Questions about feeding live worms

[kannm]

Respectfully I must say that I have never heard of red worms being a problem to chickens. That is not to say that there isn't an issue. I think that it would be very useful if someone could find a scientific article supporting the danger. I will look for a publication.

 

[mishafarms]

This chick thing is just a few weeks new to me, but I have been keeping redworms in a composter in the corner of my kitchen for over 4 years now.

inside looks pretty earthy ( in a nice way)

I never put in meat or feces and I bury the rotting compost that I feed them, so there is never a smell and unless pointed out, people don't notice them - they are VERY quiet

They are easy to keep, but if they dry out, they will all die, so I spritz them daily in the heat and when it's real hot, I put an ice block on top of the bin during the day. They make excellent compost, but as far as feeding them to the chicks, mine are not interested in eating them at all - they seem to prefer meal worms, so we gave up on offering the red worms.

While the compost is great, the bin does not take huge amounts of compost, so we compost in outside bins as well. Just got two new tumblers from costco for 100 bucks which is the best price I've ever found for tumblers in case anyone is looking!!!

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Quote:
God love ya!!!

 

[toredano]

any animal.. domestic or wild will carry parasites. regardless of deworming or not.. UNLESS you daily worm them for ALL worms and parasites.. you will never get rid of them. Period!!

Chickens.. horses ,dogs, cats that go outside will carry them. And chickens have been eating worms , bugs etc for ages.. even the domesticated ones. I would be more worried about the bird flu or getting a chicken bone stuck in my throat that the flock eating worms.

The cycle of worms or any parasite is a never ending one.Chickens poop on the ground , peck at poop and eat it again.. unless any of the parasites plus eggs are dead they just get eaten again and start out new inside. Unless you pick up every little bit of poop all the time.. you cannot prevent that from happening at all. Just not doable. Deworm all you want. You can perhaps lower the volume but never get rid of any parasites 100 %..
Them eating worms isnt anything new.
Neither is the fact that Goats , horses, fish , cows etc all have parasites.. Thats why you cook your meat at a high temp to kill everything off.


Seriously... some people go overboard with this topic and humanize the lifestock.

 

[kannm]

I cannot find any scientific support for not feeding your chickens worms. That does not mean that it is ok, I just cannot find any science that says it is ok or not ok.

 

[vermontworms]

Does anyone know if Eisenia fetida (red wiggler compost worms) specifically can even serve as hosts for Capillaria nematodes/roundworms? There are thousands of species of "earthworms", and they're just as different from each other as different species of birds are.

These Capillaria worms would need to come from somewhere to infect compost worms (if they even do). The life cycle is bird -> feces -> earthworm -> bird. If you don't put bird feces in your compost bin, you break the lifecycle. Capillaria cannot just spontaneously appear in earthworms without the worms ingesting eggs.

My informed guess is that it's fine to feed compost worms to chickens as long as you aren't adding any manure to the worm bin. Food scraps should not have the Capillaria eggs necessary to start the nematode/roundworm lifecycle.

 

[bbowen]

I came here looking for an answer to the red worm question. Looks like its still up in the air.

I throw one of my indoor composting worms into the brooder and my chicks went nuts. I thought they would tear it up and share it. But after some wrestling one got it and ran off. The other forgot about it and she proceeded to swallow the whole worm.

 

[Organics North]

Yes up in the air indeed. Being an "organic guy" into soil life micro organisms and the beauty of mother natures efficient circle of life... and NOT into what the chemical companies and mass production food industry has "fed" us for the last 50 years I too have questions...... Yes it seems the parasites potentially carried by ground worms are real. However I can not seem to find information on what causes the conditions for those parasites to flourish or what their natural predators are. "Bad" bugs exist everywhere, the idea is to have ideal conditions for the "good" bugs, and they take care of the "bad" ones for you. (This is how it is with mother nature, and I am sure mother natures rules applies to no good parasites as well!!!!)

I have trouble believing compost worms raised in proper conditions on a diet of vegetable matter only, with no manure or meat, would be host to parasitic worms..... Yes, I could see if you put parasitic manure in the worm bin the worms could or will be infected.

With that said, I am personally going to proceed with using worm castings on vegetables I grow for the chickens, which I feed container, roots dirt and all to the girls as a treat. Yes a few compost worms are in that soil. No worms are not a significant part of their diet. Yes, I have decided to not vermi compost chicken manure, all chicken manure will be hot composted before it is used in the gardens.

Time will tell I guess of this is enough precaution. Taking some precaution, at least common sense precaution makes sense to me. IF it is not enough precaution I would be shocked and truly bummed, because compost worms are a key component in our organic way of life.
---Yes I love my worms, just not as much as my chickens.. The worms do not fly up on my shoulder just to say hi.....Nor have the kids named the worms like they have the chickens......

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ON