How To Grow Mealworms for Chickens

Learning how to grow mealworms for chickens is a fantastic way to boost the protein in your flock’s diet, and it’s something you can easily do at home. While there are limits to how many mealworms you should feed them, it’s a rewarding endeavor. Alongside mealworms, you might consider raising black soldier fly larvae for a different protein source. In this post, you’ll find everything you need to know about growing mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, answers to common questions, and guidelines for safely feeding these nutritious treats to your flock.

This post was originally published in December 2021. I updated it today because I wanted to answer more of your questions, offer new experiences, and share more about the difference between mealworms and black soldier fly larvae so you can make the right decision for your flock.

About Mealworms For Chickens

Mealworms are an important part of a balanced and nutritious diet for chickens. My flock is free-range, so they find similar insects and larvae when scratching around the homestead. In the winter, we raise mealworms or black soldier fly larvae for our flocks since there aren’t as many bugs available for them.

Mealworms are the brown larvae of the Darkling Beetle. They are in the second stage of the four stages of life in the Darkling Beetle. In this second stage, the larvae are voracious eaters of organic matter as they prepare for the third stage of pupae and then full adulthood.

Chickens love mealworms and you can provide needed nutrition for them as part of the way you feed your flock. As a bonus, you can save money by growing your mealworms with organic water from your kitchen or garden.

FAQs

• Can chickens eat mealworms?

Chickens can eat mealworms, and I have never seen a healthy chicken turn one down. They will eat as many as they can get their beak on.

• Do chickens like mealworms?

Chickens love mealworms. They will push and scratch their way to the front of the line to make sure they get as many as possible before the rest of the flock finishes them off.

• Are mealworms good for chickens?

Yes, mealworms have the protein and nutrients your flock needs. Chickens need around 16% protein in their overall diet. Mealworms are a great treat but should not be the only thing your chickens have access to.

“You are what you eat” when it comes to your health, and your chickens also need a balanced diet to remain healthy and active.

This is why fresh mealworms are better than dried ones. Dried mealworms have lost some of the balanced nutrition they had when alive. Dried mealworms, if not fed as part of a complete and balanced diet, can cause problems with the liver and egg production in your flock because of their fat and protein content.

When your flock is molting, they need added protein in their diet and they can benefit from a few extra mealworms around this time.

• Should I feed live Mealworms?

Mealworms are around 30% protein when alive compared to around 50% when dried. Chickens will eat both but it is more complete nutrition to feed live mealworms as they would naturally find in the wild.  

• Can ducks, geese, turkeys, and guineas eat mealworms?

All poultry can and will eat mealworms as they will naturally eat them when free ranging in the wild. However, geese and ducks will benefit less from mealworms as their natural diet is a little different from other poultry. I have seen no health or feed savings from feeding waterfowl mealworms.

• How many mealworms should you feed chickens?

I feed my flock of free-ranged birds around 10 live, organically grown mealworms per bird in the morning as part of their daily diet when I first let them out of the coop. They fight over them, and some get more or less, but because they are free-range, it’s not a big deal.

If you can’t free-range your birds, be sure they are receiving as natural a diet as possible. If I had dried mealworms, I would feed about half that amount in the morning.

You also have to consider the breed and size of your birds when deciding how many to feed your flock. We raise dual-purpose birds so they are larger, and 10 is a good number for them.

I wouldn’t make a practice of feeding large numbers of mealworms right before your flock goes to roost. They are easy to digest and may leave the hens’ crops empty for long periods, which will affect egg production.

• Can baby chicks eat mealworms?    

A mother hen will teach young chicks to eat mealworms and other insects. If you’re brooding chicks, you can give 1 to 2 worms to each chick as part of their natural diet.

Feeding Mealworms is Illegal in Some Areas

Mealworms are a cheap way to feed chickens, and larger farms have been known to try to cut their overhead by producing large numbers of them at the cheapest price.

Some areas have passed laws concerning growing mealworms for poultry because some producers were feeding unhealthy, parasite-filled food to their large flocks of chickens. This was causing the poultry to be infected with parasites and affecting humans who consumed them.

Not following the best practices for growing mealworms can contaminate poultry with bacteria or viruses as well as high levels of heavy metals. This can happen when someone feeds the mealworms banned substances or growth promoters in unhealthy environments.

If you decide to purchase mealworms, be sure to choose a trusted resource that follows clean, organic feeding practices. The last thing you want is to feed mealworms that are full of pesticides, chemicals, bacteria, or even parasites to your flock.

How to Grow Mealworms for Chickens

Mealworms feed on many types of decaying organic matter. They also feed on many types of fresh matter they find when burrowing in dark, warm, damp places.

It’s easy to grow your mealworms at a fraction of the cost of buying them from a mealworm farm. A simple 3 tier mealworm farm will produce enough for most backyard flocks.

Here is everything you need to know to give your flock a protein filled treat for pennies on the dollar.

What You Need to Grow Mealworms for Chickens

1. Box: Plastic or Glass. You want to pick a container with smooth sides to prevent the worms from escaping.
2. Food Substrate. 
   • The substrate is food like oatmeal, wheat bran, cornmeal, wheat flour, ground-up grains, or a mixture.
   • You will fill the container with the substrate at around 2-3 inches deep.
3. Chemical-free paper towels or cardboard for shading and misting with water to increase humidity as needed.
4. A source of moisture. 
   • Potatoes work great since they last longer and do not mold as quickly as other options.
   • You can also use carrots, apples, lettuce, cabbage, and other fruits and vegetables for food and moisture.  

Tips For Growing Mealworms

• 75-85 degrees is a great temperature for growth rates to thrive.
• When starting your mealworm farm, you should expect that it will take a few days for your beetles to mate. Then it will take the eggs up to 19 days to hatch.
• If you start with larvae, you will have to wait for them to complete the life cycle and their eggs to hatch into mealworms.
• The larva stage is the second stage of development and is when you will be harvesting them for food. They stay in the larva stage for around 10 weeks.
• You will want to allow a few of them to reach adulthood and continue to produce mealworms for a self-sustaining farm.

 Mealworm Life Cycle

You can grow mealworms for chickens in a single container system or a tiered system. Both have pros and cons, so you will have to decide which will work best for you.

Single Container Mealworm Farm

This type of mealworm farm holds the substrate and all stages of the mealworm lifecycle in one container.

Pros:

• Easiest for beginners
• Less expensive
• Takes up less space
• Easier to care for

Cons:

• Lower yield due to cannibalism
• More difficult to harvest mealworms

What You’ll Need

• Container
• Drill or mesh screen
• Organic Substrate
• Potato
• Bucket sifter
• Mealworms or Darkling Beetles

Instructions for the single container system

• Step 1.  Find a container that’s at least 6 inches deep.
• Step 2.  Add 3 inches of organic substrate.
• Step 3.  Drill holes or add a mesh screen to the top of the container.
• Step 4.  Add mealworms or Darkling Beetles.
• Step 5.  Add 2 slices of potatoes
• Start 6. Place the container in a dark place with temperatures around 75-85 degrees

Drilling holes or attaching a mesh screen to the top of the container is for ventilation, which prevents mold from harming your worm farm.

Tiered System Mealworm Farm

You can use any plastic drawer organizer for your worm farm. You need at least 3 tiers but 10-20 work best for sustaining a continuous harvest.

Pros:

• Grow more mealworms
• Easier to harvest
• A more stable growing system

Cons:

• Needs more space
• Higher startup cost
• Takes more time to maintain

What You’ll Need

• 3 or more  drawers
• #8 (1/8″) hardware cloth or mesh screen
• Organic substrate
• Potato
• Bucket sifter
• Mealworms or Darkling Beetles

1. Beetle Bin
   • Cut out and replace the bottom of the top drawer with the mesh screen. Label the drawer as the beetle bin.
   • Fill the bin with 2 inches of substrate, then add a couple of slices of potato for moisture and food.
   • Beetles will burrow into the substrate, laying their eggs on the bottom.
   • The hatched larva will fall through the mesh screen, which keeps them from being eaten by the adult beetles.
2. Worm Tray 1
   • Below the Beetle Bin should be labeled as Worm Tray 1. 
   • Add 2 inches of substrate and add a couple of slices of potato.
3. Pupae Tray 
   • Below Worm Tray 1 – Label as Pupae Tray.  
   • All pupae should be separated from worm tray 1 by moving them to the pupae tray. Watch this drawer for beetles, as they will eat the Pupae that have not yet hatched.
4. Extra Worm Trays 
   • If you have more than a 3-tray system, label each successive tray as worm tray 2, 3, 4, etc. Fill these drawers with 2 inches of substrate.

How a Tiered Mealworm System Works

The eggs laid by beetles in beetle tray 1 at the top of your system fall into the second tray which is worm tray 1.

Every month or so, simply swap the worm tray in worm tray 1 position with the next numbered worm tray. This way, the worms can continue to grow while the new worm tray starts to fill up with eggs.    

Worm Tray Rotation

As we just discussed, the worm trays need to be rotated every month or so.

This helps keep all the worms in a particular tray maturing around the same time for harvesting.

Mealworms take around 3 months to be fully grown.

The frequency of rotating the worm drawers depends on how many worm drawers your tiered system has. Refer to the chart below for a guide on when to rotate your worm drawers.

Want to purchase an easy-to-use kit?

If you want to get going fast with a complete growing system, you may want to consider a mealworm breeding tower. They are simple and sustainable for raising your own mealworms. This breeding system’s simple design can be set up and ready to go in less than two minutes.

You can purchase it here.

Temperature & Humidity

Mealworms are ectothermic, which means their body temperature depends on external sources. You have to provide the right temperature and humidity for them, which affects their metabolism. When their environment is too cold, their metabolism will slow down drastically.

At 77 F (25 C) and 75% humidity, eggs hatch in 19 days. At 95 F (35 C) with good humidity levels, eggs hatch in 15 days.

If the humidity level goes below 20%, the mealworm eggs dry up and die.

Best Environment for Mealworms

Their ideal environment is a dark place at 77 F with 75% humidity.

Maintenance of Your Mealworm Farm

• Remove dead worms, pupae, and beetles from drawers weekly.
• If your containers or drawers start to smell like ammonia or if mold starts to grow in the drawers, move the worms to a new, clean drawer. Thoroughly clean the smelly drawer before using it again.
• Once a week, you will need to add a slice of potato for hydration.
• Move beetles and pupae that have matured to the correct trays.
• Pests like mice, spiders, and ants can decimate your farm so make sure to have a secure container system and monitor it.
• Some people sprinkle a little chicken feed on the top of trays to give the beetles a variety of vitamins and minerals. It is believed this may keep them from eating their eggs.
  • If you use chicken feed, make sure it does not contain diatomaceous earth. DE will kill your whole farm.

Mealworm Frass

Frass is mealworm poop. It’s a dark, sandy-like substance, and periodically, you will need to use a sifter to remove the frass to keep your mealworms healthy and clean.

Frass that is removed from your container may hold quite a few eggs. You can put it in a separate container and add a slice of potato while letting it sit in a dark, warm location for about a month. Then simply remove the mealworms by sifting them again.

You can use the frass as fertilizer or add it to your compost pile.

Frass contains nitrogen, copper, zinc, and microorganisms that every plant needs to produce nutritious fruit.

The NPK of mealworm frass is around 5-2-2. 

Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) vs. Mealworms

I would like to mention that we now grow black fly grubs or larvae instead of mealworms for a few reasons, but mostly because of the significant nutritional differences.

Here’s a comparison of the nutritional value of Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) and mealworms, highlighting their key differences.

Nutritional Value Comparison

Both BSFL and mealworms have their unique benefits, but BSFLs generally offer more protein, fat, and calcium, making them a more nutrient-dense option for your chickens. However, mealworms are still a valuable supplement and can be a good option if you prefer a lower-fat diet for your flock.

Difference in growing mealworms and BSFL

Growing Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL)

Since this post is about growing mealworms, I’ll just share the general ideas of growing bsfl. If you’re interested in a ready-to-go option, you may want to check out this growing system.

Container: BSFL need a bit more space than mealworms. You’ll want a larger, well-ventilated container with drainage holes to prevent excess moisture buildup. This setup helps keep their environment just right for healthy growth.

Substrate: These little guys thrive in organic waste like kitchen scraps, manure, and compost. It’s amazing how they can turn what would be waste into valuable protein for your chickens. Just keep the substrate moist but not soggy to keep them happy.

Temperature and Humidity: BSFL prefer it warm and humid. Aim for temperatures around 86°F (30°C) and maintain higher humidity levels. This creates the perfect conditions for them to thrive.

Feeding: One of the great things about BSFL is their voracious appetite for organic materials. They are particularly effective at composting, so you can feed them a wide variety of kitchen scraps and other organic waste. It’s a wonderful way to reduce waste while providing high-quality nutrition for your flock.

Lifecycle Management: The larvae are pretty self-sufficient when it comes to harvesting. When they’re ready to pupate, they’ll crawl out of the substrate on their own. Using a ramp or collection area makes it easy to gather them up for feeding time.

Mealworms for Chickens More FAQs

You now have all the information you need to grow mealworms and create a sustainable worm farm for your flock. There are just a few more FAQs to consider.

• How much does it cost to produce mealworms?

This depends on your setup and what kind of substrate you choose.

If you use your kitchen or garden waste, the costs are so small they are not worth mentioning.

You can use slices of potatoes or carrots for moisture or chemical-free paper and cardboard that you can mist with water weekly.

You will need a substrate. Wheat bran is a popular option because it’s easy to sift, and Coco Coir is also gaining popularity.

If you don’t have containers to use, you will have to buy one to get started. However, the time and money you save in the long run with healthier chickens and less money spent on feed make it well worth it.

• How long before my mealworm farm is sustainable?

Mealworms take 6 months to become a sustainable producing farm.

• How do you keep or store Mealworms?

You can keep mealworms fresh by storing them in a refrigerator.

Live Mealworms can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 3 months. You need to take them out and raise their temp to 75% and feed them for 3-6 hours once a week.

You can dry mealworms. You can freeze-dry or slowly oven-dry or use a food dryer.

• Where to Buy Mealworms or Black Soldier Fly Larva

You can purchase dried mealworms at any farm supply, online at almost any chicken feed supplier, on Amazon, and some Facebook groups and garden centers sell them. I want to remind you to be sure you are purchasing from a company or person you trust and who uses clean organic growing and harvesting practices. If we find ourselves in a position where we have to order, we order these.

You May Also Enjoy

How to Care For Molting Chickens

Coccidiosis In Backyard Poultry: How To Recognize, Treat, & Prevent

How To Feed Chickens Without Buying Chicken Feed

Your Complete Guide To Feeding Chickens

Wrap Up

Knowing how to grow mealworms for chickens is a rewarding way to enhance their diet with a high-protein treat. By providing them with the right container, substrate, and conditions, you can easily cultivate mealworms at home. Remember to feed them in moderation, and your flock will surely benefit from the nutritious boost.

Additionally, if you’re looking for another sustainable protein source, consider raising Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL). They thrive on organic waste and are an excellent supplement to your chickens’ diet.

Feel free to share your experiences with growing mealworms or BSFL or ask any questions you might have. We’re all in this together, learning and growing as we care for our flocks. Here’s to Happy, Healthy Flocks!