We Compared 6 Chicken Treats on Protein, Calcium and Cost

Why Manna Pro mealworms win this category

Because of what they let you do with a flock rather than what they contain. Chickens learn very fast that a particular shake of a particular container means mealworms, and after a few days you can recall a whole flock from across a garden.

That is worth more than the nutrition. A flock that comes when called can be shut in early on a night you have to go out, moved off a flowerbed, or counted quickly after a fox scare.

Living with Manna Pro mealworms

The pieces are uniform enough that you can count them, which sounds fussy and is actually how you keep to the 10 percent rule. Ten mealworms per bird is a treat; a scooped handful each is a meal.

At around 50 percent protein they are also genuinely useful during the autumn moult, when birds are rebuilding a full coat of feathers out of protein and often look ragged and off lay.

Where Manna Pro mealworms fall short

They are rich, and that is the criticism. High protein comes with high fat, and hens fed generous mealworms daily put on internal fat, which reduces laying and shortens life. The bag will not tell you that.

They also contain very little calcium. A hen filling up on mealworms is eating less layer feed, and layer feed is where her eggshell calcium comes from, so heavy treating shows up as thin shells within a few weeks.

Cost per pound at this pack size is high. As a training aid that is fine, because you are using small quantities deliberately. As a daily supplement for a flock, buy in bulk instead.

Why Larvevo BSFL wins this category

Calcium, which is the specification that separates a good treat for laying hens from a merely enjoyable one.

Mealworms are almost calcium-free, so every mealworm a hen eats displaces layer feed and dilutes her calcium intake. Black soldier fly larvae carry a great deal more, which means treating a laying flock with them does not work against their eggshells.

They also cost meaningfully less per pound at comparable protein, which makes regular use affordable in a way that bulk mealworms are not.

Living with Larvevo BSFL

At five pounds this is the right quantity for regular use with a backyard flock. It is not a sampler and it is not an industrial sack.

The production story is a genuine differentiator rather than marketing. Black soldier fly larvae are farmed on organic waste, converting food waste into protein, which is a far smaller footprint than most animal protein sources.

Where Larvevo BSFL falls short

Acceptance. The casing is tougher and the shape less familiar than a mealworm, and a flock that has been getting mealworms will initially sort them out and leave them. The standard fix is to mix a handful into their usual mealworms for a week, after which they take them readily, but it is a real transition rather than a straight swap.

Piece size is a related issue. Bantams and young birds find larger larvae awkward, and in a mixed flock the big birds get most of them.

And they remain a treat. Higher calcium makes them a better treat, not a feed, and the 10 percent of daily intake rule applies exactly as it does to everything else on this page.

Why Manna Pro 7-Grain Scratch wins this category

Because it does two things that no protein treat does.

The first is behavioural. A confined flock in winter is bored, and bored chickens pick each other's feathers. Scattering scratch across the run floor gives them something to scratch, sort and search for that takes hours rather than seconds. It is the cheapest enrichment there is.

The second is thermal. Digesting grain, particularly corn, generates metabolic heat. A handful scattered in the late afternoon means birds go to roost with a full crop and something to burn overnight.

Living with Manna Pro 7-Grain Scratch

Ten pounds at a low cost per pound makes daily scattering realistic. This is a treat you can actually afford to use regularly, unlike mealworms.

The right technique is scattering rather than putting it in a feeder. In a feeder it is just cheap food; scattered across litter it is an activity.

Where Manna Pro 7-Grain Scratch falls short

Nutritionally it is poor, and that has to be stated clearly because so many people feed it as though it were a ration. At around 9 percent protein it is well below the 16 percent a laying hen needs, so every mouthful of scratch displaces a mouthful of properly balanced feed.

Fed generously, the result is predictable: laying drops, birds put on weight from the corn, and shells thin because layer feed with its calcium is being displaced.

The traditional guidance is right. A small handful per bird, in the late afternoon, and no more.

Rodents are the other consequence. Grain scattered on the ground and not fully eaten by dusk is a rat invitation, so scatter only what the flock will clear before dark.

Why Hatortempt bulk mealworms win this category

Arithmetic. Mealworms in a 3.5 oz sampler cost several times per pound what they cost in a five pound bag, and if you are using them regularly the small packs are simply an expensive habit.

For anyone feeding a flock through the autumn moult, when extra protein genuinely helps, five pounds is the quantity that gets you through a season without three reorders.

Living with Hatortempt bulk mealworms

Five pounds covers a normal backyard flock for a full moult period at sensible rates, which is roughly a small handful per bird a few times a week for six to eight weeks.

They work for wild birds too, so if your flock goes off them or you have leftovers at the end of the season, nothing is wasted.

Where Hatortempt bulk mealworms fall short

The bag size is the problem, and it is a behavioural one rather than a product defect. A big bag of something birds love, sitting in a shed, gets used generously. The 10 percent of daily intake rule does not move because you bought in bulk, and the reliable outcome of overfeeding mealworms is overweight hens, reduced laying and thinner shells from displaced layer feed.

If you buy this, decant a week's worth into a small container and leave the bag closed.

Storage is a practical issue too. Dried mealworms are hygroscopic and will take up moisture from the air, going soft and eventually mouldy in a poorly sealed bag. Transfer to an airtight container rather than relying on the packaging.

They are also nearly calcium free, which matters more the more of them you feed.

Why Manna Pro Harvest Delight wins this category

Novelty, which has a specific and genuinely useful application. Newly acquired hens, or birds recovering from a move or a scare, are wary of people and slow to settle. A treat that is visually interesting and varied gets their attention faster than a uniform grain does.

Two or three days of scattering something like this, and a flock that would not come within ten feet of you starts following you around the run.

Living with Manna Pro Harvest Delight

Twelve percent protein is a step up from plain scratch's nine, which makes it a slightly less diluting treat if you are using it regularly.

The small bag size is appropriate. This is an occasional-use product and a 2.25 lb bag reflects that rather than encouraging daily feeding.

Where Manna Pro Harvest Delight falls short

Selective feeding is guaranteed and it is the main criticism. Give a flock a mix containing dried fruit and they will find every piece of fruit first, then work through the seeds, then largely ignore the grain. What is left sits on the ground.

That wastes a substantial part of a bag that already costs several times what plain scratch costs, and grain lying uneaten at dusk is exactly what brings rats.

The sugar content is a smaller but real point. Dried fruit is concentrated sugar, and while a small amount is harmless, it is not something a laying hen's diet has any requirement for.

If what you want is enrichment and foraging activity, plain scratch does that job at a tenth of the price. This earns its place for the specific task of winning over a nervous flock.

Why Fluker's mealworms win this category

Because there is a real question worth answering cheaply before you buy in bulk: does your flock actually take to mealworms, and will you actually use them?

Some flocks are indifferent. Some keepers buy a five pound bag with good intentions and find it in the shed a year later, gone soft. Three and a half ounces answers both questions for the price of a coffee.

Living with Fluker's mealworms

The pack size makes it a pocket treat. Training a flock to come when called works best in short, frequent sessions, and a small resealable pouch you can carry means those sessions happen rather than being planned.

The resealable pack also matters more than it sounds. Dried mealworms take up moisture from the air and go soft, and a bag you can actually close keeps them usable.

Where Fluker's mealworms fall short

Cost per pound, and it is the highest on this page by a wide margin. Buying mealworms in 3.5 oz packets is the equivalent of buying flour in single-serve sachets.

It is also genuinely small. Six hens getting a modest training handful each will finish this in under a week, so as anything other than a trial it means constant reordering at the worst possible price.

And like every mealworm product, the calcium content is negligible. Used as a training treat in small quantities that does not matter. Used generously it displaces layer feed and shows up in eggshell quality within a few weeks.

Buy one of these, find out whether your birds care, and then buy the five pound bag if they do.