Chickens and wild birds both eat insects, and both are commonly fed too many of them. The interesting question is not whether birds like mealworms, because they very obviously do. It is how much is sensible, which insects are worth buying, and what happens to the rest of the diet when treats take over. This guide covers backyard poultry and garden bird feeding separately, because the answers are different. It is general husbandry, not veterinary advice.
Backyard chickens: insects are a treat, not the diet
Chickens are omnivores and forage for invertebrates given the chance. That does not make insects a feed. A modern layer or grower ration is formulated to be a complete diet, and extension guidance is consistent that supplements and treats dilute it rather than improve it.
The standard figure quoted for scratch grains is that they should stay to roughly ten to fifteen percent of daily intake, or no more than the birds will clear in about twenty minutes. Insect treats sit in the same budget. Penn State and Oregon State extension guidance both make the same underlying point: a formulated ration already contains what the bird needs, and anything else added on top reduces the concentration of protein, vitamins and minerals in what the bird actually eats.
This matters most for laying hens, which are running a calcium-intensive process every day. A hen filling up on a phosphorus-heavy treat is a hen eating less of the ration that carries her calcium.
Which insects are worth feeding to poultry
- Black soldier fly larvae. The one commonly available feeder consistently reported to carry more calcium than phosphorus, which is the reverse of nearly every other feeder insect. That makes them the sensible default treat for laying hens specifically. The black soldier fly larvae guide explains where that calcium comes from.
- Mealworms. The traditional poultry treat, and popular for good reason: chickens are enthusiastic about them and they store well. Their calcium-to-phosphorus balance is poor, which is the argument for keeping them a treat rather than a habit.
- Crickets and roaches. Crickets and feeder roaches both work and both are taken readily. In practice they are less common in poultry keeping than worm feeders, mostly because they are harder to scatter and harder to store in quantity. We sell the roaches, not the crickets.
There is also a foraging argument that has nothing to do with nutrition. Scattering live feeders gives a confined flock something to do, and boredom in a run is a real welfare issue that shows up as feather pecking. Live insects are one of the few treats that produce genuine foraging behavior rather than just calories.
Rules and record-keeping
Rules about what may legally be fed to poultry vary by country, and they get stricter where the birds or their eggs enter the food chain. If you sell eggs, or keep birds under a registration scheme, check the guidance that applies where you live rather than assuming a treat is unregulated. That is not a question a shop can answer for you.
Garden birds: helpful in the right amount, harmful in the wrong one
Feeding mealworms to wild birds is genuinely useful, particularly to insectivorous species during the breeding season when parent birds are working hard and natural insect supply is unreliable. It is also the area where over-supplying does the most damage, and the reason is calcium.
Mealworms carry far more phosphorus than calcium. Excess phosphorus interferes with calcium absorption. Nestlings a week from fledging are laying down bone, and laying females need calcium for eggshell. Bluebird conservation guidance is explicit that mealworms are calcium depleting and should be supplemental rather than a staple.
How much is supplemental
The most concrete published figure comes from bluebird monitoring guidance, which suggests around fifteen mealworms per bird per day, and cites the North American Bluebird Society's position that mealworms should be offered once or twice a day unless poor weather dictates otherwise, with a hundred or so worms morning and evening being adequate for a pair with a box of nestlings.
Those numbers are for one species and one situation, and they are a useful anchor rather than a universal rule. The principle behind them travels: a defined amount at defined times, not an open dish.
Practical points for garden feeding
- Do not put mealworms inside a nestbox. They burrow into the nesting material.
- Dust or gut load if you are feeding regularly. Live feeders can be gut loaded before offering; dried ones can be shaken with a calcium carbonate powder. This is the single most useful correction to the calcium problem.
- Do not feed year-round without thinking about it. Wild birds do best on a varied natural diet, and routine unlimited supply encourages dependence on the feeder.
- Water matters. Dried mealworms in particular are worth soaking, and birds need drinking water near any feeding station.
- Keep the station clean. Shared feeding surfaces spread disease between birds, and this is a real risk rather than a theoretical one.
Live or dried
| Live | Dried | |
|---|---|---|
| Nutrition | Higher moisture, and can be gut loaded so what you feed the insect reaches the bird. | Moisture removed. What was in the insect when it was processed is what is there. |
| Foraging value | Movement triggers hunting behavior. Better enrichment for a confined flock. | None. It is a food item, not an activity. |
| Practicality | Have to be kept alive and used within a sensible window. | Store indefinitely, scatter easily. |
This is a live feeder site, so the honest position is that both have a place. Dried larvae are a reasonable pantry item. Live feeders do something dried ones cannot, which is give the bird something to chase.
Sizing, and what to avoid
Size is a smaller issue for adult chickens than for most animals on this site, because a hen will deal with anything she can pick up. It matters for two groups: chicks, and small garden birds. Both need feeders at the smaller end of the range, and size grading is not standardized across the trade, so a measurement is more use than the size name on a tub. For roaches, the dubia roach size chart gives the length in inches behind each size name.
What to avoid:
- Treats above roughly a tenth of the daily ration for poultry.
- Mealworms as a wild bird staple, especially during nesting season, without calcium correction.
- Wild-caught insects. Pesticide residue.
- Unlimited open feeding of any insect to wild birds.
- Assuming poultry treats are unregulated. Check the rules where you live.
For the comparative figures behind these choices, the nutrition table in our bearded dragon feeder guide sets moisture, protein, fat and calcium-to-phosphorus ratio out side by side across the feeder species, with sources.
Ordering, and where to go next
Bird keepers are the customers most likely to buy a large quantity of one feeder, because the treat budget for a flock adds up and because dried products encourage bulk buying. For live feeders the constraint is the same as everywhere else: buy what you can keep in good condition until it is used. Larvae hold up far better in storage than crickets do, which is one reason they dominate this category.
Of the insects covered here, we sell live black soldier fly larvae, mealworms and dubia roaches, all in the feeders collection. We do not sell dried insects or crickets. When an order lands, what to do when your feeders arrive covers the unpacking.
This guide describes feeding healthy birds. Sick or injured wild birds are a matter for a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, and a flock showing illness is a matter for a vet, in some cases a reportable one. Neither is a feeding problem.