Dried Mealworms for Wild Birds - 10 litres, 5kg & 10kg Boxes

Dried Mealworms are a nutritious treat for all wild birds, they are additive free and have the same nutritional value as live mealworms, without the inconvenience and mess of storing live food in your refrigerator to keep the worms fresh, that are now available from us in an economical 10 litre tub, including Free Mainland UK Delivery!

Dried mealworms can also be fed to tropical fish, koi carp, semi aquatic amphibians, turtles, terrapins, reptiles, chickens, turkeys and hedgehogs. Live mealworms are frozen and then freeze dried to maintain their nutritional value, supplied in resealable, recyclable plastic tubs. Please note we only sell approved premium dried mealworms, unlike some online sellers!

Meal worms can be fed by reptile enthusiasts with turtles, frogs and salamanders as a nutritional supplement or treat to compliment live insects or as substitute to live food if it's not available, there not just for hungry birds or chickens.

Not only are dried mealworms cheaper than live ones, freeze drying them preserves the essential nutrients, extends the shelf life of the worms and reduces the amount of space required to store them, allowing you to pack more into a tub or box, reducing the cost to our bird, chicken, reptile & wildlife loving customers.

Dried Mealworms are rich in protein, fat and amino acids that can be fed all year round to your visiting wild birds either as a treat or mixed with a blended wild bird food or straight seed, added to chicken feed or to a reptiles live food for extra variety, that can be feed dry or soaked in warm water for a few minutes to re-hydrate them.

We recommend to bird lovers to mix the dried mealworms with suet pellets or your favourite wild bird food to make them last longer and soaking them in warm water in the breeding season for youngsters and fledglings.

Whilst food shortages are often more severe for birds during the winter months, if the weather is very wet during the spring or summer a shortage of insects can occur, but also if the weather is exceptionally dry as the ground will be too hard, preventing birds from foraging for earthworms. So dried mealworms are a great natural alternative for birds when insectivorous protein is unavailable and a welcome help for struggling parents in the breeding season.

Why not try adding a drizzle of cold press extra virgin oil over the dried mealworms to make them look lifelike to birds? Cold press olive oil is tasteless, packed with anti-oxidants, contains amino acids and promotes the healthy digestion of food.

Dried mealworms can be fed to your garden birds by mixing them with your favourite wild bird foods, then poured into a standard seed feeder you don't have to purchase a specialist mealworm feeder to watch the birds enjoy eating them, you can even place the dried worms on your bird table or feed them to the birds simply on the ground providing it's not a windy or rainy day!

What are dried mealworms?

Mealworms are a vegetarian larvae that are clean, odourless and freeze dried for convenience, they are relished by many species of wild bird, especially insect eating birds such as robins, pied wagtails and blue tits so much so that wild birds seldom leave any mealworms, so there is hardly any wastage and are much cheaper than waxworms that are very expensive.

The larvae feed on germs found on damp, stored grain and cereals and they make an excellent high protein food for insectiverous birds such as; Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Dunnock and Tits. Robins in particular will quite often feed from your hand if offered mealworms on a regular basis, as reported by many of our bird loving customers!

The larvae are made up of 40% fat and 48% crude protein approximately, so mealworms offer wild birds an excellent source of energy and water, especially for the development of skeletal growth in young fledglings, before they leave the nest. Freeze dried mealworms are also an excellent alternative for people who would prefer not to handle live worms that wriggle!

The enormous tub of premium dried mealworms is approximately 28.5cm or 11 inches in diameter and 22.5cm or 9 inches high, that offers exceptional value for money when compared to the price of smaller packets or tubs from your local pet shop or garden centre. A 10 litre tub contains approximately 40,000 - 50,000 dried mealworms!

We also sell a economical 10 litre tubs of dried mealworms with fruit, honey, juniper & rowan berries, shrimps and gammarus that has been designed to attract a larger variety wild bird species to your garden, than just feeding worms by themselves.

How to breed mealworms for your hungry birds?

If you have the time and are not too squeamish, breeding mealworms is quite easy and can save you money, rather than buying a constant supply of either live or freeze dried mealworms to feed to your hungry birds or pet chickens, but if want to offer them on a regular basis you will need to breed enough to keep your visiting birds and poultry happy by staggering your worm batches to avoid running out!

We suggest you use either a large deep biscuit tin or stacking box with a lid as a habitat to culture your own mealworms and drill holes in the top for ventilation, then follow the steps below:

1) Line the bottom of your box, with a single layer of hessian sacking that you should be able to source from your local green groceries, if you don't have some old sacks at home in the garage or shed.

2) Then cover your sacking with approximately 2 inches, of cheap bran, oats or even crumbled up weatabix that you can always sterilize by placing small batches in the microwave to stop avoid any possible contamination.

3) Next place a couple of slices of bread and a medium sized raw potato on the bran, which will provide the meal worms with a source of moisture.

4) Repeat the above steps so that you have another two layers of sacking, bran, bread and potato to create a large sandwich of ingredients, if you have enough room in your box and place a raw cabbage leaf on top.

5) Purchase some live mealworms from your local pet shop, making sure you clean them well to remove any mite eggs and place them in the box.

6) Depending on the age of your meal worms, after approximately five weeks of age they will develop into creamy pupae, that will not eat or drink and then hatch into beetles two to three weeks later, starting off a light brown colour and turning black as they mature.

7) The beetles will then lay eggs which will then hatch into mealworms, that will moult several times increasing in size, which you crop as necessary to feed your birds.

8) Replace the bran, bread, potato and cabbage as necessary, removing anything which is mouldy and keep the box in a warm room.

9) Finally create another habitat to allow you to provide your birds with a regular supply of mealworms, by just transferring some bits of dried bread from the original colony, that your beetles will have laid eggs on.

After reading the steps above, you may decide that buying your dried mealworms is much easy than breeding your own and to be honest many bird lovers and chicken owners just don't like the idea of wriggling worms, so freeze dried mealworms are a great convenience, but it's worth trying at least once if you have the time!

Handy step by step instructions on How to breed your own mealworms with helpful illustrations is available for you to download and share, allowing you to save money purchasing live or dried mealworms for your birds online.

Why not treat your free range chickens and buy some dried mealworms for them too?

Dried mealworms are suitable for chickens as well, not just wild birds, they are packed with protein, essential vitamins and high grade oils that provide chickens with a valuable source of energy that is ideal for growing new feathers or when your chickens are going through the moult. Just sprinkle some on the ground or add them to feed and watch the frenzy!

We suggest to customers with chickens, to purchase a high quality non medicated bag of mixed corn for free range chickens and then mix plenty of dried worms together to create a scattering feed to encourage your chickens natural foraging instincts, keeping them entertained and occupied for hours whilst they find every last morsel.

Alternatively why not spoil your chickens and mix layers mash with some warm water to create a tasty porridge, then add some dried mealworms and sweetcorn to give it some extra flavour?

Some online sellers, that specialise in chicken feeds are now offering customers pre mixed tubs with meal worms and corn that are quite frankly overpriced, as corn is much heavier than dried worms and do not represent good value for money when you can purchase a 20kg bag of chicken feed cheaply and mix the ingredients yourself.

Please note you can now purchase dried mealworms from us, in the following sizes 10 litres, 20 litres and 10kg bulk boxes, that all include Free Mainland UK Delivery, excluding Scottish Highland & Islands!

Dried Mealworms for Birds - Nutritional Information & Features:

- Freeze dried to maintain nutritional value
- High in protein, energy, fat and potassium
- Protein 48%, Fat 40%, Fibre 4.5%, Moisture 8%
- Inexpensive in comparison to live wriggling worms
- Dried mealworms are easy to use and can't crawl away
- Easy to store, No refrigeration required like live meal worms
- Recommended for wild birds, chickens, hedgehogs, reptiles, fish & amphibians
- Versatile can be fed by themselves, blended with your favourite bird food or single seed variety to increase nutritional value