decided to make a moggot bucket

[chickenbottom]

your welcome

 

[Davaroo]

interesting, in a weird sort of way. Certainly a good way to see the use of otherwise waste products.

Are the remains compostable after the flies get done with them?

 

[chickenbottom]

i personally think its a great idea why waist money buying them when you can grow them yourself and you never really know what dead animal the store uses

lol i think i might do this for mine since they love em

 

[rainbowgardens]

I got to see Harvey Usserys buckets when I attended one of his conferences. He isn't at all concerned about any disease in them.
He said that smell isn't much of a problem when you line the bucket with a thick layer of straw.
I would love to do this for the free protein, but since my hens free-range without electronet to keep out preditors, I would worry that the foxes we see on rare occasions in the evening would get more bold.

By the way, my girls love to dig through the compost bin for the maggots that we get when it's been real wet. I've never had a problem with sick birds.

 

[Garden Gal]

The info at the bottom of this post is from the site which gives details on making the maggot buckets and addresses the potential disease issue pretty well.

I also want to point out that we are more than happy and excited about raising meal worms - which are just another "maggot" stage of life in a beetle. I do understand the rather macabre nature of maggots and decaying flesh, however, if chickens love to eat them, they are healthy for our birds and can be easily and inexpensively "generated" - why the "OMG!!!" ??

It may not be for everyone, especially those who don't recycle their chickens, but once I read the article I wasn't grossed out at all. It is informative!

Just one more example of how Mother Nature works to provide food and life for all the creatures... even the gross ones.

"Naturally my reader, however dedicated to the ideal of self-sufficiency, will worry about the potential for generating disease out of carrion worked by maggots. I am duty bound to pass on industrial-strength warnings I’ve received to that effect: There is a condition the old-timers called “limberneck,” which turns out to be paralysis caused by botulin poisoning. My friends who warned me about limberneck insisted that it could be caused by maggots ingested by chickens from any source. However, in all the links they sent, the references actually described the condition associated only with spilled feed which had become wet, had soured and begun working with maggots, and then been consumed by the birds. Sounds to me as if the botulism bacterium was growing in the soured feed mash, not in the maggots. In any case, I have always avoided using a grain mash as a maggot breeding substrate. However, I fed carrion-bred fly larvae the entire fly season last year, and this season I have honestly lost track of the number of beaver carcasses I’ve put through my buckets—and I have not had a hint of a disease problem. Neither has my longtime mentor Joel Salatin, who follows beef cattle on his pastures with a big flock of laying hens, who scratch apart the cowpies for the maggots growing in them. Based on such solid experience, I conclude that the homestead flock owner need not fear disease if he chooses to tap into this rich source of free protein."

 

[bethandjoeync]

this is a great idea, and I am all for free food for the chickens...but I just don't know if I can hold the barf down when seeing the squirming little things. I am sure the girls would love them though...and it would be a great way to "recycle" meats and such. like I said, I just don't know if I can "man-up" (beth typing) and stomach the sight.

I haven't gone through the link yet, but I am wondering...how much protein will they actually get, if there were a substantial buffet of the little squirmers?? I am going to check out the link now, to see more info.

editting after reading the info in the link
after reading all that was on that page, it doesn't look so bad I guess. but I don't think we will do this, and if we do we might try a smaller bucket...our run is only but so big. but we have to think of the neighbors as well, and ourselves, because the coop and run are not far past the back porch. but it is something to consider

 

[dirtfishing1]

Well it looks like it has done its thing already. just a very few dropping out today. Still has a odor when you get right up to it. (about 10-12 feet away.) I will let it sit till Wednesday and take it down and clean it out. Smell really was not bad at all. Whole thing ran only about 48 hours. The chickens even dug small holes in the ground under the bucket to get at the ones that fell overnight. I had zero issues with other animals getting to it. I like using this but I will reserve only for recycling the left over butchering scraps and will not use for pest kills for now. All in all I am glad I tried it.

Dirt

 

[chickabee5]

When my barn cats don't finish their canned food, here are squirmy like things in the bowl. I assume these are maggots but I have been afraid to give them to the chickens....what do you think?

 

[Madcap621]

In another life,I was a nurse. At the risk of grossing someone out, sterile maggots were available to debride dead tissue in bed sores, etc. [NOTE: this was 'back in the day' - we also cleaned and sharpened needles and used glass syringes,] They did a great job as they only eat dead tissue. No telling how many cases of gangrene were prevented!

Madcap621

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Harvey wrote a sidebar in the last issue of Backyard Poultry, -Revisiting "Protein From Thin Air"-

He said that although he had used this alternative means for years, he recently lost several birds to what he believed to be botulism. He wanted to warn readers about the recent problems he had. He said he has not given up on the idea completely, but has suspended the use of his maggot buckets for now.



----Oh , just followed the link and his warning was there. Carry on....