Savng Offal and Feeding to Next Batch of Chickens

[KCMOLisa]

Okay, I know this sounds really gross, but I have read that a lot of people feed the offal from butchering their meat birds back to their laying chickens or their dogs. I have been looking into alternative methods to feed my meat chickens since commercial feed is getting so expensive. I'm looking into fodder and fermented feed.

What do you guys think about freezing the offal from my first batch of meat chickens and using it as part of the feed for my next batch? Besides the yuck factor, do you think it would work? I won't have any laying chickens until spring and it seems like I might as well use the whole chicken to get maximum value out of it.

Also, I'm brand new to chickens, so what age can you start feeding them stuff like meat scraps and veggies?

 

[rc4u]

no reason you cant.just cook them up and save that way...and i would start at 4 weeks and as supplement or treats every day...

 

[CrazyTalk]

I think you're better off, long term, feeding them to the dogs.


I'd be worried about prion diseases if I was continually feeding one generation of chickens the previous one's guts/etc. They're less common in birds than mammals, but they exist.