![]() ![]() This is a great reason to breed your own bugs, especially if you’re feeding your flock organic chicken feed. The higher quality food the beetles receive, the more nutrients for your chickens. Mealworms do well on a diet of root vegetables, vegetable and fruit peels, and other vegetative scraps. Part of raising mealworms for chickens includes feeding them. Mail ordering will be cheaper than shopping at a local pet store. The price for 1,000 mealworms will be between $14 and $20. If using chicken feed, freeze for a few weeks to kill unwanted pests and beetles. Another option is using chicken feed as the substrate. ![]() Adequate airflow prevents the mealworm’s food from spoiling quickly.Īdd a few inches of wheat bran, corn meal, bone meal, crushed bran flake meal, or store-bought mealworm bedding to the bottom of the container. I prefer plastic tubs over glass aquariums because the surface area is more important than depth. The beetles will not be able to crawl up the smooth plastic sides. Cutting a large hole in the lid and attaching a screen prevents items from falling into the container. I find plastic tubs are perfect as you can easily see the health of the colony and they are easy to clean. And if my students can raise them and get over their phobia, so can you! Supplies for Raising Mealworms for ChickensĪ container 20 inches long and 10 inches wide is a good size to start a colony of 1,000 to 5,000 mealworms ( Tenebrio molitor). Mealworms and superworms don’t chirp or jump. ![]() Crickets have this horrible habit of going to the bathroom all the time. Mealworms and superworms, compared to raising crickets for chickens, will not smell. Learning how to raise mealworms and other insects for your chickens is cost-effective and ensures their treats are high quality. But, molting chickens welcome the extra protein. When searching for what can chickens eat as a treat, many people cringe when the results include black soldier fly larvae, crickets, and beetles. During the summer, I bring the colonies home and they make an excellent treat for my poultry. In my middle school classroom, my students have learned how to raise mealworms, superworms, and Dubia cockroaches for years to be fed to our pet bearded dragon: Bob Ross. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |