We didn’t know quite what to expect following the Monstrous Mealworm Mess, but in the end, it proved to be more comical than catastrophic.
Any poultry owner will tell you that mealworms, which can be bought in bags of various sizes at Tractor Supply Co. and other outlets, are the No. 1 snack on Planet Chicken. Our three hens always recognize the bright red mealworm bag when I saunter out to the pen to give “the girls” their late-morning snack. They hop and strut and squawk excitedly until I toss these goodies into the pen, at which point the treats disappear almost as quickly as you can say “yum.”
We normally give Snow, Nellie and Hope three or four handfuls of mealworm each morning, which probably amounts to less than a cup. But things didn’t play out that way on Sunday, when Liz was on treats duty. Somehow, the mealworm bag fell over while it was atop the pen, and a flood of treats poured in through the chicken wire.
The chickens thought they had died and gone to hen heaven. They raced around the pen in disbelief, wolfing down mealworms as fast as their little beaks could grab them.
We didn’t know what would happen if the hens pigged out on such a supersized helping of mealworms, so Liz quickly tried to retrieve the treats. But we don’t have a walk-in pen, and it’s hard to remove anything quickly by reaching down into the pen through the opening on top. Liz did her best to keep the hens away from the largest pile of mealworms while she attempted to scoop them off the ground, and I helped out once I learned what had happened.
It was a losing proposition. We probably snagged far less than half of the surplus. The hens took care of the rest.
So what were the consequences?
After the hens gorged themselves on mealworms, their appetites fell off for the rest of the day. Much like a kid who ate far too much ice cream.
That night, “the girls” left some unusually large deposits in the coop. And I don’t mean bank deposits.
And the following day?
When Liz carried the mealworm bag out to the pen late Monday morning, Snow, Nellie and Hope became so excited that they let loose with the loudest, most raucous, most exuberant racket she has ever heard in more than four years of keeping chickens.
When Liz carried the mealworm bag out to the pen late Monday morning, Snow, Nellie and Hope became so excited that they let loose with the loudest, most raucous, most exuberant racket she has ever heard in more than four years of keeping chickens.
“It took me half a second” to figure out what was going on, Liz said later. “I realized they were looking at the bag, and hoping there was going to be a repeat performance.”
Alas, it was not to be. To quote the immortal Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: “You can’t always get what you want.” But without too much trying, “the girls” always get what they need.
