Chestnuts for the chickens

I got a batch of wormy chestnuts that the fruit stand was going to throw out, thinking that the nuts would be perfect for my flock.  After a quick bang with the hammer to crack the shell, I tossed a handful to the chickens, and was disappointed to see the nuts being largely ignored.

Since my compost pile is currently in the chicken pasture, I poured all of the chestnuts there to dispose of them.  And suddenly my hens got excited!  They pecked up all of the plump grubs that had come out of the nuts and then looked up at me, waiting for more.

Although I have to consider chestnuts a failure as chicken feed, my flock's behavior makes me wonder if there might be some way of using chestnuts as part of an insect farm?