Guest guest Posted February 22, 2002 Report Share Posted February 22, 2002 In a message dated 2/22/02 8:27:22 PM Central Standard Time, Idol@... writes: > >OK, we have about 40 or 50 hens laying and another 10-20 roosters > strutting. > >How in the world am I supposed to get worms enough to feed them through a > >winter? > > I have zero experience with this myself, so I can't say how useful any > suggestions I make will be, but I do understand that vermiculture is a very > > space-efficient enterprise. IOW you can build or buy worm farms that will > generate a tremendous number of worms without taking up very much space, > and the worms will eat all sorts of waste your farm already produces and > generate peerless compost. And then your chickens will eat the worms, lay > superb eggs, and give you terrific chicken manure. Etc. > > As far as costs and proportions go, though, I'm completely at sea, so for > all I know this isn't practical, but it does seem like something to look > into. The chickens go through about 5 pounds of grain or more a day, this even with the added meat scraps when we butcher. When we lived in the city we had a worm composter in the basement. I doubt we'd be able to keep enough of these thawed out in the winter. Buying worms, paying for the shipping would bring the price of your eggs to about $1.50 each. Just a farmer's point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2002 Report Share Posted February 23, 2002 > In a message dated 2/22/02 8:27:22 PM Central Standard Time, > Idol@c... writes: > > > > >OK, we have about 40 or 50 hens laying and another 10-20 roosters > > strutting. > > >How in the world am I supposed to get worms enough to feed them through a > > >winter? > > > > I have zero experience with this myself, so I can't say how useful any > > suggestions I make will be, but I do understand that vermiculture is a very > > > > space-efficient enterprise. IOW you can build or buy worm farms that will > > generate a tremendous number of worms without taking up very much space, > > and the worms will eat all sorts of waste your farm already produces and > > generate peerless compost. And then your chickens will eat the worms, lay > > superb eggs, and give you terrific chicken manure. Etc. > > > > As far as costs and proportions go, though, I'm completely at sea, so for > > all I know this isn't practical, but it does seem like something to look > > into. > > > The chickens go through about 5 pounds of grain or more a day, this even with > the added meat scraps when we butcher. When we lived in the city we had a > worm composter in the basement. I doubt we'd be able to keep enough of these > thawed out in the winter. Buying worms, paying for the shipping would bring > the price of your eggs to about $1.50 each. > > Just a farmer's point of view. > Hello All: Another farmer with 50 hens and only 8 strutting roosters thinking: I do like the idea of the chickens eating the worms instead of me. I believe the chickens could successfully ingest worms seasonally. Are you thinking red worms when you indicate we could farm them? I wouldn't think " farming " worms would be acceptable after reading Chi's and other's discussion on soil fertility. How would you harvest the farmed red worms? I don't want the chickens leveling the compost pile at this point. Thanks for the ideas. Best regards, Dennis Kemnitz Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2002 Report Share Posted February 23, 2002 Dennis wrote: > Another farmer with 50 hens and only 8 strutting roosters thinking: > I do like the idea of the chickens eating the worms instead of me. > I believe the chickens could successfully ingest worms seasonally. > Are you thinking red worms when you indicate we could farm them? > I wouldn't think " farming " worms would be acceptable after reading > Chi's and other's discussion on soil fertility. How would you > harvest the farmed red worms? I don't want the chickens leveling > the compost pile at this point. Thanks for the ideas. Yes, red worms are one of the most commonly used. The worms don't go in the compost pile. Rather the compost goes into the vermiculture bin. Harvesting the worm castings can be done by putting down fresh compost on one side of the bin and leaving the other side to run out of fresh compost. The worms migrate to the fresh compost and the old compost (castings) can be scooped out and used as fertilizer. Harvesting the worms can be accomplished by screening the compost. There are many other methods too, including some concepts for self-feeding coops with the floor consisting of a continuous patchwork of hatches that can be opened in rotation to provide the chickens access to the worms. Check out the following two links for more ideas and information. http://www.lionsgrip.com/worms.html http://www.yelmworms.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2002 Report Share Posted February 23, 2002 >Are >you thinking red >worms when you indicate we could farm them? I'm no expert on vermiculture, but I've talked to people who raise many different kinds of worms, so I'd expect it would be possible in the winter to raise whatever varieties are healthiest for the chickens (and, by extension, us). >I wouldn't think > " farming " worms would be acceptable after reading Chi's and other's >discussion on soil fertility. Well, I definitely wouldn't advocate any non-biodynamic practices, but I think vermiculture can be conducted in such a way that it integrates into organic, sustainable farming and animal husbandry. Worm bins are sort of like compost bins, but in addition to compost, they can generate worms, and if you grow enough worms, you can feed a lot of them to chickens. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 I saw signs of a few in my garden. Why aren't they coming around? I know I put compost and other stuff in the soil, but obviously not enough. Any gardeners out there who can help? I do need to buy some compost as I don't have enough I know without even worm talk. carolDon Quai <mysticalherbalist@...> wrote: wrote:> *sniff*>> Guess I'll just go eat some worms >> Guido===================================="Fat ones, skinny ones, long ones, short ones, itsy-bitsy fuzzy wuzzy worms!"-- Peace be with you,Don "Quai" Eitner"Spirit sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, dreams in the animal and wakes in man." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 You can always go to the fishing store and buy some to speed things up Tom carolG wrote: I saw signs of a few in my garden. Why aren't they coming around? I know I put compost and other stuff in the soil, but obviously not enough. Any gardeners out there who can help? I do need to buy some compost as I don't have enough I know without even worm talk. carol Don Quai <mysticalherbalist@...> wrote: wrote: > *sniff* > > Guess I'll just go eat some worms > > Guido ==================================== "Fat ones, skinny ones, long ones, short ones, itsy-bitsy fuzzy wuzzy worms!" -- Peace be with you, Don "Quai" Eitner "Spirit sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, dreams in the animal and wakes in man." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 This is what my father used to do to collect earthworms to use fishing: Go out where there is flat ground, we always went to the river banks or flat, bare ground areas around the lake or in a farmer’s field. Take a very large tree limb that you can handle easily. Stand in one spot, hold the tree limb over your head and slam it down on the ground. Turn a bit and do it again. Turn a bit and do it again until you have turned in a full circle. Move a short distance away and do the same thing again. The worms will come to the top of the soil in droves because they think the noise you are making is thunder. Four kids with coffee cans couldn’t move fast enough and pick up all the worms that would pop up on the ground. No kidding. My paternal great-great-grandfather was a Cherokee shaman and I was always told this was an old Indian trick. -----Original Message----- From: health [mailto:health ] On Behalf Of tvogel1104@... Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 12:46 PM To: health Subject: Re: worms · You can always go to the fishing store and buy some to speed things up Tom .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 "What's the difference? Aren't worms "worms"?" Apparently not. Every website selling composte worms calls them "red" worms or red wigglers. I've always heard them called "red" worms. Nightcrawlers are B-I-G worms!!! Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 We got ours at a bait shop. Kathy L. ----- Original Message ----- From: SV health Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:45 PM Subject: Re: worms "What's the difference? Aren't worms "worms"?" Apparently not. Every website selling composte worms calls them "red" worms or red wigglers. I've always heard them called "red" worms. Nightcrawlers are B-I-G worms!!! Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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