Okay, I've got these three little hens. They spend much of their day running around in my yard, pecking and scratching and annoying the cats. Of course I give them their regular chicken food, but they also eat stuff they find for themselves, like bugs and plants, and worms. Matter of fact, they love to eat worms!

HOWEVER, recently I found out that there is some kind of dread disease which chickens can get from eating worms. (Gapeworm, it's called.) Now everyone realizes that free ranging is good for chickens, despite certain inherent risks, among them gapeworm. So I'm not tempted to keep my chickens cooped up on that account.

But my question is, does anyone know whether worms that are born and raised indoors in a worm bin pose the same risk to chickens if they eat them? 'Cause there are always a few laggard worms in the vermicompost, and I like watching the chickens go nuts catching them and eating them. It's good nutrition for them if they don't get this gapeworm.

Maybe only "wild" worms can have this disease, or maybe it's just as likely to be present in a worm bin.

Anyone know?

Thanks.

mbetts