Feeding chickens deer meat.

[RichnSteph]

While grinding up some deer for hamburger I have to occasionally take the grinder apart and pull the tendons and silver out of the cutting area. Since I'm doing this outside I just toss the pieces out to the chickens and they really enjoy the added treat. So it got me to wondering if it'd do any harm to keep the leftover parts and pieces that we don't eat (flanks, liver, heart, etc..) and grind that up for chicken feed. Of course it'd be just like the scratch in that it's a treat and not more than 5-10% of their overall daily intake.


Thoughts?

 

[sourland]

Great protein addition, and a practice that I carried out for years.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

This would be an EXCELLENT thing to feed your birds - animal protein is a great component of any feed program, imo.

 

[RichnSteph]

That's awesome! Just one more reason I need to go deer hunting every year.

Thanks folks.

 

[RonP]

I have friends that collect road kill for the same purpose...

 

[carolb5]

We save all our butcher trim-scraps for the chickens. Deer, beef, pork. We grind and freeze it. We even raise our Cornish cross on meat scraps. Great source of protein.

Carol

 

[snaffle]

I roasted a turkey sunday. Took the carcass (with a bit of meat on it) to the hen house. They loved it.

I thought it was a bit cannibalistic lol.

Chickens love meat...have you ever seen on with a mouse? All the hens will chase the chicken with the great snack and try to steal it.

 

[song of joy]

While grinding up some deer for hamburger I have to occasionally take the grinder apart and pull the tendons and silver out of the cutting area. Since I'm doing this outside I just toss the pieces out to the chickens and they really enjoy the added treat. So it got me to wondering if it'd do any harm to keep the leftover parts and pieces that we don't eat (flanks, liver, heart, etc..) and grind that up for chicken feed. Of course it'd be just like the scratch in that it's a treat and not more than 5-10% of their overall daily intake.


Thoughts?

That's a great idea and gives them a very good source of protein. After removing meat from the deer carcass for us, my husband sometimes leaves the carcass outside for a few weeks for the chickens to peck at. They LOVE it. This obviously works better if it's cold outside, and if the carcass won't cause problems with other critters (e.g., a neighbor's dog).

 

[chickchoon1]

Our chickens are the clean-up crew whenever I process one of their own or more recently the roadkill deers I processed(sort of processed-new to that).Was a huge problem keeping the chix away until I could tend to the deer so finally found a huge tarp(and chickens are good at maneuvering under tarps for food also!)and had to put cement blocks on tarp to keep chix out.They no longer pasture and are free ranged in their pen so that should help with their unwanted assistance in the future but I will need to find inexpensive protein treats for them and this may be a good idea( ground deer parts).