BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[GabrielBane]

Feral pigs are the worst.... I'd rather bump into a black bear in the woods than a P.O'd boar. Not sure if they're the same sub-species as the west coast but here they're notoriously vicious and destructive. People pay good money to go boar hunting a few hours north of here in Georgia, I'm glad the inter-state is just behind my property and seems to mostly keep large wild-life from accessing our land.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
My old reproduction book on keeping poultry on scraps (war time Britain) suggests fish and fish meal, including detailed instructions for cooking up heads and bones (they were rationing so it was illegal to give "human edible" food to them). But I'm worried about a fishy taste to the eggs.

I got a pretty good kitten food, but it was quite pricey. I need to look at the cheaper ones. I get sort of paralyzed in the store, there are SOOOOOO many options... I really just need to get some meat.

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Feral pigs are the worst.... I'd rather bump into a black bear in the woods than a P.O'd boar. Not sure if they're the same sub-species as the west coast but here they're notoriously vicious and destructive. People pay good money to go boar hunting a few hours north of here in Georgia, I'm glad the inter-state is just behind my property and seems to mostly keep large wild-life from accessing our land.

The javelinas are not the same as wild boars - they are smaller, and are a different type of animal (technically called a peccary). But they look for all the world like mini boars to me. And they are horrible.

 

[GabrielBane]

I was going to ask you guys about fish too. We usually use our eggs to hatch so if we got a fishy egg we'd get over it, but does it affect the taste of meat? I do want to look into feeds that use bug meal, one of my colleagues in college wanted to start a brand of poultry feeds where the main animal protein was the meal of ground up insects, wonder if he got anywhere with that...

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I was going to ask you guys about fish too. We usually use our eggs to hatch so if we got a fishy egg we'd get over it, but does it affect the taste of meat? I do want to look into feeds that use bug meal, one of my colleagues in college wanted to start a brand of poultry feeds where the main animal protein was the meal of ground up insects, wonder if he got anywhere with that...

Now THAT is certainly interesting, if someone could make that work (financially/business model-wise)...

- Ant Farm

 

[GabrielBane]

Never understood how it wasn't already a thing, seeing as most people who raise insects for animal consumption rave about the efficiency, maybe the process of de-hydrating / processing into meal doesn't have a good conversion rate. I told him if he ever sold it, I'd buy from him in bulk LOL

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Never understood how it wasn't already a thing, seeing as most people who raise insects for animal consumption rave about the efficiency, maybe the process of de-hydrating / processing into meal doesn't have a good conversion rate. I told him if he ever sold it, I'd buy from him in bulk LOL

It certainly is the most sustainable option for protein (compared to feeding them beef or pork). Obviously, the best is that they get critters themselves foraging, but insect protein in a feed might be the closest to what they normally get in nature (not counting occasional lizards, frogs and mice).

 

[Kev]

My old reproduction book on keeping poultry on scraps (war time Britain) suggests fish and fish meal, including detailed instructions for cooking up heads and bones (they were rationing so it was illegal to give "human edible" food to them). But I'm worried about a fishy taste to the eggs.

I got a pretty good kitten food, but it was quite pricey. I need to look at the cheaper ones. I get sort of paralyzed in the store, there are SOOOOOO many options... I really just need to get some meat.

- Ant Farm

Yeah I wondered about taste of eggs and meat being affected..

I simply flipped the cat bags over for the listing and looked at the first three and moved on without a second look. It certainly seemed despite a whole side aisle of different brands, they were essentially mostly the same....

the good thing chickens love cheap the same as expensive- but there were some brands they absolutely did not like- picked up then shook it right out of their mouth. seem to remember Iams being one.

 

[Beekissed]

Roaches would be a good insect source....can't kill 'em and they thrive anywhere. I doubt if folks would want to buy feed with ground roaches in it, though, just because of the negative PR roaches get.

 

[Kev]

Never understood how it wasn't already a thing, seeing as most people who raise insects for animal consumption rave about the efficiency, maybe the process of de-hydrating / processing into meal doesn't have a good conversion rate. I told him if he ever sold it, I'd buy from him in bulk LOL

that would be awesome if it came in bulk and affordable. There are already bagged dried mealworms targeted at chicken owners- crazy expensive though.. the lady at feed store says they sure are popular and fly off the shelves. So there seems to be a market for this kind of thing.