*Doesn't Like WORMS???

[d.k]

* Hey, happened by the bait store, thought I'd treat Miss Chook to some earthworms. Got n/crawlers for her, red whigglers to start a worm bin. Get home, cut up 2 n/crawlers, put em in her dish. She eats *ONE PIECE*, shakes her head, then starts picking out the remaining pieces-- throws em on the ground and goes to town on her regular feed underneath!!!

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Sounds like the BRs lol. I think you have a better shot with mealies IMO

 

[Wolf-Kim]

If you want to farm worms for Miss Chook, I would suggest mealworms. They aren't slimey and the don't stink.. and the chickens will kill for them.

I recently started a mealworm box. All you do is put chick crumble in a plastic box, a few inches crumble will do. Put in a potato cut in half, or a banana peel and let the buggers go to town! Within a couple of weeks, you'll have your first "harvest".

The potato and banana peels are their water and the chick crumble is their bedding and food. Because there is not an abundance of moisture, it doesn't rot(rot=stink). And as long as you have a couple inches between the bedding and the top of the box, you won't have any escapees. The worms and beetles can't climb, and the beetles cannot fly..

I like growing mealworms even more than I thought I would. I plan on starting a few other boxes..

Mealworms have more protein than redworms too.

-Kim

 

[d.k]

* Oh, the red wrigglers aren't for Miss Chook, they're ultimately for castings for my yard, and for a little lite composting now. BUT, now I do have the Nightcrawlers I have no idea what to do with. I wasn't planning on raising them!!!

 

[rooster-red]

Quote:
What temp should the box be kept at?

I was thinking about trying to raise some in our crawlspace under the house.

 

[d.k]

* Hi, RR-- I know that mealworms have to be kept in the fridge, or else they harden into -- like a crysalis, I guess and turn into beetles of some sort. Used to feed em to my fancy goldfish. The ones I used to buy were raised and packed in wheat bran and fine sawdust. Wheat bran is pretty cheap in bulk at a good-sized chain health food store. They might even order it for you if you go big-time with the buggies.

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

d.k :

* Oh, the red wrigglers aren't for Miss Chook, they're ultimately for castings for my yard, and for a little lite composting now. BUT, now I do have the Nightcrawlers I have no idea what to do with. I wasn't planning on raising them!!!

You can use night crawlers for composting also. I have never tried feeding them to our hens so dont know how ours would react. But...... I have a worm bin set up with red wigglers and our hens LOVE them. It takes them a minute to spot them but when they do, GAME ON!​

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

For growing your own mealworms, wheat bran is also a good food for them. Mine stay in a plastic container under the bed; a drawer also works well.

 

[d.k]

* The real problem with mealworms here is that the fire ants seem to come out of nowhere and engulf them in 2 blinks!! Mealworms must giue off some powerful vibes to fire ants. Too bad the uni's hauen't used that attraction to somehow control the fire ants. Don't think you'd really want the mealworms under the bed or in the dresser here for that reason either. Maybe that's why they refrigerate em.