I dont believe it was discussed but an important point to note is that earthworms are distinct from these compost worms (aka red worms, tiger worms, etc). They like to keep to surface layers where organic matter is breaking down while the earthworms can exist in mineral soil
Correct. We're raising epigeic worms (which are still earthworms) and are the surface dwellers. They have been one of the worst hit in terms of population decline. Being close to the surface they are the most exposed to pesticides, tillage, fertilisers, and the weather.
@@parccarregduck weed (lema minor) and azolla are also prolific grower and are eaten by ducks. You are missing out on great opportunities since they all feed on duck feces.
I have a composter made of pallet in my chicken coop, so in the winter it will produce heat and when it decompose the chickens can eat the worms; at the end I will have a dark soil for my plants.
I’m new to your channel and feel excited, your innovative and a breath of fresh air, you remind me a little of the alternative energy place out in Wales. Will very much enjoy watching your progress, PS love you Guinea-pigs.
I've got about 60 chickens myself. They are hit and miss at best when it comes to eating worms and I haven't a clue why that is? But the worms are plentiful on my property and I encourage their growth all around and under the birds runs. I have gotten into BSF however and the birds never refuse the larva. But I have been limited to the warn season raising them outside but they are easily cared for and harvest about 2 liters every day. As well as releasing thousands that boosts the native populations. I have the means to move them indoors this year and looking forward to getting them going again. I was cut short last season when some of my small young birds cracked the code to my bin outside and raided it, wiping out the population as the temps began to fall causing the heat being generated by the larva to drop and crash the colony. Never trust a chicken not to snoop around where they shouldn't! 😂
We have sold some. Currently we are not selling them thought. There is a lot of labour involved in harvesting them. We might do in the future, but equipment is required
Great to see your ducks (and your worm farm) thriving. I think it's an ingenious use of space. Even if there's nothing new going on with the G pigs, seeing the progress of their different colonies would be nice.
@@parccarreg WARNING: If you fail at Earthworms, you get Soldier flies. You might not want to break a system that isn't broken. Flies are an irreversible plague.
For the duck area do you only add the wood chips once? Or do you add more chips every few rotations? Can wood shavings be too small to work with this method? Thank you for posting this type of content.
We haven't used fresh woodchip for about 10 months. But we might start mixing small amounts in to bump us the carbon ratio. You can use wood shavings just make sure it's untreated wood - natural shavings, woodchips or sawdust is best. We used to spread woodchip on a daily basis. So we started off with a combination of duck poop and woodchips. Then we composted it all (we had a lot sitting in the house) using worms - instead of mucking out and turning piles. With all this compost sitting in our duck house, we stopped using woodchips and just bedded the ducks straight on top of the compost. Initially we spread fresh compost on a daily basis. Now we just turn the top layer and use the worms to clean the material.
@@parccarreg thank you very much for the information. Right now I am working with 18 ducks. (silver appleyard ducks). I have been adding wood chips daily but wanted to explore other options. I think your method sounds best. Thank you again.
Excellent! I have kept tiger worms in my compost bin for over 40 years now. I love them like they are family to me....😂, they do amazing work and make rich compost.
You can sell your worms for up to £20 a kilo to people that go fishing, match anglers buy 1 or 2 kilos a week and the fishing shops might buy your worms to. You can also grow your own maggots and feed them to your ducks, maggots farms are really easy to start all you need is a dead animal, if you look up fishing maggot farms you'll find more information, also red worms from horse poo is £40 a kilo an you could sell maggots for £3.50 a pint
Do you feed the worms directly? Or they just live on what they find that the ducks drop and excrete? Especially when you move the ducks to the other side? Do you think it would work for chickens?
Yes, they live off the duck manure and a small amount of spilled feed. You can initially use worm chow or poultry feed to help kick start the worm population. You need a high density of worms. I'm not sure about chickens. You would need to irrigate the bedding to ensure that the worms have enough moisture. The chicken poop is also hotter than duck poop. I might experiment with chickens in the future.
My lab works with BSFL, worms and mealworms. BSFL grow especially well and sometimes it's hard to keep them contained. If we had ducks in the lab I'm sure they would have a constant supply of food whenever the larva decide to do a prison break.
You mentioned vermicompost. True story, years ago my wife and I told our daughter that she finally reached the age where we could tell her. Her mother and I were vermaids. Half human half earthworm. And if she chose to, she could join the magical Kingdom "under the dirt".. she declined and has been living as an ordinary human ever since.
Ducks go mad for worms, as kid when digging struggled to not hit ducks as they were in the space where we were digging ! I miss the ducks and chill no stress days! This is duck heaven!
Our climate is similar to yours. We have BSF in the summer and worms in the cooler months. We just keep a bag of dormant BSF in the garage and release them in the spring.
I'm quite amazed that the worm population manages to survive despite the ducks constantly hunting for them. You say you move the ducks to the other side. If you didn't do you think they would wipe the worms out?
Great question. We'll definitely do another video about this. The worms kill off pathogens when they process the manure. What is left is a clean and safe compost which also comes with beneficial microbes. The worm make a very healthy environment for the ducks. In regards to the ducks eating the worms. Regulations will not like the fact - but to us it's clear the ducks are healthier than ever
@@parccarreg The vibrant composting environment would clean a lot, it is just the nagging feeling the loop is so tight. We'll find out together I suppose but they look healthy.
I would save you worms for more compost or sell your worms. Raise black soldier fly larvae for bird feed as they grow quick and you can grow a lot of weight fast compared to compost worms
Have you sent there fresh poop to get tested for infection loads. I would think it has to be pretty small. I wish that your country had a SARE program like the USA and got grants. I bet you could get a lot grant money running various tests. As the UK is no longer in the EU duck reering is honestly more effective for small and meduim farms than chickens. I really wish the xmas goose and the easter duck was really brought back to people tables. fungus is more important in certain parts o fthe USA it's to the point that certain worms are actually invasie. We have very few native worm populations. At the same time I always think of compost worms as the best good.
Yes we have tested the compost and it was clear of pathogens (salmonella and e coli). I would like to do further testing and plan to make a video about this
They can indeed be exponential in the right conditions. In the right conditions, your worm population could double every 30-60 days. A mature red wiggler worm can produce 2-3 cocoons per week, with an average of 4-6 worms per cocoon. Baby worms hatch from the cocoons in about 30 days and reach sexual maturity in about 90 days.
Great work. I don't know whether this helps, ua-cam.com/video/JGxSDhnvUUc/v-deo.htmlsi=a5zwj4lk3gfa86Er maybe it's could be integrated and create an additional revenue - a base material for those who want to make it even. Instead of plastic pipe, I used cardboard pipe from carpet stores. I'm guessing your adding a grit for the worms, finely ground egg shell. Maybe a bag of calcium sulphate. Hope you carry on going from strength to strength 😊. Have you come across Jodie Roebuck, like you he's into stacking functions.
Hey thanks for the link to the video. I always found the johnson su method it to be too small scale and labour intensive. But seeing this video was interesting because they've done it at scale. But it's still labour and resource intensive (all the pipe etc). Also you can't put livestock on top of that. They are very concerned about keeping things aerated. We are not so much - because 1) the worms aerate for us. 2) Any anaerobic areas are managed by bokashi inoculant. I didn't go into this detail in the video but it's an important point. So let the worms and the fungi do all the work instead of a complex mechanical areated system.
As it's not really the topic of the video you don't touch on this, but since this has been a topic of demonization and intentional misinformation or misdirection in the past and present, it's important to note that Soy is not inherently a bad protein source. For *human* consumption, just like any other legume, it's a wonderful and land-efficient way to provide important nutrients. Soy is, in that regard, one of the best crops we could possibly grow. The global problems relating to ecological issues like deforestation are in the *incredible* inefficiency of converting soy-based (or any other for that matter) feed to for-human-consumption meat, dairy and egg products (with meat, as usual, being by far the worst). Less than 10% of soy grown world-wide is used as a direct food source. Even products used in processed food or other products, such as soy oil used in cosmetics etc., are simply a side-product from the feed industry. So don't hesitate to buy soy products for your own consumption in the supermarket. Those are a good choice. If you want to make an impact, choose to cut out or reduce your indirect consumption of soy. That is, animal products. Doesn't mean you don't have to eat them at all. Just means you should be aware of it when making purchasing decisions.
Good job mate, great idea! Sheeps milk, is another thing you can use to make cheese and drinks with, or ice cream ect Meet aaron sheep extraordinaire ua-cam.com/video/4gEczsNlkGM/v-deo.htmlsi=fTjvtcLQUiGYsTh-
I dont believe it was discussed but an important point to note is that earthworms are distinct from these compost worms (aka red worms, tiger worms, etc). They like to keep to surface layers where organic matter is breaking down while the earthworms can exist in mineral soil
Correct. We're raising epigeic worms (which are still earthworms) and are the surface dwellers. They have been one of the worst hit in terms of population decline. Being close to the surface they are the most exposed to pesticides, tillage, fertilisers, and the weather.
@@parccarregduck weed (lema minor) and azolla are also prolific grower and are eaten by ducks. You are missing out on great opportunities since they all feed on duck feces.
Can you share the species name?
@@parccarregplease share specific species? Thank you!
If you have soil, you have these worms. They are indemic. Its about initiating their preferred/perfect environment.
I have a composter made of pallet in my chicken coop, so in the winter it will produce heat and when it decompose the chickens can eat the worms; at the end I will have a dark soil for my plants.
Does it attract rodents? If so, how do you deal with them?
@spoolsandbobbins No, it doesn't
I’m new to your channel and feel excited, your innovative and a breath of fresh air, you remind me a little of the alternative energy place out in Wales. Will very much enjoy watching your progress, PS love you Guinea-pigs.
Lots of cool projects in West Wales!
I've got about 60 chickens myself. They are hit and miss at best when it comes to eating worms and I haven't a clue why that is? But the worms are plentiful on my property and I encourage their growth all around and under the birds runs. I have gotten into BSF however and the birds never refuse the larva. But I have been limited to the warn season raising them outside but they are easily cared for and harvest about 2 liters every day. As well as releasing thousands that boosts the native populations. I have the means to move them indoors this year and looking forward to getting them going again. I was cut short last season when some of my small young birds cracked the code to my bin outside and raided it, wiping out the population as the temps began to fall causing the heat being generated by the larva to drop and crash the colony. Never trust a chicken not to snoop around where they shouldn't! 😂
You are brilliant!! Wonderful and informative video
🙏 Thanks :)
What an outstanding set up!
honestly, selling compost worms might be more profitable than the eggs.
I’d be first in line to buy!
Both would be profitable
With a stable ecosystem they can produce both things with a little more effort and much more profit i believe
We have sold some. Currently we are not selling them thought. There is a lot of labour involved in harvesting them. We might do in the future, but equipment is required
Це геніально.! Супер, що вам прийшла на думку така ідея і ви її реалізували
Thank you!
Great to see your ducks (and your worm farm) thriving. I think it's an ingenious use of space. Even if there's nothing new going on with the G pigs, seeing the progress of their different colonies would be nice.
Thanks, More videos coming!
@@parccarreg WARNING: If you fail at Earthworms, you get Soldier flies. You might not want to break a system that isn't broken. Flies are an irreversible plague.
For the duck area do you only add the wood chips once? Or do you add more chips every few rotations? Can wood shavings be too small to work with this method? Thank you for posting this type of content.
From what i understood the wood chips are a leftover of a "failed" project
@@jmbkpo thanks. I must have missed it.
We haven't used fresh woodchip for about 10 months. But we might start mixing small amounts in to bump us the carbon ratio. You can use wood shavings just make sure it's untreated wood - natural shavings, woodchips or sawdust is best.
We used to spread woodchip on a daily basis. So we started off with a combination of duck poop and woodchips. Then we composted it all (we had a lot sitting in the house) using worms - instead of mucking out and turning piles. With all this compost sitting in our duck house, we stopped using woodchips and just bedded the ducks straight on top of the compost. Initially we spread fresh compost on a daily basis. Now we just turn the top layer and use the worms to clean the material.
@@parccarreg thank you very much for the information. Right now I am working with 18 ducks. (silver appleyard ducks). I have been adding wood chips daily but wanted to explore other options. I think your method sounds best. Thank you again.
Very snazzy animation with the channel name and the different animals! Looked great
Excellent! I have kept tiger worms in my compost bin for over 40 years now. I love them like they are family to me....😂, they do amazing work and make rich compost.
Wow, Josh - this is outstanding! We are watching you from Phoenix with amazement!
Thanks Zach! ❤️🪱
Your channel is amazing. Always videos with new ideas! Love it
Glad you like it! Thanks for the feedback :)
As always fascinating always, fascinating . Looking forward to watching your progress. 😊
I will do the method you have done to grow worms and ultinately feed my potted plants. Thank you for such an easy method.
Great video
An excellent job, my friend!
You can sell your worms for up to £20 a kilo to people that go fishing, match anglers buy 1 or 2 kilos a week and the fishing shops might buy your worms to. You can also grow your own maggots and feed them to your ducks, maggots farms are really easy to start all you need is a dead animal, if you look up fishing maggot farms you'll find more information, also red worms from horse poo is £40 a kilo an you could sell maggots for £3.50 a pint
Do you feed the worms directly? Or they just live on what they find that the ducks drop and excrete? Especially when you move the ducks to the other side? Do you think it would work for chickens?
Yes, they live off the duck manure and a small amount of spilled feed. You can initially use worm chow or poultry feed to help kick start the worm population. You need a high density of worms.
I'm not sure about chickens. You would need to irrigate the bedding to ensure that the worms have enough moisture. The chicken poop is also hotter than duck poop.
I might experiment with chickens in the future.
Bloody hell Its a G Pig and duck BBQ now. When can I book a table?
My lab works with BSFL, worms and mealworms. BSFL grow especially well and sometimes it's hard to keep them contained. If we had ducks in the lab I'm sure they would have a constant supply of food whenever the larva decide to do a prison break.
This is clever...thank you for saying.
You mentioned vermicompost. True story, years ago my wife and I told our daughter that she finally reached the age where we could tell her. Her mother and I were vermaids. Half human half earthworm. And if she chose to, she could join the magical Kingdom "under the dirt".. she declined and has been living as an ordinary human ever since.
Ducks go mad for worms, as kid when digging struggled to not hit ducks as they were in the space where we were digging ! I miss the ducks and chill no stress days! This is duck heaven!
How clever; I love this!
Great video and info
Thank you!
Our climate is similar to yours. We have BSF in the summer and worms in the cooler months. We just keep a bag of dormant BSF in the garage and release them in the spring.
Great idea!
Awesome work
Ducks love grubs too, would love seeing you breed other types of bugs too!
I'm quite amazed that the worm population manages to survive despite the ducks constantly hunting for them. You say you move the ducks to the other side. If you didn't do you think they would wipe the worms out?
This was surprising to us too! The worms live deep and multiply fast
Is it safe for the ducks to eat from their own manure compost?
Great question. We'll definitely do another video about this. The worms kill off pathogens when they process the manure. What is left is a clean and safe compost which also comes with beneficial microbes. The worm make a very healthy environment for the ducks.
In regards to the ducks eating the worms. Regulations will not like the fact - but to us it's clear the ducks are healthier than ever
@@parccarreg The vibrant composting environment would clean a lot, it is just the nagging feeling the loop is so tight. We'll find out together I suppose but they look healthy.
They have lived that way before humans interfered. I dont see how its a problem. They havent gone extinct due to anything that feeds on manure...
what about hemp seed? Shat grows like mad, and you could just grow out pollinated swag for piles of seeds
Nice to see an update
Regarding black soldier fly, there are many videos on free greenhouse heating using compost and water heat sinks, that may be a solution
Great video 🇳🇿🪱
Great story.
Please give us the average summer high temp & average winter low temp for your area.
Great job God Bless
This is so freaking cool :D
What's kind of the worms?
red wigglers
I would save you worms for more compost or sell your worms. Raise black soldier fly larvae for bird feed as they grow quick and you can grow a lot of weight fast compared to compost worms
Red wrigglers or earth worms? Awesome
Both :)
As in Red Wiggler (they are technically earthworms but don't live in the soil but on the top layers)
Have you sent there fresh poop to get tested for infection loads. I would think it has to be pretty small. I wish that your country had a SARE program like the USA and got grants. I bet you could get a lot grant money running various tests. As the UK is no longer in the EU duck reering is honestly more effective for small and meduim farms than chickens. I really wish the xmas goose and the easter duck was really brought back to people tables. fungus is more important in certain parts o fthe USA it's to the point that certain worms are actually invasie. We have very few native worm populations. At the same time I always think of compost worms as the best good.
Yes we have tested the compost and it was clear of pathogens (salmonella and e coli). I would like to do further testing and plan to make a video about this
Genius!
Make a movable pen for them
Great idea 🤣
Why would you look for protein sources when you have worms. Slab heating would totally stabilize things in cold months
If you fail at Earthworms, you get Soldier flies. You might not want to break a system that isn't broken..
Do you have to keep your ducks hungry in order to get your ducks to eat the worms?
Nope, they prefer worms to their store bought feed!
Ducks also love shellfish apart from worms.
Worms reproduce linearly not exponentially.
They can indeed be exponential in the right conditions. In the right conditions, your worm population could double every 30-60 days.
A mature red wiggler worm can produce 2-3 cocoons per week, with an average of 4-6 worms per cocoon. Baby worms hatch from the cocoons in about 30 days and reach sexual maturity in about 90 days.
Great work. I don't know whether this helps, ua-cam.com/video/JGxSDhnvUUc/v-deo.htmlsi=a5zwj4lk3gfa86Er maybe it's could be integrated and create an additional revenue - a base material for those who want to make it even. Instead of plastic pipe, I used cardboard pipe from carpet stores. I'm guessing your adding a grit for the worms, finely ground egg shell. Maybe a bag of calcium sulphate. Hope you carry on going from strength to strength 😊. Have you come across Jodie Roebuck, like you he's into stacking functions.
Hey thanks for the link to the video. I always found the johnson su method it to be too small scale and labour intensive. But seeing this video was interesting because they've done it at scale. But it's still labour and resource intensive (all the pipe etc). Also you can't put livestock on top of that. They are very concerned about keeping things aerated. We are not so much - because 1) the worms aerate for us. 2) Any anaerobic areas are managed by bokashi inoculant. I didn't go into this detail in the video but it's an important point. So let the worms and the fungi do all the work instead of a complex mechanical areated system.
As it's not really the topic of the video you don't touch on this, but since this has been a topic of demonization and intentional misinformation or misdirection in the past and present, it's important to note that Soy is not inherently a bad protein source. For *human* consumption, just like any other legume, it's a wonderful and land-efficient way to provide important nutrients. Soy is, in that regard, one of the best crops we could possibly grow.
The global problems relating to ecological issues like deforestation are in the *incredible* inefficiency of converting soy-based (or any other for that matter) feed to for-human-consumption meat, dairy and egg products (with meat, as usual, being by far the worst). Less than 10% of soy grown world-wide is used as a direct food source. Even products used in processed food or other products, such as soy oil used in cosmetics etc., are simply a side-product from the feed industry.
So don't hesitate to buy soy products for your own consumption in the supermarket. Those are a good choice. If you want to make an impact, choose to cut out or reduce your indirect consumption of soy. That is, animal products. Doesn't mean you don't have to eat them at all. Just means you should be aware of it when making purchasing decisions.
doesnt grow in the UK so is an imported monocrop, not the best.
So lovely but I can't touch it.
Commenting for algo
🤗
Boo Hindi dubbed
Glad to hear. Was the translation ok?
Dommage cette voix virtuelle ça fait pas naturel sinon chouette tout ces vers
It's a real voice! Still improving my narration skills
Breeding yes, Raising no. (depends on how you define it)
We're doing both, technically. They eat the baby worms too, but not all of them
loose the music
Good job mate, great idea!
Sheeps milk, is another thing you can use to make cheese and drinks with, or ice cream ect
Meet aaron sheep extraordinaire
ua-cam.com/video/4gEczsNlkGM/v-deo.htmlsi=fTjvtcLQUiGYsTh-
We love Aaron! Been watching him for a while.