Update-dehydrating bugs, pumpkin seeds & chicken feed

[MsPony]

Whooo lots o' questions!!

1) I was going to buy crickets and mealworms in bulk from my store, stick them in freezer (to humanely kill) then dehydrate them. How long and what temp should I do it for? What other bugs should I use? I want to give them extra bugs daily besides what they forage.

2) How do you get your pumpkin seeds? I can only find a couple cup fulls, raw, sprouted & shelled for $4.59!! if I sprout them myself, can I store them in bulk along in with their foraging mix?

3) Foraging mix, besides their base organic lay pellets (soy free!!!!) I was going to mix up flax, oat seeds (grouts?), PGR (by Dynamite, private label), pumpkin seeds, a tiny handful of corn (to big 6 gallon bucket), BOSS, oatmeal and throw the bug mix along side it. Does this sound good? They are free range on grass. I've been out of pellets since friday, and they have all been doing well on just foraging, scratch, BOSS, oatmeal and cans of just beans (lol.)

 

[patandchickens]

I dunno bout dehydrating insects for very long... they are relatively high fat and I would be concerned about going rancid and losing nutritional value. Freezer is the usual way to store dead bugs.

If you live somewhere that they are still foraging this time of year, why not concentrate more on making places *attractive to* bugs (so they can live there til the chickens eat them) rather than trying to save 'em dead? Or attract moths etc at night to capture and feed to the chickens. During the part of the year when this is possible anyhow.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Denim Deb]

I was wondering why you wanted to dehydrate bugs.

 

[MsPony]

I can try to attract bugs, problem is both me and puppy dog are highly allergic to bug bites Crickets & mealworms are ok because they dont bite, but anything that bites (which the most random bugs do, seriously) sets off our allergies. Puppy dog has to carry an epi pen, and we spend most of our time outside with chickies. I have thought about growing a "butterfly garden", but it all goes back to what else would be hiding in there. I was also thinking of replanting the dead areas and letting the grass grow high for chickies, but that goes to me and puppy dogs horrible allergy skin. Goodness gracious, why must we allergic to the outdoors?!?! I might just have to bite the bullet, I got one of those new citronella fan things from "off", would that kill the bugs or repel them? Because I could stuck those on us.

 

[Woodland Woman]

Instead of dehydrating bugs why don't you raise them. I think you can raise crickets in a large rubbermaid tub with a screen over it. You could do worms, too.

 

[MsPony]

I might try again next summer, recently all the crickets we have been getting in are PREGNANT and laid eggs that HATCHED in my tarantula cage. Talk about a POd tarantula! Then they proceeded to start laying eggs in the leopard gecko cages, which are just paper towel bottoms. Stupid crickets.

 

[Denim Deb]

Get rid of the female crickets, or keep the sexes separate, and your problem is solved.

 

[Ohioann]

Yes, you can raise meal worms easily at home. Check out the internet for the directions or there may be one of us (SS) who has done it. You can also order meal worms in bulk and keep them in your refrigerator for a period of time. I know someone who does this in the summer to feed bluebirds. I guess you could raise crickets too but the escape factor would be alot higher and crickets loose in the house are noisy and can chew on things.

 

[MsPony]

Its not hard, its space lol! I rescue snakes and were currently full which means TOO MANY ANIMALS!! They need to get fat and go to new homes.

Now the mix and pumpkin seeds?

 

[MsPony]

Stupid hens, I lifted a box up and worms were underneath...no one took advantage of them. But to be fair I had BOSS in my hands