Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Yard full o' rocks]

What are you using for animal protein? I am having trouble finding feed with animal protein in it. I'm down in Tucson. Even the game bird feed here is plant-based protein. Bought a bag of fish meal to add in to the feed I'm getting and read the label when I got home - it has 600 parts per million of ethoxyquine. Apparently that is typical for fish meal. The limit for ethoxyquine in poultry meat is 3 ppm. So I'm not sure I want to feed the fish meal to the birds, even if it's diluted into small doses. And I don't generate enough meat scraps to make a difference in their diet. It's a dilemma.

MagicChicken

Do you have a large grocery store (one with a butcher shop in it) near you? I "made good friends" with the butcher at one of my local stores and he will save scraps and fat from meat that he cuts....sometimes I have to buy it (cheap, cheap!!), sometimes its free (I think it depends on which boss is there that day, LOL). They can generate MANY pounds in a day from trimming roasts, steaks, etc. I get both the beef and the pork scraps

I bring it home and cook it on a cookie sheet in the broiler, let cool and place in baggies to be frozen. I'll feed them a "cup full" every couple of days. I also subsidize with venison as well since we normally have it in the freezer. Any "year old" meat, becomes food for the birds

Just a few thoughts

 

[Wynette]

Scott, interesting! Thanks for sharing this. May I ask, why do you cook the meat first?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Scott, interesting! Thanks for sharing this. May I ask, why do you cook the meat first?

It's my OCD coming out....fear of them getting something from raw meat (especially salmonella), not knowing how long it was sitting out before refrigerated, etc, etc.....I'm a little "weird that way"

I do know some folks that do the same thing I do and feed it to their birds raw...

 

[cbnovick]

It's my OCD coming out....fear of them getting something from raw meat (especially salmonella), not knowing how long it was sitting out before refrigerated, etc, etc.....I'm a little "weird that way"

I do know some folks that do the same thing I do and feed it to their birds raw...

X 2

I always feed my birds cooked meats...for the same reasons as Scott...better safe than sorry...sometimes i just throw the meat in a stock pot and boil it a bit too...easy peasy !!! Freezing extra portions is handy too...I also feed mine lots of meal worms...50% protein and 25% fat...love that ratio for supplementing birds. i buy the Kaytee brand as it is most economical and my birds prefer those over any other brand. many BYC'ers grow their own to offset cost...I don't have a huge flock so buying them works out okay for me. I also 'free range' my birds but there's not as many bugs etc etc. for them...I do it for exercise and grass benefits...in addition to the animal protein I offer a flake of real leafy quality/clean alfalfa in their coop...they keep busy scratching through it for leaves...and it can help 'yellow up' their legs as a bonus.

 

[Wynette]

ah, I see. Everyone has their comfort level.

I always freeze it first, then unthaw as needed. This way, the freezing process kills off just about everything I don't want them to have....I hope.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

ah, I see. Everyone has their comfort level.

I always freeze it first, then unthaw as needed. This way, the freezing process kills off just about everything I don't want them to have....I hope.

Wynette

BE CAREFUL with Wild Game and Pork products as freezing will not kill off all the worms/parasites that can lead to trichinosis

Edited to say: "this is per the CDC....since they are a part of the gov't, I can't validate that its 100% true", LOL

 

[Fred's Hens]

ah, I see. Everyone has their comfort level.

I always freeze it first, then unthaw as needed. This way, the freezing process kills off just about everything I don't want them to have....I hope.

Michiganeese for those who may be confused. Thaw and unthaw have the same purpose. Unthaw is not to freeze again, in spite of the apparent contradiction.

OK, I brace myself for a major slap. Wyn is my friend, in case you don't know it, y'all. Hilarious.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Michiganeese for those who may be confused. Thaw and unthaw have the same purpose. Unthaw is not to freeze again, in spite of the apparent contradiction.

OK, I brace myself for a major slap. Wyn is my friend, in case you don't know it, y'all. Hilarious.

Well DANG.....and I thought all along "unthaw" was just Southernese slang...I guess down here its more like "we're fixin' to unthaw"

 

[cbnovick]

Roebuck's LF Buff Rock eggs arrived in good shape on 5/30 at 10am ...they shipped on the 29th from VA...pretty good turnaround time I'd say...air cells appear intact and 'tight'....and nice cool temp...first time I've had hatching eggs via express mail in a horizon box...sure seems like this may prove to be another and perhaps 'safer' way to get hatching eggs from coast to coast...they are finishing their resting period in the incubator room...and then into incubator they go today.

May 'the Force" be with them. LOL

 

[cbnovick]

Wynette

BE CAREFUL with Wild Game and Pork products as freezing will not kill off all the worms/parasites that can lead to trichinosis

Edited to say: "this is per the CDC....since they are a part of the gov't, I can't validate that its 100% true", LOL

yes Trich spore cysts need high heat to die...there are viruses such a the human Norovirus that freezing does not will either...