DemeterAD9
Chirping
- Mar 21, 2024
- 69
- 101
- 73
I am probably getting ahead of myself as I currently do not have any birds (impatiently waiting for eggs to hatch) but I'm trying to plan ahead for when my future chicks are turning into young adults. I fish and hunt a lot so there is often carcasses and scraps of this and that. Chickens will eat almost anything, even if it isn't good for them so I want to know what is a no-go before I end up finding out for myself. Sounds like the accepted protein ration for laying hens in 16% but do correctly me if I'm wrong. And sorry, this will be a bit of read but I want to cover all my bases.
I intend to offer a proper laying or at least flock raiser feed as the staple diet (there will most likely by many roosters to start with). Oyster shells will be provided once the main flock has been selected or when hens start laying. They will be left to free range for at least 5hrs a day if not longer so they will be eating whatever they find, hopefully all the June bugs because they freak me out when they fly.
Of course they will get all manner of table scraps but what I'm wondering about is meat. Come fall/winter there will be deer scraps (lots of fat, silver skin, blood shot meat etc), come spring/summer there will be fish carcasses. Sometimes I trap coon and I can only eat so much coon before I'm tired of it. Then there's wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, ground hog... pretty much anything Michigan has to offer in terms of wild game with the acceptation of canines and the weasel family.
Organs are probably a no go, specifically the digestive tract as that is where the worms will be. We eat the hearts but what about liver (deer)? Skin/fur/feathers of course will be discarded too. Is the raw meat okay, like the bones and rib cage of a deer? Should it be frozen for a while or even boiled to kill any other parasites? What about fish scraps or minnows that croaked before I got to use them but are still fresh? I've seen videos of people tossing their fish scraps right into the coop but I worry about tape worms because I know darn well many of the pike, bass, and walleye we catch have tape worms in their gut. Would a preventative treatment in the water be advisable for intestinal worms?
How much protein is too much and what are the signs of too much protein in the birds?
I intend to offer a proper laying or at least flock raiser feed as the staple diet (there will most likely by many roosters to start with). Oyster shells will be provided once the main flock has been selected or when hens start laying. They will be left to free range for at least 5hrs a day if not longer so they will be eating whatever they find, hopefully all the June bugs because they freak me out when they fly.
Of course they will get all manner of table scraps but what I'm wondering about is meat. Come fall/winter there will be deer scraps (lots of fat, silver skin, blood shot meat etc), come spring/summer there will be fish carcasses. Sometimes I trap coon and I can only eat so much coon before I'm tired of it. Then there's wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, ground hog... pretty much anything Michigan has to offer in terms of wild game with the acceptation of canines and the weasel family.
Organs are probably a no go, specifically the digestive tract as that is where the worms will be. We eat the hearts but what about liver (deer)? Skin/fur/feathers of course will be discarded too. Is the raw meat okay, like the bones and rib cage of a deer? Should it be frozen for a while or even boiled to kill any other parasites? What about fish scraps or minnows that croaked before I got to use them but are still fresh? I've seen videos of people tossing their fish scraps right into the coop but I worry about tape worms because I know darn well many of the pike, bass, and walleye we catch have tape worms in their gut. Would a preventative treatment in the water be advisable for intestinal worms?
How much protein is too much and what are the signs of too much protein in the birds?
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