Could (or should) i feed deceased predators to my chickens?

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I stumbled upon the maggot feeding of chickens from carcasses technique last year and was fascinated, so did a little reading on it. My overall impression from that reading was that this is a very cheap/free source of protein that will occasionally result in botulism toxicity of all or some chickens. I live on roadkill alley so it appealed to me in that it could provide some use for the many roadkilled animals that I see. The people who use the technique regularly seem to describe clinical botulism in their poultry as rare. So, I think that using it depends on your goals and comfort with risk. I myself couldn’t quite see myself picking up the roadkill or tolerating the risk, so I haven’t tried it.

I’d you are interested, there is a lot of info available on the maggot feeding technique on the web, especially from more pragmatically minded Permaculture oriented websites and blogs. For example:

http://www.stoneaxeherbals.com/2016/06/the-roadkill-bucket-how-we-feed-our.html?m=1

It was also discussed previously on BYC, with a focus on the possibility of botulism

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-disadvantage-of-letting-chickens-eat-maggots.166959/

 

[MarilynHukill]

My cats bring me mice and leave them on the sidewalk, my chickens think they won the lottery.

 

[townchicks]

One thing that I would be concerned with is raccoon roundworm. Raccoon roundworm is different than dog or chicken roundworm, and it is very dangerous in humans, because it travels to the brain, and can kill. That is rare, but does happen, and scares the crap out of me. if you are going to feed raccoons to your flock, be careful how you handle them, and if you gut the carcass, be careful and dispose of the intestines properly in a safe manner, where dogs cannot get to them. Other than that, I wouldn't do it myself, but see no problem with those that could/would.

 

[CatWhisperer]

We live trap and shoot predators then throw them over the fence. They stink really bad for several days. I wouldn’t want that in my chicken yard and then have to clean it up.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Personally, I do not feed predators to my flock. However, I do feed my chickens the deer carcasses after I am done with them. They love them, and do a good job of picking them clean. They also get the fish carcasses, but they tend to let them grow maggots before they start picking them clean.

 

[Folly's place]

Again, , and I'm glad it's worked out well for you. The botulism case I treated was a dog, who ate fish parts the owner put out in their garden. The puppy lived, but it was a bad scene, and very angry spouse of puppy owner.
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

What about cooking the carrion before serving it to the flock? I could see boiling it in a pot on a king cooker for a while to kill off germs and bacteria AND make it softer/easier for the chickens to eat.

I mean, I get it...yuck....but relatively speaking, less yuck than maggots and feeding raw...especially if it reduces the risk.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm a spoiled American, who's never been truly hungry, and can be discriminating in what I cook and eat, and what I'm willing to process for my critters. Also know too much about food safety. So, maggots and rotting carcasses have no appeal, and prepping raccoons isn't happening here either.
Mary

 

[SarahGfa]

I have a maggot bin made out of a rubbermade tote. It has a ramp for self-harvesting. I throw dead (trapped) mice and rats in there and there is no smell. Bigger animals would probably need to be chopped up so they can decompose faster, but that is too gross for me.

The self-harvesting ramp makes it cleaner, you will never even need to look inside. I just open the lid a crack and drop the dead rat inside. Clean larva come out the other end and land in a tub of water.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I have a maggot bin made out of a rubbermade tote. It has a ramp for self-harvesting. I throw dead (trapped) mice and rats in there and there is no smell. Bigger animals would probably need to be chopped up so they can decompose faster, but that is too gross for me.

The self-harvesting ramp makes it cleaner, you will never even need to look inside. I just open the lid a crack and drop the dead rat inside. Clean larva come out the other end and land in a tub of water.

Pretty gross stuff but I can respect it. I prefer tossing most of my cat kills over the fence.