Worms vs Worms vs Worms

[CloneFly]

Hello all! I have a bit of a curious question for all you hobby fishers/worm experts. What's the difference between earthworms, redworms and Canadian nightcrawlers? (At least to a chicken.)

I'm sure there's some complex differences between the regions they come from and what not, but to me (and I would think to a chicken as well) they pretty much look the same! Issue is, my dark brahma Nellie doesn't seem to think so!

She's hasn't been feeling well the last month and lost some weight due to this, but I noticed she LOVED eating every single earthworms she could find- and she found some pretty chonky ones too. Figured I'd save her the trouble and buy her a variable 2pk of nighcrawlers and redworms to enjoy but lo and behold, after traumatizing me and proving that nightcrawlers do indeed have blood and guts, she's refused to eat them. She took one redworm and won't bother to glance at the others.... yet, as I'm typing this she's hunting for earthworms in our garden

What gives?

 

[saysfaa]

 

[Penpal]

Maybe the taste better from the earth and you turned her into a gourmet.

Red wigglers come from the American south. They can't survive a northern winter, which is one reason they are good to keep. They won't disrupt the natural flora and fauna if they escape because they will die.

Nightcrawlers are not native to the Americas and are said to disrupt the natural flora and fauna of the earth they live in. This is why anglers are asked to remove the nightcrawlers they don't use instead of just setting them free.

If you grow your red wigglers in an area in the garden they might taste better. Dig in some leftovers for the worms to keep them in the same area.

 

[saysfaa]

I noticed this too. My chickens were enthusiastic about common earthworms but reluctant to eat a night crawler I dug up.

l looked a little for an explanation.

One possibility is "food imprinting." It seems that a food eaten in a critical period of development will be preferred thereafter. This is very strong in cats; they will sometimes starve to death rather than eat a food they didn't eat as kittens even if it is a typical food for most cats. It has been studied in snakes, fish, turtles, birds.

It seems to be a real thing and different than not liking change.

I don't think it is the only thing with mine, though. Because they didn't get any worms until they were over a year old. They didn't have any trouble accepting them right away.

 

[CloneFly]

I noticed this too. My chickens were enthusiastic about common earthworms but reluctant to eat a night crawler I dug up.

l looked a little for an explanation.

One possibility is "food imprinting." It seems that a food eaten in a critical period of development will be preferred thereafter. This is very strong in cats; they will sometimes starve to death rather than eat a food they didn't eat as kittens even if it is a typical food for most cats. It has been studied in snakes, fish, turtles, birds.

It seems to be a real thing and different than not liking change.

I don't think it is the only thing with mine, though. Because they didn't get any worms until they were over a year old. They didn't have any trouble accepting them right away.

Oooh that is a possibility My brahma wasn't given worms until she was over 6mos old (when she was finally allowed to forage lol). I was just confused because the regular earthworms and redworms look pretty much exactly the same to me

Guess I'm not a chicken

 

[CloneFly]

Maybe the taste better from the earth and you turned her into a gourmet.

Red wigglers come from the American south. They can't survive a northern winter, which is one reason they are good to keep. They won't disrupt the natural flora and fauna if they escape because they will die.

Nightcrawlers are not native to the Americas and are said to disrupt the natural flora and fauna of the earth they live in. This is why anglers are asked to remove the nightcrawlers they don't use instead of just setting them free.

If you grow your red wigglers in an area in the garden they might taste better. Dig in some leftovers for the worms to keep them in the same area.

That's a good idea. Thank you! I didn't know those interesting tidbits about the worms... I'll be sure not to let loose any of those nightcrawlers!

 

[Chickenberg Goldenegg]

I can't answer your question but I had something odd happen with worms.

It's been raining so I collected works from the parking lot in a bottle. I came home and dropped them in front of the chickens. They just looked and we're like "So what we want CORN!!!!" .

I guess chickens can eat too many worms.