Can I feed my 3 week old chicks worms from the compost bin?

[EggFarmer]

I just bought my very first chicks so I am new at this. I was told to give them starter chick feed until their first egg lay. I would like to vary their diet but I don't want to accidentally harm them or stunt or disrupt their natural development. I want healthy egg layers for years to come .

What I want to give them are worms of varying sizes from my organic compost bin. Can I supplement their diet with this? How much can I give them and how often? What about vegetable scraps from the garden?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[rowdydouillard]

I dont know about worms but i fed all my chicks bugs after three weeks to help stimulate ghem in the brooder. Are grew healthy and happy

 

[Simeon Jules]

Good question. Mine are about the same age and I've been also wondering about mealworms...

 

[Branch Chickens]

We give our 3 week old chicks worms from the garden. Even some big ones. They like them and haven't had any issues.
I figured that if they were being raised by a mama hen, they would be eating worms outside, so this should be okay.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Just keep in mind that earthworms are hosts for roundworms, so your birds may be exposed at an early age to a roundworm infestation. Once your chicks are older and move outside,or if they are hens raised, then yes they will likely find and eat earthworms on their own anyway but at this young age I personally prefer not to expose my brooder raised chicks to the possibility of intestinal worms quite yet. Either way, it's a very good idea to implement a regular deworming program when they get a bit older to control intestinal worms.

 

[EggFarmer]

All great points make. Thanks guys!

What do I deworm them with? I was told by the lady whom I bought the chicks from to get diatomaceous earth to keep them free of pests. So far, their feathered butts are sparkling clean; well, as clean as a chicken butt can get. Do I need to get that now?

I let them run around the yard during the day so they're definitely chomping down on some bugs already. It's just that I have heaps and heaps of worms lying around that I can use as a free food source.

Sorry if I seem buggy with all the questions. Still new at this. I'll continue to read up on here. Thanks!

 

[cafarmgirl]

All great points make. Thanks guys!

What do I deworm them with? I was told by the lady whom I bought the chicks from to get diatomaceous earth to keep them free of pests. So far, their feathered butts are sparkling clean; well, as clean as a chicken butt can get. Do I need to get that now?

I let them run around the yard during the day so they're definitely chomping down on some bugs already. It's just that I have heaps and heaps of worms lying around that I can use as a free food source.

Sorry if I seem buggy with all the questions. Still new at this. I'll continue to read up on here. Thanks!

DE will not deworm your chickens, it needs to be dry to be effective and a chickens inards are definitely not dry! It may help as a preventative for mites/lice but you can still have an outbreak that requires treatment with something effective. Just something to keep in mind. I personally have not found DE to be worth the cost but that's my personal opinion.

As far as deworming....I deworm birds for the first time around 6 to 8 months old, just depending on when I get around to it. Ater that I do it twice a year, once in mid-summer, again in the dead of winter when laying is decreased anyway. Reason being that you have to discard the eggs for 10 days after the last dose. I use Valbazen or liquid Safeguard for goats. Standard birds get 0.5 cc and bantams get 0.25 cc, dose is repeated in 10 days since it doesn't kill worm eggs. Discard eggs until 10 days after the last dose. Some people think it's a hassle to discard eggs for that many days a couple times a year, I think it's well worth it for the health of my birds. Intestinal worms are so damaging, to me it's just not worth it to let birds get infested.

How often you deworm depends a lot on your climate. Warm/wet equals a higher parasite load in the environement and a great need to deworm more often, hot/dry equals less parasites and less deworming. Where I live summers are long, hot and dry and I could most likely get away with deworming once a year but I'm just not comfortable going that long. You can also have fecal samples checked by a vet, cost varies greatly and it is possible to get false negatives if worms are not shedding eggs at the time the sample is done.

Welcome to the wonderful world of parasites lol!

 

[Branch Chickens]

@cafarmgirl , any thoughts as to the impact of cold, New England weather pattern on worms? It seems like most folks around here deworm once a year or not at all.
Thanks again for the information on roundworms. I hadn't heard that before. I think I'll skip letting the kids dig for worms and figure out another treat they can "collect". Better safe than sorry.

 

[cafarmgirl]

@cafarmgirl , any thoughts as to the impact of cold, New England weather pattern on worms? It seems like most folks around here deworm once a year or not at all.
Thanks again for the information on roundworms. I hadn't heard that before. I think I'll skip letting the kids dig for worms and figure out another treat they can "collect". Better safe than sorry.

I would think you'd be ok to just do a late fall deworming to clear out anything they picked up over the summer. I wouldn't go with no deworming at all. Chickens will pick up worms at some point just due to their lifestyle, unless they live in cages off the ground! Better to stay on top of it then to try to get rid of a big infestation and bring a bird back to health. Some people say to wait until you see worms in the poop or wait until the birds look poorly...well by then they've got a lot of worms, lots of damage and they are in poor health. With the safety and efficacy of the products we have available I see no reason to let that happen.

 

[Branch Chickens]

Absolutely! Thanks for the tip.