Can chickens eat red wiggler worms?

Since I can't otherwise compost in freezing weather, I'm contemplating a winter composting project with red wigglers (free from a neighbour).

This will be a pretty large scale thing in my basement. I have infinite brown biomass for them to chew on.

But I just want castings. What do do with surplus worms? Feed them to my neighbour's laying hens? Would they eat them? Is it safe?

Chickens can definitely eat the worms. I don't see any problem with it, unless the worms are eating something unhealthy.

You could also sell the worms to other people. People starting their own worm farm.

Haha, they'll go outside to become wormsicles for the chooks.

Do I need to let them clean out for a day? I don't want to flavour the eggs or anything.

Anytime a chicken has a single thing for its food, it could change the flavor of the eggs. If the worms are just added to their diet... I don't think there is any problem. My chickens would eat worms and bugs galore, and the eggs tasted great. If the chicken was eating nothing but worms... would it affect the taste of the eggs? Maybe? I doubt it would change it that much, but maybe.

We have a large vermicompost operation on our farm in part because we needed a source of protein for our chickens during the winter we could produce on our farm. Red Wigglers make an excellent food source for chickens. Red wigglers take 3 weeks to hatch, and 9 additional weeks to grow to adult reproductive age which is a good time to harvest them for chicken feeding. With relatively little investment, you can create a rack with 12 shelves with trays to create a pipeline you can harvest once a week. You can heat the first three shelves with seed mats. If you make 7 racks, you can have a harvest of wigglers once a day.

Of course there are plenty more details for raising worms. For instance, you will need worm chow and a way to ensure consistent moister. You'll also need some kind of sifter to sift them out of your tray.

E Sager wrote:We have a large vermicompost operation on our farm in part because we needed a source of protein for our chickens during the winter we could produce on our farm. Red Wigglers make an excellent food source for chickens. Red wigglers take 3 weeks to hatch, and 9 additional weeks to grow to adult reproductive age which is a good time to harvest them for chicken feeding. With relatively little investment, you can create a rack with 12 shelves with trays to create a pipeline you can harvest once a week. You can heat the first three shelves with seed mats. If you make 7 racks, you can have a harvest of wigglers once a day.

Of course there are plenty more details for raising worms. For instance, you will need worm chow and a way to ensure consistent moister. You'll also need some kind of sifter to sift them out of your tray.

Thanks! Excellent information. I'm sort of a noob at this, just planning things out. Your experience is appreciated.