Feeding of insects offers new possibilities to overcome the protein gap in organic farming. As natural decomposers, insects can successfully transform organic waste. Large scale insect production is based on by-products from the agri-food industry which otherwise would be discarded or underexploited. The amino acid profile of insects corresponds to the dietary needs of fish, poultry or swine animals. Especially also regarding amino acids such as lysine, threonine, methionine, and tryptophan which are limiting factors in animal feed. Insect larvae are used in two ways: For feeding as a feed component, the larvae are killed by freezing, dried, partially degreased and milled. For feeding to enrich the environment, the insect larvae can be fed live. Processed protein from insect belongs legally to the group of animal proteins. Its use is currently not permitted in livestock feed. The feed legislation does not apply for the feeding of live insects. As this is not a processed feed, it can be assumed that the feeding of live insects or insect larvae is possible. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FIBL has carried out two feeding trials on laying hens on both processed and live insect larvae. Reduction of soy with insect larvae meal In a feeding trial to reduce soya, larval meal of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) was fed to laying hens. In a ration customary in practice, soy was replaced half and all of the soy was replaced with hermetia meal. The proportion was then 12 and 24 % hermetia meal. The experimental groups of laying hens did not differ in terms of laying performance, feed consumption and animal health. In the group with 24 % hermetia meal, however, cases of diarrhoea occur and a lower weight development was recorded. From these observations it is concluded that a 24% insect meal content in the laying hen feed is at the upper limit. Enriching the environment with living mealworms In the second trial, laying hens were fed live mealworms (Tenebrio). Each hen received 10 g mealworms per day. The hens were regularly weighed, feed consumption, laying performance and egg quality were assessed. In addition, behavioural observations were made on several days by video recording. Only the feed consumption per hen showed a significant difference in favour of the mealworm groups. Laying performance, plumage score, egg quality index and riboflavin content in the eggs did not differ significantly between control and experimental group. No differences in behaviour were found either. The reason for this could be: To make the feeding of the mealworms as practical as possible, the worms were thrown into the litter. This meant that the chickens had a very short period of activity. They found the worms very quickly. In addition, no behavioural disorders occurred in either group, so the effect on feather pecking could not be determined. Based on the experimental experience, we would expect behavioural changes at higher doses of mealworm larvae or a more sophisticated feeding method.