Raising cockroaches for chickens

[Thoughtless]

My wife and I have been raising chickens for a few years, trying to find the best way to take care of them. We currently raise wheat and sunflower seeds for 7 days in trays to feed them as well as regular chicken food. We have a lot of out door palmeto bugs around here. But chickens are daylight animals and the roaches are nocturnal. I can keep the population of bugs down a little by trapping them at night and feeding them to the chickens during the day. It seems like raising them would be an easy thing to do, but apparently not too many people think so. If you have suggestions, I would be interested.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Thoughtless, and . Great to have you in our community! I know when I lift a old board or piece of plywood outside, my chickens make short work of the roaches that scurry for cover. Don't know why it wouldn't work to raise and feed them to the chickens. Keep us posted and best of luck with the "roach farm."

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Here are some threads on roaches that I'm sure you will find helpful ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=Roaches#

Good luck with the roach farm and enjoy BYC

 

[sunflour]

So glad you decided to post your intro here....told ya, you would get a proper welcoming

Yes, I'm one of the folks who shudders at raising Palmetto bugs AKA cockroaches, but bet my hens wish I would

Good luck with your Roach Farming

 

[CuzChickens]

Welcome to Backyard chickens!! I hope you enjoy it and the camaraderie here and everybody that goes nuts over chickens (me being one of them....) Have fun! And ask questions! Interesting...I have heard of farming mealworms, but never roaches. Have fun with them.

 

[Pork Pie]

Welcome to BYC. I don't see any reason why it should not work, but those bugs make my skin crawl - you are obviously made of sterner stuff, so good luck to you.

CT

 

[drumstick diva]

Slightly less creepy are mealworms - most chickens seem to really like them. Personally I don't want any of that near me

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Thoughtless]

I appreciate all the delightful responses. I know, roaches are creepy, but just try to explain that to my ladies. They consider them the height of a gourmet meal.

 

[QueenMisha]

Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you. I don't see any reason cockroaches wouldn't be a great treat for them! I used to have Madagascar Hissers as pets when I was younger, but those things were so big I don't think they'd be easy for birds to eat. Also, I think I'd have felt bad feeding those guys to my chickens! I had them named and everything.