Canned Lizard Food vs Canned Cat Food

[ml]

Humm, crickets and cricket traps free goodies/treats for the peeps.

one persons way to trap a cricket/s

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Build-Your-Own-Cricket-Trap&id=108600 needs a box and a light at night.


This one is pretty simple too.
http://www.baitstick.com/Cricket trap.html

this one needs a hole for them to drop into


I just need a fish net for the ones I gather up around the yard. I have some things laying around and upon picking them up crickets to be had. And after carrying them in my hand realize they do bite. So they get put in a jar to feed the peeps.

ML

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Thanks for the tip airheart43 about the organic cat food, I'll look for some. I still cna't stop the gag reflex thinking of feeding my chickens some of their own, course I can't eat deer, squirrel, quail or lamb either!!
Catching crickets wouldn't work for me becasue they are long gone before my mind sorts out the fact that they are brown but not spiders so when I get all that straight they are usually gone! Every now and then a black one will jump when I cut the grass and I might grab it but I think I would die on the spot if I scooped up a spider thinking it was a cricket!!! Likely there will be a bait shop somewhere near where ya'll live and they sure are cheaper there than Petsmart (10 cents a piece!!)

 

[LindaN]

Why not start vermicomposting in your home? It's easy to do and doesn't require a lot of investment. You can get red worms from that bait shop, add them to your home made worm bin (a good search engine will turn up instructions) and just feed them veggie, fruit, and non-meat scraps. For bedding in my worm bin, I add the contents of my shredder bin. That's my way of ensuring no identity theft: compost those sensitive docs!

My worm bin has been doing great and will produce some wonderful treats for my chickens this winter when they will miss digging for insects.

Also, have you thought about canned fish as a cheaper source of protein? I had a can of water-packed sardines sitting in the dark recesses of my pantry. I gave it the chickens today and they LOVED it. I think sardines are fairly cheap compared to organic cat food.

 

[dlhunicorn]

As you can see from the ingredient list:

Here is what is in the lizard food: Fresh apples, fresh carrots, ground corn, whole peas, opuntia cactus, dextrose, soybean meal, fish bone meal, brewer's yeast, kelp powder, gums, banana flavoring, vitamin mix (rice hulls, choline chloride, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, calcium carbonate, alpha di tocopheryl acetate, vitamin a acetate, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, vitamin D2 supplement, D-biotin, water sufficient for processing.

So, would that be better or not than occasionally feeding Newman's Own Organic canned cat food. Here are those ingredients: organic chicken, sufficient water for processing, salmon, ocean whitefish, brown rice, oat bran, flaxseed, guargum, dried kelp, tricalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, sea salt, carrageenan, minerals from amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, cobalt amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, sodium selenite, potassium iodide, vitamins (Vitamin E, A, D3, B12 supplements, thiamin mononitrate, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine, hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, folic acid, biotin), taurine, choline chloride.

Or do i just keep buying them mealworms?

...there is more in cat/dog/reptile prepared feed (canned or dry) than just "protein" which is what many are giving it for... and herin lies my main objection to using such as a regular supplement ....
so...my answer in this particular case would be to vote for the mealworms (as a live protein source)...
Spend your money on a good supplement formulated for poultry like Avia Charge 2000 (I mix mine in with the feed as they don't like it in their waterer... as I mix it in with the cooked oatmeal and mix that with the feed I know none is being wasted)... offer live culture yogurt and sunflower hearts ....
Sorry but I would never give my birds cat or dog food.​

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi dlhunicorn,

If you think the ingredient list for those are long and scary, what do you think of this ingredient list?

Cracked corn, soybean meal, wheat bran, calcium carbonate, mono-dicalcium phosphate, cane molasses, granite grit, hydrolyzed animal and vegetable fat, salt (sodium chloride), propionic acid (preservative), choline chloride, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, ferrous sulfate, phosphoric acid, vitamin A acetate, vitamin E (alpha tocopherol), vitamin D3 supplement, DL-calcium pantothenic acid, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, vitamin K (medadione sodium bisulfite complex), thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, copper sulfate, ethylenectiamine dihydriodide, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, sodium selenite (selenium).

That's what's in my chicken's grow mash.

Thank you for the advice on the avia charge. i do have that, and put it in their water. Never thought about putting it in their food. i can see where that would result in much less waste.

LiindaN - i will look into composting some worms here. i was a miserable failure at regular composting. i think out city offers classes and bins. Would be cheaper than paying $7 for a carton at Petco.

 

[dlhunicorn]

...it isn't the ingredients...it is the formulation of the vitamins and nutrients>>>how much and in what ratio to each other which is different from one species to the next... this is so very fundamental to their health...

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i really value your input. You clearly have an abundance of knowledge on chickens. i am a beginner and still learning. i guess i need to find a nice, cheap source for mealworms. Those really are my chick's fav-ravs.

 

[SandraChick]

airheart-

I just posted on your bobble head thread.

I don't like using cat food for many of the same reasons as dlhunicorn. Additionally, looking through your ingredients list..it has salt. Salt is one of the things that chickens (through my own experience) don't balance well on their own and too much salt (very little compared to humans or cats) can be deadly for them.

I give my chickens all the dinner leftovers including any meat--and fat trimmings. I've been known to also pour the grease from my pan and mix it with other treats (not bacon grease though...too much salt). We also hunt/fish and the chickens get all the raw meat they desire while we're cleaning the game. I also grind and freeze all the meat pieces that I used to throw away. They get meat treats all winter, when the bug population is basically gone.

There are many ways to add meat protein to your hens diet...I like my method--FOR ME. Some also just buy fish meal or other similar sources and add it to their chickens' feed.

Sandra

 

[jkcove08]

As far as mealworms, go to walmart and buy a shallow container with a lid. Put some air holes on the top and sides, not to big though. Buy a small container of oat meal and poor it in the container. Got to petco and get a bunch of mealworms. Put them in the container and then slice a potatoe thinly and place the slices on top of the oatmeal. The mealworms eat the potatoe for food and water and then they will change into beatles. The beatles lay eggs and you have more mealworms. Change the poptatoe slices when the dry up and get hard. Take out the dead beatles and you will find tiny mealworms in a week or so. My sister and I have raised mealworms many times. I think you can get about a 1000 mealies for 10 bucks or so. I try not to feed my chickens cat food just be cause it is soo expensive. I used to feed the cats thier dry food in our barn but the chickens figured it out and ate it faster then the cats. They would even fight with the cats over it. Boy the chickens would be pecking the cats and the cats would be pawing at the chickens. The worst of it was the cats usually lost... I had to change when I fed the cats so that the chickens couldnt get in that building. They also really like left over tuna and noodles too..lol I give them many scraps and left overs. Jenn

 

[eggzettera]

Quote:
I have a worm bin also and I am OK with bugs (hate them ON me) but there is NO way I could raise mealworms though - ick! I really think everyone should try vermicomposting - its great for your plants, a working bin quickly turns whatever you have that the chickens to not want to eat to compost (added bonus you can compost all winter long), and great protein for your chickens - win, win, win. Homemade bins can be made from existing buckets or rubbermaid bins and the only real cost is the initial purchasing of the worms themselves. Cheap & EASY & Environmentaly Friendly. Worms let me to chickens so they have GOT to be good.