worms in a deep litter system

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by macey, Sep 11, 2011.

  1. macey

    macey Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    185
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    would anyone bother seeding a deep litter slow composting system, in a chook shed, with red worms as in a worm farm?
    Or just let the local fellas get into it?
    The system is 1.5 m x 1 m with 30 cm of wood chips over a subsoil base, the roosting perch is above and all kitchen waste gets dropped on top for the chooks to eat what they want and the rest gets scratched in by them.
    I wouldn't buy any worms for this purpose but I could definately get some from another permies wormery if anyone can think of any benefit of doing so.
     
  2. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2007
    Messages:
    2,721
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    inland Otago, NZ
    Climate:
    Inland maritime/hot/dry/frosty
    Not really following that. If the chooks have access they will eat the worms. But you say it's composting so is there something stopping the chooks from accessing most of it?
     
  3. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2009
    Messages:
    2,457
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Occupation:
    Farm manager/ educator
    Location:
    Hunter Valley New South Wales
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    you need to keep your deeplitter dry to prevent mites by throwing scratch grain to encourage turning by the chooks. It would not be a place for worms.
     
  4. macey

    macey Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    185
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I see your points..... It was put to me by one of the teachers on my PDC that the presence of worms actually enhances the chickens turning of the compost through their trying to dig down for them and that this in turn will give them a good source of protein without them ever being able to deplete the system completely of worms due to their prolific reproduction and the depth of the deep litter lol
    I was more thinking whether composting worms as opposed to earthworms may be more useful in actually creating compost in this type of set up?
     
  5. barefootrim

    barefootrim Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2011
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Every chook house I have ever had,,,was absolutley dripping with worms underneath the litter,,,,

    The chook house got a bale of straw occassionally ,,,every thing from the lawn mower catcher bin, every kitchen scrap,,, every weed pulled up, plus anything else I could find,,,,, it got cleaned out periodically and spread around the garden,,,,then I applied a new litter level with whatever I had,,,be it straw, grass clip, branches from cuttings,,whatever,,,,and the worms population was always abundant,,,,,,,,at any one time I could go to the chicken coop,,,dig in any place and get a big fork full of composting worms...... easy peasy

    occassionally the chooks would dig down to soil level in a corner of the run,,,and have a worm feast,,,,but thats the way of the chicken and worm I suppose...

    Just put a handful of worms in the run with a bale of straw on top (strings still attached),,,,the bale of straw will give the worms a chance to survive the chicken scratching,,,,will give the chickens a chance to play king of the castle for a week or 2 or 3 before the bale gets scratched down to not much.
     
  6. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,161
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    The bale of hay would have been silaged so would therefore be full of Lactose Bruccillus Bacteria which would encourage the worms. The chooks thinning out the worms would encourage the rest to breed as there is more space per worm. The whole cycle would be like a revolving door and be an on going proccess which benifits the chooks and the soil
     
  7. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2011
    Messages:
    62
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    all this works very well in just the afformentioned manner in my garden
     

Share This Page

-->