Dried Calciworms

Dried Calciworms are a relatively new food source for garden birds, which have seen rising demand in recent years due to their equalled popularity with the birds yet slightly more cost effectiveness when compared to Dried Mealworms. These Black Solider Fly larvae resemble fat Mealworms and do share similar properties. Both are high in protein (although Mealworms are greater in protein) however, Calciworms contain up to 40 times more calcium, ensuring healthy bones and helping to create strong eggs during the breeding period.

Dried Calciworms, like Mealworms, are best fed from a bird table or scattered on the ground to allow access to birds less comfortable feeding from a feeder such as Robins and Blackbirds. If you wish to feed Calciworms from a feeder, there are specialised Mealworm feeders which will also accommodate Calciworms, or they can be mixed into a seed mix and fed from a regular seed feeder.

Feeding dried insects throughout the year is now advised due to the lack of insects available during the winter months, as well as additional pressures parent birds are under during the spring and summer season to rear their chicks. Dried Calciworms provide significant aid in sourcing enough nutrients such as protein to survive these difficult times.

During the nesting season, it is advised to soak Dried Calciworms in warm water before providing them to your birds. This is to rehydrate the worms so when fed to chicks within the nest (who are dependant on water within insects brought by the parent) they have enough water within the worm so that they don’t dehydrate the chick.