Feeding worms to chickens

[Fuzzbuttfarm]

I have a feeling my girls would eat worms until they couldn't move.

They hit paydirt a couple evenings ago and scratched up an earthworm and then proceeded to fight over it!

We catch crickets and grasshoppers for them which they go nuts over. And I've 'harvested' maggots from the compost pile. Ugh. But they're so very happy after a handful of those. They'd pat their bellies if they could.

 

[Judy]

It's true that chickens love worms, an it's true that worms carry intestinal parasites that chickens then get. That's one reason that some people put their chickens on a regular worming program. Chickens are going to get mites, lice, and intestinal worms. It's a matter of controlling populations well enough to keep them healthy.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
They are a host to a number of things. Honestly if you want to feed worms, raise Mealyworms. They're way more clean, still protein, lots of fun to feed, very easy to breed, and you can sell them.

Don't take the risk. Let the chickens find their own earthworms.

 

[OccamsTazer]

It's true that worms can carry worms. Earthworms are an intermediate host for the gapeworm, which can be very nasty. I'm fairly new to this chicken thing, but I've done a good bit of wildlife rehab and ohhh how I've grown to hate the gapeworm! It attaches to the inside of the trachea and as it grows it can actually block the airflow to the point where the bird suffocates. Fortunately it is easy to kill! I used to deworm my orphan songbirds with pyrantel or one of the other liquid dewormers, and they always come through just fine

 

[threehorses]

It also is an intermediate to cecal worms which are devestating to turkeys and carried by chickens. I believe it's also a host to other protazoa as well. Lots of nasties.

It's one thing for them to find them on their own, but another thing for us to feed them to them imho.

 

[briana1975]

I think my chickens are weird, they don't like worms.

 

[dave3877]

ive trained my birds to eat anything. anytime i go fishing they eat my leftover bait fish guts the whole deal. mine even eat eggplant. anytime i throw food in there they destroy it. so far the only things they dont like are pea hulls and onion peels. anything else goes

 

[juliengandy]

I've been trying to get my 3 week old chicks to eat worms I'm finding in my garden. Nice juicy earthworms! And they just look curiously at them, but aren't interested in eating them. Are they too young at this point?

 

[Xephyr]

Mine dig up earthworms and gobble them down on their own. Plus they get very excited about it and play tug o war with them.
Oh and mine are 3 weeks too.

 

[nayeli]

Thanks for the info. The reason I'm asking is I'm trying to do vermicomposting and grow worms to feed the chickens. I want to raise enough worms to be able to feed the chickens every day with them. I feel you with the maggot story. I actually raise maggots for the chickens too! I have a chum bucket hanging from a branch that I put all dead animals. The flies lay eggs, the maggots start eating the chum and then fall out the chicken wire bottom. So it's self-feeding.

I do vermicompost. I bought 1 lb and I thought they all died... I checked the other day and I have quiet a few along with some good looking soil! If its dry enough tomorrow (its been raining) then I'm going to seperate out my soil and worms. I have been using a cat litter box to put the soil sans all the worms I could see and grab easily to return to the bucket and giving that to my chickens to scratch around in... One of my chickens doesn't get worms are edible but the rooster sure does!