What to feed worms vs chickens?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I guess I fall into a different camp than most…literally no food waste goes into the trash.

Whatever doesn’t go to the chickens, goes into other compost…but the vast majority go to the chickens. We don’t throw away a lot of stuff that’s not good for chickens (sweets, high salt foods).

Of course you don’t want to unbalance your flocks diet…but unless you’re talking a LOT of scraps or have very few chickens…you’re likely ok.

 

[sandburRanch]

the OP ask a question about raising worms and this subject of worm raising took a turn to unbalanced diet for chickens so fast i suspect it nearly broke the OP's neck .

To the OP.
if you search for raising Canadian night Crawlers or Red Wigglers etc. you can get all the info. you need on the net for raising worms . without any searching i recall shredded news print and corn meal . if i raised worms i'd take my grand kids fishing and feed the hens a good quality leafy alfalfa .

 

[Ryooki]

There are some amazing articles and videos on making a black soldier fly (BSF) farms. It doesn’t take much to set up and they harvest themselves if you make the container right. A big tote bin, some oats and then kitchen scraps to keep it going.

Once established, you’d probably end up giving most of the kitchen scraps to the BSF larvae instead of the chickens. But the larvae are a great protein, calcium and amino acid source. Along with a lot of other nutrients.

I’ve seen setups that liquid fertilizer is collected almost daily and solid is collected every so often. The chickens will LOVE the larvae and with an extra piece of tubing, you can make the larvae drop right into your coop for you chickens.

As far as regular worms and such, the food they will eat is the stuff you give the chickens. But the scraps aren’t always balanced and some may just be “empty” calories for the birds. But once it is eaten and pooped out, the worms are better for them. If you can get a good system going, the kitchen scraps are better used for the worms or BSF larvae.

Thanks for the advice on the BSF larvae. I looked into it, and I’m not sure I can handle looking at them and knowing they’re around.

I can see how I could reframe giving scraps to the worms as ultimately a better use than giving them straight to the chickens. Plus, they could compost down my junk mail / boxboard.

 

[NatJ]

I can see how I could reframe giving scraps to the worms as ultimately a better use than giving them straight to the chickens. Plus, they could compost down my junk mail / boxboard.

I'm pretty sure the worms would be happy with chicken poop & bedding, which means the chickens can eat the scraps first and the worms eat them second, and then the chickens can eat the worms after that.

 

[Ryooki]

I'm pretty sure the worms would be happy with chicken poop & bedding, which means the chickens can eat the scraps first and the worms eat them second, and then the chickens can eat the worms after that.

Good point. I wonder how often I’d have to add it to the worm bin. I use deep litter method now so I haven’t scooped out any bedding / poop in 3 years

 

[NatJ]

Good point. I wonder how often I’d have to add it to the worm bin. I use deep litter method now so I haven’t scooped out any bedding / poop in 3 years

You could probably tell by looking at the worm bin-- if it's mostly processed, add another shovelful.

 

[TNchickenlady]

Your birds may not be suffering now but if you can continue to feed them an unbalanced diet they will suffer eventually.

Is there a reason why you don't feed them a commercially made pelleted or crumbled age appropriate chicken feed?

she said she feeds them chicken feed also.
I feed my chickens table scraps, along with their 'Commercial feed' and my chickens are healthy! They free range all day. I have some Americana hens that are almost ten years old and still give me eggs...only one a week or less for each, but they are still laying and healthy. I also feed greens, fruit, live worms, dehydrated mealworms, etc.
If table scrapes was all she was feeding her chicken, than maybe it might be imbalanced diet.