yesterday i got home about an hour before it got dark so i decided to start digging the run over as the membrane and wood bark wasnt really working , i pulled it up the other day and the ground was well disgusting underneath and it smelt gross so i decided to keep just soil and dig over every 2 weeks but as i was doing so the girls wanted to help but i found it funny as it was really only the white leghorns that wanted the worms most of my brown birds were not interested in them at all .
brown hens not keen on worms
- Thread starter karminski
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chrismahon
Well-known member
Our Wyandottes used to raid the compost heap. But there are two types of compost worm the fishing shop man told me. One is irresistable to fish and the other one they hate. Well some of our hens eat the worms and most won't touch them. They go straight through as well -intact in the poo next morning.
chrismahon said:
that's exactly what happens to those red rubber bands discarded by the postman, after our dog has eaten them!
chrismahon
Well-known member
Think you might be right there Chuck, because they are full of the soil they are eating. The hens on the other side won't eat big earthworms either until, that is, they come up during rain. Perhaps they are then empty of earth, evacuated during the rush to the surface?
that does make sense but from now on i am going to do my run at least once a month unless the ground is to hard , but then again i have given them worms from the other side of the plot where i grow my veg that i have dug up and even then most of the brown birds didnt want to know .
Stapfam
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Couple of years ago I changed from a Small mobile run that was relocated every couple of days to a permanent run. It was just put on a dead space in the garden on lawn. Wasn't long before the grass had gone and it was down to basic soil. Covered the roof area and it has remained fairly dry ever since. Last Winters rain though and it did flood and I believe you had the same problem. I dug a Dust bath area for them and they decided to dig their own where they wanted it.
For about 3 months and I had a smell on the few days when the Run did become wet but that cured itself and there is no smell whatsoever from the run. Poo picking is not done as there never seems to be a problem. About once a month I dig over half the run and it gets difficult with the chooks always being under the fork. Next month and I dig over the other half. I never find worms in the run but freshly dug soil and they are taking something out of it as soon as it is dug over.
I am on clay but you would not believe it when I dig the run over. It is quite friable and breaks down easily with a fork and the only problem is an excess of soil that builds up over time. This is taken out and spread on the Vegetable garden in Autumn so it can lose some of the "Richness" that it has. And when it did flood- I dug it over a few days later and there was none of the stickiness that clay gardeners know about all too well.
Buts chooks not taking worms? Never in my run.
For about 3 months and I had a smell on the few days when the Run did become wet but that cured itself and there is no smell whatsoever from the run. Poo picking is not done as there never seems to be a problem. About once a month I dig over half the run and it gets difficult with the chooks always being under the fork. Next month and I dig over the other half. I never find worms in the run but freshly dug soil and they are taking something out of it as soon as it is dug over.
I am on clay but you would not believe it when I dig the run over. It is quite friable and breaks down easily with a fork and the only problem is an excess of soil that builds up over time. This is taken out and spread on the Vegetable garden in Autumn so it can lose some of the "Richness" that it has. And when it did flood- I dug it over a few days later and there was none of the stickiness that clay gardeners know about all too well.
Buts chooks not taking worms? Never in my run.
I have noticed that chucks do not eat dead worms. They seem to like to make sure that the worm is healthy and wriggling before they will eat it. If worms in sour soil are sickly or sluggish sensible chucks will avoid them. Perhaps the white chucks were a bit stupider than the brown ones?
