Is it safe for chickens to eat from the compost pile?

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm trying to be a little more careful about what I let my chickens eat. They had roundworms, which I *heard* come from earthworms (true?false?) and had one hen suffer with sour crop, which might have come after eating some moldy bread.

I was adding to the compost pile and uncovered something crawling with what looked like meal worms. Would it be OK to let the chickens forage in the compost bin, dig up & consume these & any other goodies they could find?

Also, I've heard folks say they intentionally raise maggots for their chickens to eat. I maintain a mouse ranch in a couple of aquariums kept in the barn to feed our pet snakes. I noticed something that looks like maggots in a dirty corner of one tank.

Yeah, time to clean the mouse tanks. Would it be OK to let the chickens scratch through the old straw & maggots we dump out of the mouse tanks?

I appreciate your advice & imput!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I changed the title & am giving this a bump. I'd like to get some advice before I let the chickens into the compost pile again. They always crowd excitedly around the bin when I open it to add more scraps. I've let them in once or twice before and they act like it's a party, scratching & pecking & digging. But I want to be sure it's really safe for them before I do it again. Thank you for your imput.

 

[momofdrew]

I dont see any reason why they couldnt unless you dump deseased plants and strong chemicals in it...My birds love it when I sift some compost

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I have a friend who has chickens, sheep, goats and Alpaca--when the used straw is raked out of the barns, it's thrown on to the heap and the chickens go crazy over it. She has happy healthy girls--never had a problem.. She says the chickens do the work of turning the piles, and the compost breaks down much quicker.. She also says the chickens eat the fly larva from the poo--which is pest control!!!

 

[Imp]

Mine get into the compost bin daily. Sometimes they nap in it. Don't think it's ever been a problem. But I don't put food scraps in it (never have any). Usually just yard waste.

Imp

 

[badgerpendous]

Our hens love it when I open the compost corral and start turning the piles. They love to inspect whatever falls out. We compost yard waste, litter from the run/coop, and some kitchen scraps like coffee grounds/veggies that the birds don't like.

(off topic: Today I found a bunch of green beans that we didn't pick in time, so I opened up the pods and fed the beans to the girls. They loved 'em and then I just threw the casings in the run and they gobbled them too. I thought they wouldn't like those. Sometimes what they like surprises me.)

 

[Superior Chicks]

Perfectly safe............we used our flock in Iowa to turn our compost pile for us daily............

Free labor! They would run for the compost bins when we let them out to free range for two hours before sunset...........scratching, digging, turning! Then, when they were done they would just walk away and be on to something else.

HTH

Ma

 

[Love my Critters!]

I put all of the straw and pine shavings that I clean out of the coop and stalls and put it in a big pile in the back corner of the property. I also put yard waste in it. I do not ever put any table scraps in it. My chickens go through it daily. They even dust bathe in it. I try to make an effort if we have had rain to turn it, but other than that the chooks do a great job and I've never had any problems from it.

 

[tampitt]

I sure hope so, mine just up into the pile by themselves now. At first I put them in because I was turning the pile and there were just a million bugs in it. It's been the typical hot dry summer here and I didn't feel they were finding much in the way of bugs on the ground.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

when the used straw is raked out of the barns, it's thrown on to the heap and the chickens go crazy over it. She has happy healthy girls--never had a problem.. She says the chickens do the work of turning the piles, and the compost breaks down much quicker.. She also says the chickens eat the fly larva from the poo--which is pest control!!!

Ditto, that is what happens to our horse manure. Our chickens also range through the stalls and the paddock. I feed daily kitchen scraps directly to the chickens.​