Jumping Worms

[WthrLady]

OMG what a mess.

 

[BlueBaby]

Somebody should collect those worm's and take them fishing if they don't have any chicken's!

 

[sarah mecklem]

My girls had no interest in worms when they were younger. They would see them and ignore them, looking for bugs and eating grass and clover. Now they are older. Two of three are laying daily. They devour the jumping worms, and there is no lack of them. When I get home from work each day, I open the door from the chicken dome run, to the garden where they hang out and explore for about an hour, then I take them out into the yard anf they eat grasshoppers, jumping worms and greens. The worms do stay in the top few inches of soil, eat everything and the lawn feels like walking on a sponge. I've heard they do deplete the soil, but I imagine their castinhs would be nutrient rich. Will have to research more on them. They do make good fish bait and are abundant

Not recommended for fish bait. Too invasive....they are parthenogenetic, reproduce w/o mating. If you drop one along the way to fish it can invade that territory. These worms can infest and destroy 17 acres in a season. Also apparently their castings contain no nutrients. The consume the ground cover, leaves and etc and then move on to shallow plant roots. Gardeners and hikers are warned to wipe soil off shoes/boots to keep from spreading the egg cases. They are in my woods and yard where I planted many seedlings to increase bird habitat but these seedings have not thrived! Arrrrrrrrgggghhhhhh!

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

They have been in my garden for a few years now, and I've had to learn to live with them. This year was a banner year for several varieties of peppers, pole beans, tomatoes and brussel sprouts. My tomatoes, collards and strawberries also did really well. Your point about transporting makes sense.
I seemed to have a lot more wild bird foraging in the garden this year. Maybe they were after the worms. Do you have any info on nutritional value, or lack of, for the worms?

 

[LoompaLand]

Jumping worms are invasive and destructive.

 

[KPW]

My neighbor across the street just discovered jumping worms (a lot of them!!) in her yard. DH brought part of our flock over to the neighbor’s yard today to see if they would help eliminate some worms. I would not have let that happen, (so many possible issues for my flock!!) if I would have been asked, but done is done. Anyway, the girls absolutely binged on worms. According to the few online resources I’ve found, chickens aren’t supposed to like jumping worms, but I guess my girls didn’t get that memo.

Anyone else have anything to offer about getting rid of or controlling jumping worms- with or without chickens? All the advice out there now is around keeping them out of your yard (bio security basics, people!), but there’s not a lot out there on what to do once you’ve been invaded.

I just read that the jumping worms concentrate heavy metals in their bodies, so if chickens eat a lot of them, they could pass that on to humans through eggs or meat.

According to Chippewa Extension Service (Wisconsin) "Do not feed jumping worms to your chickens. Amynthus worms accumulate [and] store up to 80% of the heavy metals in the air around them. They store the heavy metals in their bodies. If chickens eat the worms, the heavy metals can be passed to humans in the eggs and meat."

 

[mrs banana]

does anyone know if it is alright if the chickies eat the jumping worms, or are they somehow bad for them? we’re in western minneapolis suburbs, and while we haven’t discovered any just yet, knock on wood, i’m sure it’s only a matter of time. just want to know how much we need to be on alert for the chickies sake. obviously we are for our garden and yard.
i haven’t been able to find anything that says yes or no…. thank you in advance!
editing as i just signed up and saw more replies. good to know to not let them eat a lot. will try to avoid them eating any at all if we can.