Composting quail poo in wormery

Bird poo is incredibly rich in nitrogen and ammonia, so not suitable to applying directly into my garden. So I was thinking of composting quail poo in my wormeries (composting worms or tiger worms). I compost most of my kitchen, garden and cardboard waste in wormeries which gives me incredible compost for my garden and some lovely worms that my tropical fish enjoy occasionally (I give my small fish the baby earth worms and white worms, while my large loaches fight over full grown worms).

Does anyone know of whether I can add quail poo to my wormeries? Has anyone had experience of this and any suggestions?

I know it's not advisable to feed earthworms that may have consumed quail poo back to quails, but can I still feed the worms to my tropical fish if they may have consumed some quail poo? Are there pathogens that can be transferred from birds-worm-fish? I could always keep a separate wormery for my fish, but there is always the danger of some inadvertent cross contamination.

Cheers,
Andy

Gee i have no idea, all my quail waste goes in the grey compost bin supplied by the council and they are happy to take it away.

I am incredibly scared of worms so there is no way i could even think about a wormery

I definitely recommend a wormery (or
vermicomposting) if you can get over your squeamishness Batty. I used to be a
bit squeamish and wouldn't touch the composting worms, but have no problems
handling them now. They are sensitive to light, so they hide in the compost and
you hardly ever see them unless you dig them up. They are as clean as the food
you feed them. I feed them lots of cardboard and plant matter (I never put any
meat). If you try to garden organically, it is absolutely brilliant. I use the
liquid from my wormeries as plant tonic to help put trace elements back into my
soil. And live food like worms is essential if you breed fish like I do
(however not all fish can cope with large worms and indeed some can choke on
it).

I read somewhere that earthworms and composting worms can carry/pass parasitic
worms to/from birds (for lack of a better name). Worm is a very generic name
for small elongated creatures, but earthworms and composting worms are
fantastic creatures. Terrestrial life would not exist as we know it without
them.


Queue African drums and Elton John: ... "circle of life"...

Sounds fab, but my Dad is to blame for my fear of worms. It was in the 70's i remember coz i was wearing flares and a tiger t-shirt (see its stuck in my memory) My Dad was working on his allotment and i was digging a hole, he stuck a work down my t-shirt which was tucked into my jeans and i had to run home to Mum so she could get it out. See scared for life!!!!!!

Not sure about wormery. I pu tmine in a normal composter

Ditto - all my poultry bedding goes into my big composting 'bins' up my allotment along with the horse and pig manure - now that is rich!

This is a great idea! :?: question still remains "will da worms eat it"

I guess if it is mixed with their bedding they will - as there will be more bedding than quail poo!

I have on occasion bought some sacks of horse manure that was still a bit raw and hadn’t quite rotted down completely. So I’ve added it to my wormeries to process further. The worms thrived in it.

My little booklet of Eathworm Feeds and Feeding says “the natural manure is attractive to worms because of the fact that vegetable material is found here concentrated into the most nourishing form. It has been pre-digested and ground to a fine powder. It has natural moisture retaining qualities and many enzymes and antibiotic products are inherent in it. It is not that it is manure as such that makes it attractive to worms, but the left-over products of animal digestion are nature’s finest source of worm food”

The main issue with a wormery is that you have to make sure it doesn’t become to acidic. So I avoid adding anything too acidic, balance it out with more fibre (cardboard is ideal) and sometimes add light dusting of crushed limestone, crushed oyster shell or even crushed egg shells if I notice a slight acidic smell. The wormery should smell sweet, if it starts to smell a bit foul it’s probably a bit too acidic.

I guess, I'll experiment with a small amount at a time and keep separate worm cultures for my fish food.

p.s. Batty are you suing your dad for mental distress?

Ruddy well should do, he's a lovely Dad but a menace to say the least, he shut me in the aviary too when i was little hence the fear of birds Good job i have a sense of humour!!!

Huggles
Batty XxX