[eneville]

Hi all,

I know how much our hens love to eat worms, so how can I, whilst still having two pennies to rub together deny them a favourite treat.

They've had me outside hand feeding them every worm I find, but now, it seems, the worms have dried up.

It's easy to locate tiger worms online, but would they eat them? Are tiger worms ok to feed hens? More to the point, where can I find live earthworms to put back in the soil?

Asked at a garden centre if they sell earthworms and they said "try on the internet for that", alas, I tried there many times.

Should I buy a wormery and try and breed worms to replace those which I relocated to an excited crop?

[bravemurphy]

Trouble is with earthworms off the net is that they are not native to this country, they are canadian lobworms.

best way to get lots of free worms is put the chicken poo/litter in a compost bin/darlec and wait a few weeks.

Take the darlec off turn it over and there will be loads of worms(tiger/brandlings) for the chooks and the rotted muck can go on the garden for our native lob worms 

[ANHBUC]

It is a bad time of the year for worms if you are in the uk so don't worry I am sure they will resurface when the weather improves.  Your hens need a balanced diet so they shouldn't have too much of one thing anyway.  Just let them find their own bugs, grubs and worms, they are very well equipped.   

[Kleftiwallah]

Buy mealworms from http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/.  Breeding the worms is easy peasy and there is soooo much information and advice on the mighty interweb.

You can suspend a dead rabbit from the cage.  Flies come and lay eggs, eggs turn into maggots, maggots drop to floor, pleased hens!


Cheers,   Tony.

[eneville]

Cheers, looks like that site sells worms:

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/garden-worms.html

I don't think the neighbours would like the smell of some rotting mammal, and I can't be sure the chicks wouldn't try and eat it either, so probably wont go down that route.

[loretta cluck]

If you decide to buy dried mealworms, cheapest place around, if you have one where you live, is Home Bargains...99p for 100g.

[ANHBUC]

Don't forget they are a treat though as they are high in protein which can cause health problems.   

[Craigx]

earth worms can be brought from fishing shops, i used to pay around 8 quid for a fresh bag of 5kg worms

[bravemurphy]

Show me where that shop is i will buy 25k ready for the salmon.

they are now £12 for 100 lobs thats without postage.

[Anndee]

What about giving them maggots (white), also available from fishing tackle shops. Mine love them