feeding worms to chicks? OK? - NEW OWNER

[surfchicken72]

Hello all.. first post. I am a reluctant owner of 6 new baby chicks on S.Shore of Mass... 3 Rhode Island reds & 3 Barred Rocks.... not sure exactly how old they are but I'm guessing just a few weeks, as their "tails" are only just starting to come in (about 1 1/2 inches in length). Wife and I battled about owning them, and I came home to find them here last wee.

BUT I am an animal lover, and now that they are are here, I will naturally do all I can to be sure they are raised properly and taken care of, (just don't tell my wife!) I've read you can feed them garden worms as a treat.. my only concern is making sure the worms are not too big... so what size worms should I give them? And give a WHOLE worm to 1 chick? also do I need to "clean" the worms by rinsing off dirt? And how often can/should this be done? I have more questions, too, but I'll start with this as I'll be digging in the garden today.

thanks.
surfchicken72

 

[Chickengal505]

The dirter the better!!! The dirt serves as grit to help them digest the worm. and its okay to give them the worms as big as you want they'll play tug-o-war with it better than eat though

But it sooooooo cute....

 

[pgpoultry]

Yes, they will love worms. My chicks have eaten flies and woodlice too, they love bugs,
Sandie

 

[gryeyes]

I will place bets you will come to love those chickens before too long. I mean, you're thinking of wrangling worms for 'em already!

 

[surfchicken72]

wow. well I gave them their first worm. spaghetti size in width, maybe 3 inches long. and once one took it, it was off to the races! EVERYBODY wanted it! I think about three of them got a piece of it. Pretty funny to watch them scrambling around. This doesn't cause any stress does it?

 

[ChksontheRun]

I dont think this is stressful, I think it is chicken games. Mine do that all of the time, one gets a piece of something good, lets out a squawk and the races are on.

 

[azygous]

After reading this thread, I went out and dug up some tiny earth worms for my three-day-olds. It was a great bonding exercise! They got even more trusting of my hands. They sure didn't take long to figure out what to do with the wriggly things! The worms that is, not my fingers.

 

[surfchicken72]

Quote:
Love it.. glad I could encourage behaior already..

you guys are gonna love me here....

 

[muell112]

My chickens eat an ungodly amount of worms when they go outside. I have adult hens that I've seen eat 5-15 large night crawlers each. Sometimes it takes them a little time to get them down but they are totally fine. In fact, I saw a grackle (smallish song bird) take a very large (~3 inX.25in) worm down this morning. I do give mine diatomaceous earth from the feed store as a de-wormer - I just read on this site a little while back that earthworms can carry their own internal fauna that can get into your chicken but am not sure about details/if it causes any problems. Mine are doing well.