Pastured Poultry Talk

Crickets are a popular insect protein for humans, and black soldier fly larvae receive most of the attention among chicken keepers; Cheryl Powers, Jord Producers, plans to change that by farming mealworms as a supplemental chicken feed. Actually, she's working to position mealworms for reptiles, exotic birds, and humans (but we tend to stick to chickens). One of the biggest benefits of mealworms is that they are high in protein. There has also been published research in Poultry Science that shows feeding mealworms to chickens can increase average daily gain, feed conversation, egg size, and flavor. According to Cheryl, you only need to feed a small amount of mealworms to see an increase in the protein intake of the chickens' diet. Less than 10 mealworms is her recommendation. Chickens love the mealworms, and they will forage on them without hesitation. There can be too much of a good thing. If the birds fill up on the fiber of the mealworms, they won't get all the other vitamins, mineral, and nutrients they n