Worms from bait shop ok?

[vjbakke]

Would worms from a bait shop be ok to feed as treats. Ours has earth worms, wax worms. Are they safe to feed?

 

[kittycooks]

I don't know about earth worms, mine don't seem to like them. They go nuts over mealworms though, which can be purchased at any pet shop.

 

[vjbakke]

I have dug some up and they love them, I got some dried meal worms and they didn't care for them.

 

[hannakat]

I can get my flock to do anything with meal worms....dried or fresh, they LOVE them and come running! Don't know about earth worms.

 

[gryeyes]

I refuse to pay the premium price for dried mealworms (more than once, anyway), but the chickens LOVE the live ones. I stopped in at a bait shop one day, when I saw a sign outside with "mealworms" on it, and they just happened to be out of 'em. Wax worms were suggested to me. They were disgusting, but I bought some. The chickens gobbled them down even more eagerly.

But I think I'll stick with mealworms, which I still cannot put into my hands. I shake 'em out of the container for the chickens. For chicks, I use a fork to lift them out of the wheat base, so I can drop them strategically into the brooder.

 

[DrTom]

My girls love earthworms! If you're gonna feed worms to them regularly, buying worms from a store could get pretty
expensive. I would recommend digging them up yourself. Try placing some wood or cardboard on some open dirt and
check back the next day or so. There should be plenty of worms. It works especially well if you dump some water over
the area first and make sure that the board or cardboard is flush to the ground.

 

[vjbakke]

I was mainly wondering because sometimes we have left over bait from fishing. I think I will keep digging up worms from our yard, but the bait shop may be a good idea in the winter.

 

[ErinG]

My chickens love worms too, and I know that they eat them, but I don't purposely feed them earth worms because they can be carriers for gapeworm and cecal worms. Something to keep in mind. I don't know if worms raised for bait would be less likely to carry parasites or not?