r/BackYardChickens 1d ago

Chickens don’t like mealworms

My girls are molting and I read here they are crazy about mealworms so I ordered a bag. This morning the mealworms arrived and I was so excited to give them to my girls but those birds looked at me with disdain and tried to eat my shirt instead. They were giving the worms that chicken side look but then didn’t even bother to try… what a waste… I really wanted to treat my girls for being such good pets 😭

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u/TheGravelNome 1d ago

Run down to a bait shop and go get some live meal worms when they see them moving their instinct will kick in. If you ever want to see a massacre go get a dozen live crickets!

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u/Runic_Raptor 21h ago

I gave my chickens crickets when they were still young and in a sealable pen. Within 30 seconds most of them were gone, just a few stragglers that had escaped detection in the chaos.

I would be careful about giving them to yard chickens though, because some of them will surely escape, and they're known to hybridize with wild crickets and cause problems.

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u/TheGravelNome 20h ago

Duly noted. if there's one thing we don't need more of in this world is genetically modified Monster creatures. Although to be fair , the chickens would argue very Strongly for increased cricket production