Dark meat has fishy taste. Feed?

[PastureMan]

^ Thank you for this advice. When you say "corn feed", do you mean cracked corn or do you mean something else such as corn based feed? The first ingredient of the feed they're on now is corn, but the other top ingredients are definitely dominating.

I know cracked corn wouldn't have enough protein to use as a grower, but maybe in the last two weeks especially if we let them go to ten weeks or so cracked corn would be ok?

 

[Molpet]

^ Thank you for this advice. When you say "corn feed", do you mean cracked corn or do you mean something else such as corn based feed? The first ingredient of the feed they're on now is corn, but the other top ingredients are definitely dominating.

I know cracked corn wouldn't have enough protein to use as a grower, but maybe in the last two weeks especially if we let them go to ten weeks or so cracked corn would be ok?

Cracked corn... make sure they have lots of grit

 

[RUNuts]

When duck hunting in the marsh, the fish eating ducks definitely had a fish taste depending on what they were eating. The Spoonbilled would taste OK if they were in the rice fields. The Mergansers had a fish smell when you cleaned them. We avoided the Mergansers.

I will supplement with crawfish shells and shrimp heads for added protein and calcium. As long as we don't give them a bunch, we don't notice the fish taste. You can keep using a little bit of the fish feed, just don't over do it. If you are trying to get the taste out, it might be best to switch them completely off of it.

Best wishes!

 

[PastureMan]

Thanks for all of the replies. Yes, I'm definitely trying to get the taste out. I'll be switching feed today. I did decide that I'll probably keep the fishy grower bags I have and feed that as a starter to the next batch of meat bird chicks. I think the protein level is at 20% which should be acceptable for starting chicks as well as growing birds.

 

[blueberry1]

Thanks for all of the replies. Yes, I'm definitely trying to get the taste out. I'll be switching feed today. I did decide that I'll probably keep the fishy grower bags I have and feed that as a starter to the next batch of meat bird chicks. I think the protein level is at 20% which should be acceptable for starting chicks as well as growing birds.

I’ve read that feed is best used within 3 months so consider that as well.

 

[PastureMan]

For those who are interested, here is an update: I switched the feed to a non-fish/crab organic feed exactly three weeks ago. The Cornish X chickens will be 9 weeks old in three days. I "harvested" one of the roosters last week at exactly 8 weeks (dressed weight including giblets at 4.5 pounds). I brined the chicken and roasted it in a cast iron dutch oven.

The off-flavor in the dark meat of the previously culled chicken seemed to be gone in the 8 week old bird after being on the new feed for 10 days. That was promising!

However...I diced up the dark meat in a breakfast hash this morning and unfortunately the fish/crab flavor was noticeable. I would describe it as more crab than fish. Bummer. I was going to process all of the roosters today (12 out of the 25 total), but other things in my schedule prevented me from doing so. My plan is to process all the roosters next weekend and then all the hens the weekend after.

The good thing is that I raised these 25 meat birds for our own freezer rather than selling them. We own a new organic farm and our plan is to raise free range organic meat birds for sale. Had I done that, the bad reviews we'd have gotten would have been detrimental to our business.

 

[Tonyroo]

You might consider feeding them just a corn feed only diet for a week, than harvest them, if your still tasting remnant of fishy flavor in the dark meat.

 

[PastureMan]

You might consider feeding them just a corn feed only diet for a week, than harvest them, if your still tasting remnant of fishy flavor in the dark meat.

Thanks for the advice. I don't have access to organic corn feed at this late stage and I want to stick with organic since I've been giving them organic feeds during their entire life cycle. The current feed they've been on since 11.22.20 contains no fish or crab meal. Hopefully that will help.

 

[Californiacuban]

This is a few months old but, sounds like a really awesome way to make some cheap crab!! Who doesn't love crab

 

[Katanahamon]

Hello Everyone. This is my first post of many, I hope.

We're raising 25 Cornish Cross meat birds this winter in a high tunnel that we use for veg during the growing season. They're 5 weeks old now and they love roaming the entire 20x72 greenhouse during the day and sleeping in their "coop" which is made from wood pallets, cardboard, rigid foam and a tarp for the exterior. Two heat lamps are used at night which keeps their coop temp at around 55 degrees.

We've fed them the following since their arrival:

Nutri-balancer supplement
Organic Chicken Starter feed 1st 4 weeks.
Organic Chicken Grower feed at this point. I've purchased 5 40# bags of the organic chicken grower to take me through to butchering time or at least close to it. The Grower feed's first ingredient is corn. Then, in descending order: Flax, Fishmeal, Crabmeal.
I've also shredded beets and apples and have mixed a small amount of that into their rations.

They eat the feed as a fermented mash.

Here's the issue and what I hope to get any feedback on from anyone that may have experienced the same: We butchered one of the bunch yesterday which dressed out at a bit over 1.5 pounds (game hen size). I brined it and roasted it this evening. The dark meat had a subtle but noticeable fishy flavor to it. The white meat did not. I don't think I was imagining it. I do have a sensitive palate. I'm wondering if the high amount of flax, fishmeal and crabmeal imparted flavor into the bird.

It's a very disappointing thought that we might end up growing the rest of the birds to full weight, fill up our freezer and find out that we'll need to eat the birds with tartar sauce and lemon wedges. I'm also concerned that another 3-4 weeks of the same feed will result in the white meat having the same flavor.

Any help would be appreciated. Mainly I'm wondering if anyone else has actually experienced the same thing. I did a search and I came up with numerous posts about fishy tasting eggs, but no prior posts about fishy tasting meat from what I saw.

Thank you in advance.

I’ve been researching influencing yolk color, and there is a theory that some breeds/hens lack an enzyme that neutralizes a compound in flax/omega threes that creates a fishy taste in the egg if they “get too much flax” but I’ve never found a list of said breeds, nor what is “too much” except for saying ten percent should be a max.

With virtually all the items in the feed being fish flavor producers, you might want to change feeds..
https://www.veterinariadigital.com/en/articulos/the-egg-yolk-color-and-pigments/

https://crystalcreeknatural.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Egg-Yolk-Color-And-How-To-Manage-It.pdf

https://starmilling.com/eggs-tasting-a-little-fishy/

‘’edit..I still haven’t figured out why really old posts appear as though they’re new..I need to pay more attention..!