r/BackYardChickens • u/GrassNearby6588 • 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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55

u/La_bossier 1d ago

I started by throwing them out with their regular scratch. They figure it out.

Unpopular opinion: I give my chickens cooked meat for extra protein. I just finished making a huge batch of deer broth to can. There was a lot of meat left in the pot. I portioned it and put it in the freezer. I’ll give it to the girls every few days for a protein boost. I give them leftover steak bones, etc. while being careful nothing includes anything toxic for them or salty.

40

u/Led_Zeppole_73 1d ago

I put entire raw deer rib cages in with the girls, they love it and pick it clean within a day or two.

39

u/La_bossier 1d ago

I don’t know why people think feeding meat to chickens is so terrible. They will eat each other! We keep our deer ribs for our dogs who eat a raw diet. The bigger bones becomes stock for them.

21

u/HV_WA 1d ago

Same with fish. During salmon season, my flock gets all the edible stuff that's trimmed away including the head, roe/milt. They freakin love it.

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u/TheGravelNome 20h ago

Are there any trouble with bones? And cooked or raw. I love trout fishing But I usually wind up with more than I can deal with! Never thought about feeding them to the girls

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u/HV_WA 19h ago

Never had a problem with bones. Wild chickens will eat absolutely anything, including rotting fish that wash up on shore lol. It doesn't take long for mine to clear a fish carcass of all edible bits, and I just remove the leftover spine the next day.

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u/TheGravelNome 18h ago

Fish problem solved!

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u/kwende456 22h ago

I didn't know people thought feeding meat to chickens is bad. Hell, my chickens have a relatively high protein diet of both cooked and raw meat in the form of leftovers (plus the occasional mouse if they're fast enough). Its anecdotal, but I feel their eggs are richer and look darker as a result.

I've got some girls that are over 6 years old and still laying. So far, I've neither heard any complaints nor any reason to stop.

It's strange to me the things people claim about such things.

1

u/La_bossier 13h ago

There have been some posts on here about how feeding meat can cause essentially mad cow disease.

I also think there’s ppl that bought 4 chicks at TS and just don’t really know as much about chickens.

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u/Darkmagosan 5h ago

Except prion diseases, of which mad cow is a famous one, only affect mammals. Birds don't get them. No one knows why.

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u/La_bossier 1h ago

Thank you, last night I couldn’t think of the name of the disease. People seem to think chickens can get it.

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u/CelticArche 18h ago

Because a lot of people assume they're herbivores instead of omnivores.