Does fish-based chicken feed make eggs or chickens taste like fish?

[Free Range Mama]

I have read that some people think that chicken feed whose main protein is fish meal vs. soy makes the chickens and eggs tasty fishy. Does anyone have any experience with this? TIA!

 

[Clay Mudd]

The guideline I've seen most often is to keep fish as less than 5% of the total food. As it turns out, that's usually enough, when mixed with grains, to get to 16% or so protein.

My main feed is a mash I mix at about 6% fishmeal, and the eggs and meat aren't fishy. Since the birds are allowed to forage a lot, though, that 6% is actually lower.

 

[donrae]

I don't know about the feed, but my hens have happily eaten entire fish--head, guts, meat, you name it--with no fish eggs the next days.

 

[supaflyz]

LIke Don above, I have fed my chickens fish guts and heads. I haven't notice any fish smell in the eggs.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I do not believe certain foods cross into the egg, as with milk for dairy animals. I have not noticed any difference in the eggs tasting like, say, crickets one day, or grasshoppers the next!

 

[Beyond Yonder]

It is a genetic mutation in certain chickens. some can eat it and some can't.

 

[pdirt]

Taken from another fish related post I just wrote:

If they eat too much fish, their eggs can have a slight fishy flavor, or so I've been told. But that hasn't been my experience...a few weeks ago I mixed up my own feed, got the measurements wrong and fed them feed with 15% fish meal. I believe I've read 6-8% is the suggested max to avoid fishy eggs. We've had no fishy eggs.

We also feed a soy-free fish meal based chicken feed (when I'm not mixing my own), not sure the fish meal %, but no fishy eggs there either.

 

[LovesAGoodYolk]

Thank goodness eggs don't taste like what the hen eats.

 

[junebuggena]

I'm not sure about fish affecting flavor of the eggs; but onions, garlic, and chives definitely do.

 

[henless]

I have been feeding my chickens Texas Natgurals for the last 2 years. It's a non soy, non gmo feed that uses fish meal and peanuts for it's base.

Once, right after my hens had started laying, I fed them some mackerel to up the Omega 3's. A few days later I got the most awful fishy tasting eggs. I swore never again to feed my chickens any extra fish. Since that time. I have gotten fishy eggs on about 5-6 occasions. Nothing worse than biting into a fishy chicken egg.

I decided to switch feed to Purina All Flock. Even though it has soy, there is no fish meal. I'm on my 2nd bag and I have not had a bad tasting egg yet.

All I can suggest is try it and see. I figure maybe my hens just got a batch that had a little extra fish meal.