Earthworms as a Poultry Feed in Ghana

The worm bed that looked like a success until the rain came

We hear the same story from farmers who start a worm bed on the back of a good idea. The bed is full of dark, glossy castings in the dry season, the worms are fat, and the farmer starts planning the meal sales. Then the first heavy rain of the season fills the box, the bottom of the bed turns to soup, and by the next morning the worms are on the surface, drowning, or gone. The bed was never wrong about the worms. It was wrong about the water.

That is the first lesson of earthworm farming in Ghana. The worms are easy to keep when the bed is right, and the bed has to be designed for the rain and the sun, not for the good months alone. The rest of this article covers the design, the feed, the meal, the nutrients and the parasite risks, in the order you will need them. For the wider set of cheaper protein options, see our cheap feed alternatives guide.

Which worm to farm in a Ghana climate

Two species dominate small worm farming, and they do not behave the same way in heat. The common red wiggler, Eisenia fetida, is the worm most farm guides describe. It breeds quickly and tolerates a fair range of conditions, but it prefers cooler beds and suffers when the bed heats up in the middle of the day. The African nightcrawler, Eudrilus eugeniae, is a tropical species that handles warmth better and is often used in hot climates. Its castings and its meal are similar, and its bed needs the same care for moisture and shade.

Buy starter stock from a source that can tell you the species and the age. Do not collect worms from your yard, from a drain or from a damp pen to start a bed. Wild worms can carry the larvae of poultry worms, and you will be building a bed on a source of parasites before you have started the meal. A clean starter stock, kept in a closed bed, is the safer start.

Species choice is a climate question first. If your bed sits in full sun most of the day, pick the tropical species and put the bed under cover. If your bed is in a cool, shaded shed, the red wiggler may give you a steady stock with less fuss. Write the species on the bed label, because the feeding and watering rules change with it.

A worm bed with shade, drainage and a lid

A worm bed does not need much room, but it needs the right conditions. A shallow box or raised bed about 30 centimetres deep, with a drainage hole in the base and a cover over the top, is enough for a small flock's meal. The base should sit on a layer of gravel or coarse sand so that excess water runs away rather than pooling. Set the bed on bricks so that air moves underneath and rats cannot reach the bottom easily.

Put a roof over the bed, even a simple one of palm fronds or old sheeting, and keep the sides open for air. Full sun dries the bed in hours and cooks the top layer. A lid of mesh keeps out birds, rats and flies, and it lets the bed breathe. The bed should be moist to the touch, like a wrung-out sponge. It should never sit in water or dry out to dust.

Place the bed well away from the chicks, the brooder, the feed store and the birds' path. Birds that scratch at a worm bed will break it open, eat the worms and pick up any parasites the bed carries. A fence around the bed is cheap insurance.

What goes in the bed, and what must stay out

Earthworms eat decomposing organic matter, and they do best on aged cattle manure mixed with dry leaves or shredded paper for bulk. Age the manure for several weeks before it goes into the bed, turning it so that the heat dies down and the ammonia escapes. Fresh manure heats up, releases ammonia and kills the worms it is meant to feed. If the bed smells like a latrine, the manure was not aged long enough.

Keep several things out of the bed. Meat, fish, dairy and oily food go bad and bring flies and smells. Large amounts of citrus and onion are harsh on the worms. Poultry manure from your own houses is a particular problem, because it carries parasite eggs and bacteria, and if your birds have been treated with medicine, the residues can reach the worms and then the meal. Ask your vet about the withdrawal period for any treatment before you let that manure near a worm bed.

• Use aged cattle manure as the main feed, aged for several weeks.
• Mix in dry leaves or shredded paper for bulk and airflow.
• Add a little water as you feed so the bed stays moist, not wet.
• Leave out meat, fish, dairy, oil, citrus and onion.
• Do not add poultry manure from your own houses, or manure from any bird under treatment.

Harvesting worms without tipping the bed

When the bed is ready to harvest, the worms and the castings are mixed together, and you need to separate them without losing the stock. The simplest method is migration. Stop watering the side you want to harvest, put fresh aged manure on the opposite side, and leave the bed for a few days. The worms move towards the food, and you can scrape off the old side and sieve the castings out of what you take.

Sieve the harvest through a coarse mesh to remove the castings and any debris, then pick the worms by hand or with a shallow tray. Do not take every worm from the bed, because a bed needs a breeding stock to keep producing. Leave a good share behind and start the cycle again. Keep the harvest in a clean, cool container, and kill and dry it the same day.

The castings are a useful side product for a garden, but they are not part of the meal. Keep them separate from the feed records so that nobody mixes a castings bag into the mash.

Turning worms into meal: killing, drying and grinding

Live worms must not reach the birds. The meal process has two jobs: kill the worms completely, which stops them from carrying any live parasite stages into the flock, and dry them until they are stable enough to store. Heat is the step that matters most. Plunge the harvest into boiling water for a short, timed spell, or dry it in an oven or a dryer at a temperature that cooks the worms through. Do not rely on sun drying alone for the kill, because the centre of a damp pile can stay cool and alive.

After the kill, dry the worms on clean mesh raised off the ground until they crumble when pressed. Cover the drying tray with fine netting, because flies find dried worms as quickly as they find fresh ones. Grind the dried material to a fine meal, sieve it, and store it sealed in a dry container away from the feed bags. Label each batch with the date and the source, and keep the batch record with the flock file.

Test a sample from each batch for dryness before you store it. A meal that feels damp or smells sour in the store has been stored too soon, and it will mould before you use it. Throw out any batch with mould, and do not try to rescue it by mixing it into a fresh batch.

Protein, calcium and where the meal fits

Dried earthworm meal is valued for its protein and its amino acid balance, and it does a useful job as a protein supplement. The numbers below are rough ranges from common feed references, not guarantees for your batch. Your own lab analysis is the figure to use.

The table makes the point that the worm meal is a protein ingredient, not a calcium ingredient. If you are rebuilding the whole ration, our feed formulation basics shows how the protein and calcium lines fit together. A layer ration that swaps soya for worm meal still needs oyster shell or another calcium source, or the shells will weaken. Keep the calcium plan on paper, and check it each time you change the protein.

The protein quality also depends on the species, the substrate and the drying. Ask for a lab analysis of crude protein, fat, moisture, ash and calcium for each batch. A batch that tests well on protein but poorly on dryness is not a feed you should use.

Inclusion: a worked example for 100 birds

Start at about three per cent of the mash for adult birds. Take 100 birds eating about 110 grams of mash each a day. That is 11 kg of mash daily. Three per cent of 11 kg is 330 grams of dried worm meal a day, or roughly 10 kg a month. Before you commit to that volume, work out how much fresh material the bed needs to produce 10 kg of dried meal, and whether the bed can keep up with the flock without gaps.

In most small beds the answer is that the meal is a supplement, not the main protein. A bed that runs well can cover part of the protein for a small flock, and a bed that stalls every few weeks is not worth the trouble. Work out the monthly need first, then decide how many beds you need.

Watch the birds during the first two weeks at the new share. Feed intake, droppings, feather cover and the weight of a sample bird tell you whether the meal is working. If intake drops or the droppings loosen, reduce the share, check the batch, and try again only after the birds settle.

The parasite risk that a live worm can carry

The biggest health risk in worm farming is not the worm itself. It is the parasite that uses the worm as a middle host. Some poultry worms have part of their life cycle in earthworms, and a bird that eats an infected worm can pick up the parasite. Gapeworm and some roundworm species use this route. Our gapeworm guide explains the signs and the usual causes, and our worm and deworming guide sets out the general routine, and our roundworm guide covers the other route. A worm farm is a place where you deliberately keep the middle host, so the risk is now on your own farm.

The rule for the meal is simple. Every worm is killed and dried before it reaches the feed, and no live worm is ever given to the flock. A bed kept closed, fenced and away from birds is the first defence, and a clean starter stock is the second. Your vet's worm programme is the third, and it should run on the same calendar as the worm meal, not on a separate one.

Keep the worm bed out of the birds' range. Free-range flocks are the group most exposed, which is why our free-range feeding guide treats ground foraging with some care. Birds that scratch at the bed or break into it will eat worms that have been living in manure, and that is the moment a parasite passes from the bed to the flock. Look at the worm bed as part of the biosecurity plan, not as a separate project.

Metals, drug residues and the manure you bring in

Some manures carry heavy metals, especially where animals have been fed mineral supplements or where the land has been used for other industries. Metals build up in the worms and then in the meal. You cannot see them in the bed, so ask where the manure came from and whether the animals were on any treatment that might leave a residue. Keep a note of the source for every load of manure you bring in.

Drug residues are the second concern. If an animal has been treated with a medicine, the residue can pass into the manure and then into the worms. The safe rule is to keep manure from treated animals out of the bed until the withdrawal period has passed, and to check that period with your vet. Do not guess it from the packet alone.

Keep a simple intake record for the manure: the date, the source, the animal type and any treatment you know about. If a problem shows up in the flock months later, that record is the only way to trace the feed back to its source.

Harmattan dust and rainy-season floods in the bed

The harmattan dries the bed faster than most farmers expect. Dust settles on the top layer, the moisture drops, and the worms burrow deep and stop feeding. Cover the bed with dry banana leaves or a light sheet, water it lightly in the early morning, and check the moisture with your hand every few days. A bed that is too dry will look fine on the surface and be dead underneath.

The rains bring the opposite problem. Standing water kills worms quickly, and a heavy downpour can flood a shallow bed in an hour. Make sure the drainage hole is clear, raise the bed if the ground around it floods, and move the cover so that rain runs off rather than into the box. After a storm, check the bottom of the bed and lift any dead worms before they start to smell.

Write down the rainfall and the moisture each week. The record shows you which seasons need extra cover and which need extra drainage, and it saves you from learning the same lesson twice.

Checklist before you feed the first batch of meal

Work through this list before any dried meal goes into a mash. A missing item is a reason to wait. If a question here is not covered by our FAQ, ask us before you start.

1. Choose a worm species that suits your bed's temperature and shade.
2. Buy clean starter stock from a source that names the species and the age.
3. Build the bed with drainage, shade, a lid and a fence against birds.
4. Age the manure for several weeks, and keep poultry manure and treated-animal manure out.
5. Kill every harvest by heat, dry it fully, and store it sealed and dry.
6. Get a lab analysis of crude protein, fat, moisture, ash and calcium for the first batch.
7. Agree a calcium source for layers and a worm programme with your vet before you change the ration.

Where Halaal Farms fits alongside a worm bed

Halaal Farms is a day-old chicks hatchery in Opeikuma, Kasoa, and we do not sell worms or worm meal. A worm bed is a feed project that sits on top of the flock you keep. While you build your beds and get the meal right, we can stock your chicken side, so the birds are ready for the feed when the first batch is dry.

Our layer day-old chicks and broiler day-old chicks come in ventilated boxes of 50, and you can start from our order form. Ask us about delivery to your region, and read our Kasoa page if you are close to the hatchery. Message +233 24 915 1503 on WhatsApp to talk through the chicks and the timing.

Questions farmers ask