6 replies to this topic

[James Bowery]

In my chicken breeding operation there are 3 stages of feeding subsequent to incubation:

 

1) Hatchling down loss.  Feeding commercial chick starter.

2) Chick mortality prevention.  Feeding commercial chicken feed.

3) Free range.  Feeding on harvest leavings in the surrounding soybean and corn fields.

 

During chick infant mortality prevention the chicks are housed in an above-ground swimming pool into which I dump grass clippings that self-compost.  At first I was thinking of vermiculture as a way of converting the nitrogen-rich grass clippings to protein to supplement their diet.  However, getting that to happen is, according to vermiculture folks, problematic -- some parts of the pile are a messy muck and other parts are taken over by a dried out white dusty mold (this matches my experience).  Moreover these piles of grass clippings tend to be colonized by ants.  This would be great for my chicks as they would, I'm sure, love to peck around and eat ants.  The problem is since they're in an above-ground pool which, itself, is housed inside a garage, a flightless queen is very unlikely to make her way into the pool.

 

What I'd like to do is provide enough depth of hot composted grass clippings that one or more queens could colonize it and, if possible, have the next generation colonize the pool as well so I don't have to keep providing queens (and the protected environment from the chicks while the queen grows out her colony).

 

Has anyone tried formiculture in hot composted grass clippings?

[dspdrew]

By formiculture I assume you mean rearing ants. As far I know, it's not really a word, just the name we came up with for this forum. Mainly we are all about keeping ants in formicariums to study and as pets.

 

I don't see why some species of ants wouldn't try making a nest there as long as it's not too hot. It would be a very long time before the colony of ants would be large enough to be food for chickens though. They also probably wouldn't continue to breed, unless it was certain species that inbreed within the nest like some invasive species are known to do. I think there would probably be much better sources of protein than ants. My brother's chickens absolutely love earwigs.

[Mercutia]

It would also probably take a while for the colony to grow to a size that could inhabit the grass clippings fully to provide any sort of protection.

[Myrmicinae]

I don't think ants would work for this application. Some species would live within the grass clippings, but I don't know of many that would aid in their decomposition. I would look into isopods, which could directly consume the grass clippings and would probably make good food for the chickens (high in calcium). Another option would be termites, although these would require some patience and experimentation. Somewhere out there, in the massive diversity of arthropods, there are no doubt a number of species ideally suited to your situation.

Edited by Myrmicinae, June 25 2014 - 10:13 AM.

[Michaelofvancouver]

I don't think termites would be a smart idea, because the alates that they send out could easily colonize the house.

[dermy]

Vermicomposting [or Vermiculture] wouldn't work because of the nitrogen gases that are emitted by the manure and the grass clippings. Only way to make it safe for worms is to pre-compost the materials. Although this in itself takes a few months before it's safe for the worms.

[James Bowery]

Thanks for the guidance and correction of terminology.