Can I feed buggy flour to my flock?

[Livinzoo]

I have a 50lb bag of buggy flour. I was thinking about mixing it with some yougurt and sour cream and maybe scrambling some quail eggs into it. Do you think this would be a good way to use up this bug infested flour? Any better ideas?

 

[Royal Blue]

I would not feed any feed with bugs to my birds. In fact, I return any feed I get from the feed store back to the store if it has bugs in it. Bugs are a sign of poor storage. Mold and other by products are possible. I'd rather play it safe.

 

[saddina]

She's asking about flour not feed. I'm going to say I don't see why not, but I'd be

if bugs got into my bread flour though...

 

[herefordlovinglady]

Quote:
you know, i thought since there were bugs in the feed i bought the other day that it might just add a little to their feed in a good way. but you put it in a difference perspective, hadn't thought about mold or poor storage in general. i have been concerned the my chicks aren't eating that much, could it be the feed is bad?

 

[Akane]

There's no reason not to. Flour won't hurt them and bugs are good for them.

The reason not to feed buggy feed is not only because it probably wasn't stored well but also the bugs destroy the nutrients in the feed. The feed was designed to have balanced nutrition so the birds get everything they need. Instead they are eating bugs which are good but not balanced and bug poop along with some bits of leftover less digestible parts that the bugs didn't want out of the feed. You could still feed it if you see no other problems but I would use it like scratch and not as their main feed. Otherwise you risk a nutritional deficiency and resulting health problems along with decreased laying.

 

[farmin'chick]

I'd probably bake it up into some kind of bread or cake and feed the buggy flour to them that way -- if it's white flour, it doesn't have much nutrition to it to start with...but if you make it into something it'll have eggs and fat and such to improve it some.

 

[Tala]

I would feed it, so long as it wasn't their main diet.

I wouldn't feed them buggy chicken food because of the nutrient problem, but just a people food "treat" portion of their diet - sure.

 

[Catnipflowerkathy]

There's no reason not to. Flour won't hurt them and bugs are good for them.

The reason not to feed buggy feed is not only because it probably wasn't stored well but also the bugs destroy the nutrients in the feed. The feed was designed to have balanced nutrition so the birds get everything they need. Instead they are eating bugs which are good but not balanced and bug poop along with some bits of leftover less digestible parts that the bugs didn't want out of the feed. You could still feed it if you see no other problems but I would use it like scratch and not as their main feed. Otherwise you risk a nutritional deficiency and resulting health problems along with decreased laying.

Chickens eat their own poop. Flour or chicken feed with insects in its isn’t gonna hurt chickens

 

[nuthatched]

Chickens eat their own poop. Flour or chicken feed with insects in its isn’t gonna hurt chickens

This thread is from 2009, you won't receive a reply from the op.
Any flour or feed that has bugs is likely moldy or rancid, and possibly toxic to chickens.
I've never seen chickens eat their own poop.

 

[Al Gerhart]

One of my chores when I was a kid was to cook pancakes every day out of the buggy flour. The dogs loved them and it used up flour that was otherwise useless. Bacon grease, flour, water. Dogs had their normal kibble available at all times

I would think that chickens would also like pancakes.