Is it permissible to feed dried mealworms to birds?

Firstly, we need to define a mealworm. Mealworms are the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

The mealworm is often mistaken for an ordinary worm, but it’s a darkling beetle in its larval form. Adult insects generally have a black or dark brown colour and are between 1.25cm and 1.8cm long. The larvae are about 2.5cm long or a little longer.

Mealworm larvae are usually frozen to kill them gently and subsequently freeze-dried to decrease weight and thereby transport and storage costs. Freeze drying is the commercial way to dry mealworms on industrial scale to stabilize them after harvesting.

In conclusion, the mealworm is an insect that is killed and used as a meal to feed birds, fish, reptiles, etc. The jurists have written that it is Makrooh to kill insects unless they are harmful. Since the darkling beetle is totally harmless as recorded on the internet, it will be considered as Makrooh to kill them. Furthermore, it is Haraam to consume all insects except for the locust, hence it should not be fed to animals or birds. We therefore advise abstention from using the mealworm.