Feeding worms and cheese to chickens

[DenverBird]

Getting FR meat birds Friday, my partner's got a great source of cheese ends at the deli where he works.

Can we supplement the birds 20% mixed grain feed with (non-moldy) cheese after they're about a month old?

I posted this in the feeding & watering section but haven't gotten much response. Do any of you carnivores over here know about this?

Also, my partner's got a vermiculture setup and we're going to give the little chicks a bunch of unfortunate worms to help them out. Can we do this from the minute we bring them home or do we need to wait a week or so?

Bonus points to the first person with the "diet of worms" joke...

Thanks!

-DB

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I see no problem with it. I feed mine cheese almost daily although I could see you easily over doing it on the protien and needing to cut back to a lower protien grain. If you have enough birds & they are penned I would suggest feed experiment

 

[classicsredone]

Some people insist worms carry parasites and will tell you not to feed them to chickens. I can't find any evidence of red worms carrying parasites, and I checked the guy that runs RedWormComposting.com. He wasn't able to find any evidence of parasites, either, and told me they're proven source of protein. So, feel free to feed them those red worms. I'd pick out baby worms at first, and wait until they're a little bigger before offering the full-sized worms.

 

[KONG]

I have had cheese out for my chickens, ducks, turkeys, and guineas whenever the weather is above freezing for the past 2-3 years no problems yet.