Frozen Buffalo Worms

[josoll]

Hi, I was talking to a Waxbill breeder the other night and he recommended feeding frozen Buffalo worms. Has anyone else used these. Mike is in Essex today so is going to call in the supplier and get some, but do we feed similar quantities as mini mealworms? They are priced at £6 for a 500g box .

[Waxbillman]

hello Jo

you feed them the same amount as you would if they were living, some breeders mix them in with their eggfood or softfood mix and cous-cous, though i myself don't feed it, never have done and never will do, i don't see the point really, i'm happy enough feed the stuff living, as for me that the only way i can get it, as essex is a bit far a way. i suppose it will have advantages and also disadantages, and you have to get your birds to start eating it, as at first they can take a while to start eating it, (or so i'm told)

Matthew

[josoll]

Matthew, Thanks, i was told that they are more nutritious,is this not true?. As Mike is in the area today we thought we would get some to try.Apparently they do mail order which is very good. All the birds take the Mini mealworms well,but the guy suggested these as they were supposed to be better.

[Waxbillman]

hello Jo,

i would say thats cobblers, living food is always going to contain the most nutrients (or equal amounts to dead) buffalo are better then mealworms yes, it depends what the livefood is fed, that another reason i like to used livefood as i feed them EMP eggfood, apple and carrots, and what your livefood eats, you birds will eat too, thats what i say.

Matthew

[chris]

Hi Jo,

if they're natural mealworms that are dried then they'll have less nutritional value than live mealworms. if they're frozen then it should be the same as that of live mealworms but will lose nutrients with time.

however i'd like to be they've been sprinkled with a multi vitamin and mineral supplement in which case they will be more nutritious than standard live mealworms. BUT, if you gut load your mealworms with greens etc. before feeding to your birds, and sprinkle them with a multi vit supplement then live worms will always win hands down

Chris;)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Jo,

As Matthew and Chris have already told you Buffalo Worms are said to be more nutritional than Mealworms, (by how much is anyones quess though:-?).

I have offered Buffalo Worms to my Birds, but I found that some of the Waxbills didn't really take to eating that many, or even mini Mealworms, even when rearing young I have found they would rather feed Fruit Flies to their chicks.:roll:

Personaly I think your Birds will be more likey to take Live, rather than frozen Buffalo Worms, to start with at least.;-)

Also as Chris and Matthew have mentioned the nutritional value of Livefood is only of any benefit to your Birds if the Livefood has been gut loaded with quality food.
I feed my Mealworms with good quality Eggfood and Insectile food as this will quarantee a higher Protein content being fed to the Birds.

Again I know I'm posting the same advise given to you by Chris, but I thought I should mention when dusting Livefood with Vitamin supplements that the best one to use is Vionate because this adheres to even smooth skinned Livefood such as Mealworms and Buffalo Worms.

Paul.;-)

[chris]

Hi Again,

sorry i didn't realise you meant buffalo worms in comparison to mealworms. in this case mealworms are actually more nutritious, not because they contain anything any different to buffalo worms, but because they are slightly bigger the chitin/body mass ratio is reduced which means more of the mealworm can be digested and put to good use by the birds digestive system. since mini mealworms are roughly the same size as buffalo worms the chitin/body mass ratio should be roughly the same so there will be no real difference in nutritional value.

chitin is indigestable so the more there is in a livefood the less value it has (usually), feeding soft bodied foods such as waxwoms, fruit flies, flies, cleaned maggots will aviod this problem

Chris