[chris mutter]

Right been Digging allotment today and was accompanied by Chickens and Ducks, and boy can they consume worms, this got me thinking. Worms are good for my garden, droppings make good fertiliser, can the birds eat me out of worms or is there a never ending supply.  I guess I never think about worms as they are always there, am I over thinking this or should I keep the birds out of my empty plots. Thank You, now you can stop laughing.

[wighty]

You've really got me thinking there, they are always there.  Hopefully.  Where do they come from and how do they get there?  Goggle moment coming on here.

[Christine]

I'd say it all depends on how you look after your soil. I've two plots (am due to give up one at the back end when clear of produce as we have a waiting list).

The one that I am giving up after 3 years has not had a lot of care of the soil and is rather worm free (lack of composting and manure over the years by tenants previous to me). The one that I am keeping has had some 13 years of soil improvement (home made compost, bought in load at the start to set it off, leaf mulch, careful rotation) and is quite busy with worms. It isn't too well dug over either unless I'm working in compost.

There's one plot next to the one to be given up where the tenant has spent 13 years digging in manure and compost. His crops are great and I think he has plenty of worms.

So - if you want to let your chickens and ducks out to keep you company you need to also be a worm factory. Well I reckon anyway. Chickens, ducks and worms can be good company though