What are these and are they bad in a coop

[hegazi]

I was turning over the shavings in the coop and found a lot of these worms/caterpillars/?? Does anyone know what they are and what I should do, throw out all shavings and put in fresh, just have chickens eat them? How do I prevent them in the future? We recently added some goats too, could that have something to do with it?

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Probably just mealworms. They can come from feedbags, but they aren't any real harm. Chickens eat 'em.

 

[Isaac 0]

Those arent Mealworms.That look's like some sort of maggot.It might be a Black solider fly larvae.It looks like the bedding is wet which would probably attract them.Make sure the coop is clean and dry.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Those arent Mealworms.That look's like some sort of maggot.It might be a Black solider fly larvae.It looks like the bedding is wet which would probably attract them.Make sure the coop is clean and dry.

Yuck.

 

[aart]

Hard to say what it is....nothing there for scale.
Larvae from all kinds of things, very hard to ID this stuff.
I'd put it in a jar and see what happens.

 

[hegazi]

Those arent Mealworms.That look's like some sort of maggot.It might be a Black solider fly larvae.It looks like the bedding is wet which would probably attract them.Make sure the coop is clean and dry.

I was afraid of that. I wonder if the goat pee is keeping the shavings too wet and maybe I should build them a stall. Any suggestions? Also, should I just toss out all of the shavings and put in fresh ones?

 

[Isaac 0]

Yes,Take the shavings out.You should consider putting pdz down which will absorb moisture.I would not keep the goat with the chickens.

 

[Revan]

I was afraid of that. I wonder if the goat pee is keeping the shavings too wet and maybe I should build them a stall. Any suggestions? Also, should I just toss out all of the shavings and put in fresh ones?

Yeah, it's definitely not mealworms. I recommended removing all the wet shavings to prevent attracting more of these and keep your goats out of your chicken coop.

 

[aart]

I wonder if the goat pee is keeping the shavings too wet and maybe I should build them a stall. Any suggestions? Also, should I just toss out all of the shavings and put in fresh ones?

You have goats in your chicken coop?!
Goats can get very sick form gorging on chicken feed.
But that maggot-like thing, no matter what it is, your chickens would probably like to eat it.

 

[coopdeville15]

Looks like chicken food to me! But your litter should be dryer. Add more litter. Actually the whole idea behind deep liter is to have a healthy biomass of decomposing litter with creepy crawlies living in it for the chickens to eat and help decompose things and mitigate odors. It should not be too wet or you will have problems, conversely, if it is too dry, decomposition will not take place or be very slow..