordered the live and dried mealworms. They arrived in the post and I, unawares, opened the packet of live mealworms, which had somehow managed to get out of their inner packaging.

 

So I got the mother of all nasty shocks when a number of them spilled out over my hands and onto the hallway floor.

 

Guess the postie wasn't too impressed with us either, 'cause we later discovered some crawling on the outside of the parcel.

 

When we'd cleaned up the mess with a dustpan and brush, I made the OH feed the live ones to the chooks - he was even more squirmish about it than I would have been! But the girls fell on them like they were caviar and literally within 15 seconds they had all disappeared.

 

The dried ones were far easier to handle and just as much loved. I must admit, I got a bit of a bug (pardon the pun!) in finding tasty treats for the girls; so I took a deep breath and decided to go for broke.

 

We found a fishing tackle shop and went for the maggots.

 

We were relieved to find that they were alive but curiously inanimate when we bought them. However we soon realised why that was when we opened the boot of the car. Fridge temperatures keep them in a "sleep-like" state, but the warmth of the car woke them up and again, some escaped into the boot and hubby was pretty peeved at having to hunt maggots round his spare tyre, maps and smelly old walking boots for 10 minutes.

 

We thought we'd make this lot of live food last though, and were much better prepared. We figured we could fatten them up a bit by keeping them in a covered bucket in the shed, and had heard that if we fed them with rotten food, they would feast on that.

 

However, I didn't fancy feeding them on the rotted chicken livers that was suggested - it just seemed all too canabalistic for my tastes. So we thought rotten fruit would go down just as well.

 

Hubby checked on them after a day or two, but unfortortunately he said that they had mostly died and the fruit remained untouched. Also that there were far fewer of them - so I guess there was some cannibalism going on after all.

 

Anyhoos, we fed them to the chickens, who seemed to love them too, and I guess we'll just have to chalk up that particular experiment to experience.