02 March 2014
We’ve had a really bad fright today with the chickens. Dotty hasn’t been leaving the nesting box quite so quickly in the morning when we open their pop door. We think she may have eaten something poisonous from the garden lately, or got Meraks Disease. Today I took some shovels from the compost bin, full of worms, really, really, full of worms. She ate most of them with Dolly, eventually had a crop full and couldn’t eat any more. I’ve NEVER seen a chicken get full up on worms before.
This was quite amazing. We’ve never had a chicken full of worms so much that they refuse any more.
How did we get here?
Well for the past few years I’ve been putting their muck into compost bins (well, I have two of these bins full now). Often I’d put leftover water in the bin too, so the whole mix is quite soggy and I’d try to stir it as often as possible.
What I find is that the lower end of the bin is saturated with worms whilst the upper layers are near worm free. It could be that chicken poo is notorious for being rich in nitrogen, perhaps too rich for worms.