Hen Chronicles: The ethics of turning worms into snacks

I haven’t lost sleep over this, but it is an interesting ethics question.

The other day, I was digging up a garden bed that happens to be located only a few feet from our chicken coop. Snow and Nala, our Plymouth Rocks, watched me intently from their pen, as they always do whenever I show up in their corner of the yard. They are convinced the only reason I exist is to give them snacks.

All that digging after several days of rainy weather turned up plenty of worms. Knowing how much “the girls” love worms, I periodically tossed one toward the wire-covered pen, where the critter sailed through the chicken wire or got caught atop the pen. Either way, it was immediately devoured by one of the hens, who snagged it off the ground or jumped up to yank it from the wiring above.

After a few minutes of intermittent flinging, I got to thinking about my behavior. Generally speaking, my attitude toward what we humans like to call the lower life forms is one of tolerance. Unless a bug, such as a mosquito, is bothering me, I won’t bother it. When I spot a spider in the cellar, I let it go about its business. I would never think to swat or kill an insect in the backyard, unless it had declared war.

Live and let live.

So how can I justify throwing worms to their death? The chickens don’t have to eat them to survive. And there’s certainly no good reason to remove them from the garden. Quite the opposite, because worms aerate the soil.

Sure, fishermen bait hooks with worms, but they do so to catch fish. I’m not trying to catch the hens; they’re already cooped up, as it were. Moreover, there are plenty of alternatives to worms in the treats department: yogurt, bread, fruit, dandelion greens, sprouts, etc. Chickens love all that stuff, and much more.

Perhaps this is just one of those conundrums that it’s best not to overthink. The worms die quickly, after all. And the hens are happy. Yet my conscience nags. Feeding live worms to chickens strikes me as inconsistent with my normal attitude toward the more lowly creatures that surround us.

Maybe I should give up gardening. You know, to avoid temptation!