Florida blue crab for chickens

[lunacutie123]

Can i give my chickens cooked non seasoned florida blue crab? Ill be going out in October in my boat with some traps to catch Blue crab. Should i grind them up for them or give it to them whole? Can they eat the gills or just the meat from the claws ?

 

[swamphiker]

I'll bet they would love it! I've given my chickens shellfish and crab scraps before, they go nuts to have at it. I think they would eat nearly any part of it, but they would have trouble accessing the meat if you left it whole.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

ABSOLUTELY YES.
Its lean animal protein. Very good for chickens, you don't need to shell it either.

It might help to break the larger pieces - assuming you left any. A hammer will do.

and if you have that much spare blue crab....

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Sounds like a great use for "leftovers" and I agree a great protein and calcium source for your flock.

I'm on vacation this week at a lake in New Hampshire. The lake is beautiful, but full of freshwater mussels. If I had a lake like this near home I'd be harvesting mussels for chicken feed and calcium by the bucketful!