Mealworms are a high protein nutritious and delicious treat your chickens will love. The mealworm is produced from the second stage larvae of the Darkling beetle. You can get mealworms dried or live. Your chickens will go crazy over them either way, but prefer the mealworms live.  When raising chickens you may have already encountered these brown worm like creatures in flour, dry goods, spoiled chicken feed or pet food. If you are a backyard chicken keeper, you probably do not relish the idea of live mealworms crawling around your yard which is why many urban chicken keepers prefer to purchase dried mealworms for their chickens.

Dried mealworms are quite expensive but there is a cheap affordable alternative. You can raise your own organic mealworms but if you are not careful you could end up with mealworm infestions. Mealworms are probably best known for getting into and spoiling flour, feed, pet foods, and other dry goods. The best way to prevent live mealworms from infesting dry goods is to put your dry goods in properly sealed glass or plastic air tight containers or buy dried mealworms.

References: ​
​1. Mealworm Care, Information, Facts & Pictures. (2018). Mealwormcare.org. Retrieved 2 October 2018, from http://mealwormcare.org/