Worms for baby chicks

[Bokbok]

Has anyone ever thrown a worm or two in with the baby chicks? One chick will pick up the worm and run around in a circle like it's trying to start a tornado, and then another chick will rip the worm out and run around in it's own cirlce until another chick steals the worm too, and the worm just gets shorter and shorter until finally one of the girls leans her head back and guzzles it down.

But do you think that feeding them worms will take away from the real nutrition they are trying to get from the starter feed? Because of this worry, I have only fed them worms a couple of times. But they sure do seem to enjoy the entertainment, and our whole family will gather around to watch and laugh.

And if there is a little stick in their bedding they do the same thing. One picks it up and starts running around like it found gold, and all the other girls peep peep peep so loudly and chase the stick and try to steal it.

 

[lively Bee's]

we feed our chicks lettuce and they act the same way. 57 chicks will beat a head of lettuce to nothing in just 3hrs or so.

My wife had black stars some years ago and 25 of them would kill two heads of lettuce in under 10 mins.

I dont feel you are robbing them when you give them worms. some worms are high in protein

Nutritional Analysis of Red Worms:
Moisture- 84.8%
Fat- 2.0%
Ash-0.7%
Protein- 10.5%

chick feed is only 16%

 

[BeckyLa]

It's so much fun to watch chicks play keep away! I have read that worms do pass parasites to chickens, though. I dunno. Anyway, if you are feeding chicks anything but starter, be sure to add a pan of dirt, preferably mixed with sand, to their brooder. They love to play in it and it adds extra grit if they need it. I'm always surprised at how much they eat, once they get over the shock of something new, that is!

 

[Bokbok]

My chick starter feed says that it's 20% protein. It's an organic crumble, and while reading the tag just now, I noticed that it recommends I feed my chickens this same food for 16 weeks! I thought 3 or 4, and then move on to some big girl food.

As for the worms, I farm them myself on strictly vegetable parings, so I hope to avoid parasites that way, although truthfully I wasn't thinking about parasites. Will the chicken's pick up parasites when they are in chicken tractors outside, do you think?

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Internal parasites live inside their hosts and rob their host of food and blood, internal parasites include worms, coccodia and blood parasites. Parasites have life cycles that determine where they spend their time. Direct life cycle, bird eats parasite egg, parasite lives inside chicken, and chicken excretes parasite egg. Indirect life cycle earthworm eats parasite egg, bird eats earthworm, parasite lives inside bird, bird excretes parasite egg. Beetles, cockroaches, earthworms, earwigs, grasshoppers and sowbugs can carry roundworms. Intermediate host for tapeworms includes ants, beetles, fresh water crustaceans, earthworms, grasshoppers, houseflies, slugs, snails and flies etc. So as you can see parasites and worms are everywhere the main thing is controlling them and taking precautions which has been discussed here on numerous post.

 

[robin416]

Earthworms can carry the gape worm parasite. As chicks they are more susceptable to infestation, best to stick with lettuce and not giving them live protein you find on the ground. They will find some on their own that you can't do much about, just don't add to it by tossing in the tasty morsels.

Wait until one of them grabs a feather that's almost as big as it is. It will go zooming along hooking the thing on stuff with all the other peeps running right behind it.

 

[RAWR]

Quote:
omg! my chicks do the same thing! its so funny! and no, worms are good for them :]

 

[Gonzo]

Yeah, I found out about the bad side of the worms too late! I now have a fridge with worms in it (contained..) and probally chicks with the same problem!

 

[kittyariel]

Mine really still only play with the worms and they are 6 weeks old. I have been putting DE in their food so hopefully not any parasites!!!

 

[KattyKillFish]

Quote:
i don't think it would take away from the nutrition. it would give them a good protein boost i think. in the wild that's what they would eat, right? so why not?