On snow covered winter days, the chickens prefer to stay in the barn, and don't get to enjoy their favorite pass time...scratching in the dirt for bugs.
We have solved this problem by raising mealworms. These 2 small cabinets contain 6 drawers of mealworms in 3 stages of development...
worm, pupa, and beetle. The drawers contain an inch of oatmeal and a few carrots for moisture. You can see the worms wiggling here.
When the worms are mature, they shed their skin and turn into pupae. After a few days or weeks, the pupae turn into flightless beetles. The beetles lay eggs and the whole process begins again.
The beetle drawer, which is on the top, has its plastic bottom removed and replaced with screen. The screen allows the eggs to pass through and fall into the second drawer where they will hatch into tiny worms. The worms are almost invisible, but feeding on oatmeal, they grow quickly.
About once a month, we move the drawer with the newly hatched worms down and add a new egg catching tray under the beetles. In this way, the 6 trays have worms in different stages of development.
The bottom tray contains the largest worms, and also the pupae. This batch is going out to the barn. Mealworms contain 50% protein and will help improve egg production and boosts the hen's immune system when molting.
There's nothing the girls love more than a tasty meal of worms, especially in February when they can't find their own.
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS