For pet chickens with The Happy Hen Co. Research suggests Live Calci Worms can turn treat time into an active, engaging and happier experience for pet chickens.
Drop Live Calci Worms into a chicken run and the reaction is dificult to miss. Heads turn, hens start moving and treat time becomes an enthusiastic search for something wriggling.
Shropshire insect farmer and Nu ield Farming Scholar David Tavernor has launched The Happy Hen Co to bring that experience to pet chickens across Great Britain.
The idea is supported by poultry research. One study involving 180 hens recorded 43% more walking and 62% more preening whilst severe feather-pecking was also 67% lower under the study conditions.
46% protein and 30% fat is a high concentration of digestible amino acids and dietary energy compared to a diet of high levels of carbohydrate in existing feeds.
High in naturally forming trace nutrients such as calcium. While every flock is di erent, the research supports what many hen keepers can see for themselves: live grubs give chickens something active to notice, investigate, peck and eat.
Son of a dairy farmer, Tavernor established start-up Fly2Feed before travelling across 14 countries and four continents to study BSF production through his Nu ield Farming Scholarship. His subsequent work has included two Innovate UK-funded commercial-poultry projects, as well as an industry leading podcast called “Black Soldier Fly Leaders”.
“I have seen and researched how enthusiastically chickens respond to live Calci Worms, but agriculture operates on extremely tight margins,” said Tavernor, who had worked for nearly a decade as a Tesco buyer.
“That made me ask: why not o er them to people who keep hens as pets? These owners know every personality in their flock and love seeing their birds active, interested and excited. I can make a bigger impact this way.”
The Happy Hen Co supplies Live Calci Worm portions tailored to flock size. Customers can treat a flock of 10 hens for less than 30p a day per hen.
The Happy hen Co also sells insect manure pellets as a slow-release fertiliser for your garden. Branded as “Superfrass”, the pellets also act as a competely natural pest deterrant, keeping the critters we don’t like away from all of your plants.
