Raising Earthworms For Chicks

[BearSwampChick]

whatnow? :

Quote:
November 2007 Issue of Mother - I was reading it again this week while the wheels in my head turned.

Here is a direct link for Harvey Ussery's article on his website: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Chickens+and+Worms.html​

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I've never heard the term dew worms. Are those the night crawlers that live in burrows in the soil or the red worms that live in the leaf litter and are used for composting? Or are they something else?

 

[RyanAndMeri]

Dew worms are another name for night crawlers. I tried breeding some, and heh gave it up. They have a really long breeding cycle, like to dig about 4 feet into the earth and are hard to keep in doors.

So far I've had a ton of success with super worms (king worms) and meal worms. Meal worms i'm into my 4th generation and have about 10,000 breeding. Considering I started with 25 meal worms and have been steadily feeling my chickens on each batch, I think that's very good.

Super worms however have a longer cycle, and I am only on the 2nd breeding cycle. I may just stick ot regular meal worms, they're much much easier.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Thanks for the info on what dew worms are.

I'm really tempted to start a bin with meal worms. I never though I'd do it. This forum is just filled with enablers! After a year of reading about how easy they are, I can't take it any more!

Can you tell me how tall the sides have to be, to keep the beetles in? Just a few inches? Do they need to be covered to keep them in or just to keep my cats and dogs out? The cocker spaniel will want to eat the substrate and my cats will think the beetles are a new snack-toy. Actually, I have a plastic storage box brooder with a hardware cloth insert in the lid, from last year's pullets. I'm not using it for anything right now. That might work great.

I guess beetle containment guidelines are what I'm looking for.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Throughout reading this thread I have been completely interested as well as completely disgusted all at the same time. lol But I have to say that raising the mealworms sounds like a super idea especially if your birds don't free range through your yard but are kept in a run. I don't think I could do the maggots. It doesn't bother me that they eat bugs but maggots are something that I won't help provide them.

 

[vermontworms]

I've raised both mealworms and red wiggler compost worms for years. Mealworms are pretty easy, but don't reproduce all that quickly. I keep them in one of those little Sterilite 3-drawer plastic things that you'd use to keep office paper in. The sides are only about 2-3 inches high, and no tops. They don't escape as long as you don't allow the frass to build up too high.

Compost worms are very easy, too, and you get the benefit of extremely high-quality vermicompost out of it. You aren't going to be able to raise enough to completely feed your flock, but rather just provide a treat once in a while. I blog about compost worms at http://vermontworms.com/.

Cheers, Jase

 

[kidofdynomite]

I was intrigued by this "maggot-farming" as well, but recently read on the original author's website that there are inherent risks. Just for the record, he states that he recently lost several chickens to botulism poisoning from maggot consumption.

If you want to read exactly what he has to say about the method and his recent botulism losses, here's a link to his page: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Feeding-Chickens-Maggots.html

whatnow? :

Quote:
November 2007 Issue of Mother - I was reading it again this week while the wheels in my head turned.

Quote:
I remember an article about a guy who put carrion in a 5 gallon bucket suspended over the run. He kept the carrion covered with compost and kept the lid on. The maggots fell out of small holes drilled on the bottom. Between maggots and poop, I'd rather have the chickens eat maggots.