Feeding Chickens iguana?

[TurGoosen]

Hey yall, south Floridian here. It's that time of year where I'm finding iguana everywhere. As they are invasive the responsible thing to do is dispose of them. Now I eat them myself but can I feed them to my chickens? My freezer is packed full of iguanas and I was wondering if I can feed them to my chickens as a source of lean protein? Is there any risk associated with feeding them to my chickens? Will be cooked before being fed to avoid botulism.

 

[WingItRanch]

I don't see why not! My chickens find little lizards and frogs to eat. I bet they'd love cooked iguana.

 

[kattabelly]

What does iguana taste like?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don’t see why not. I might know someone who has experience with it I can tag for you— @CabritaChicks has a large local iguana population if I remember correctly.

 

[Altairsky]

Chickens would love some iguana. I'd steam cook them so they're easier for the chickens to shred into smaller pieces.

 

[chooki]

My chickens find and eat frogs and lizards as well, I prefer them to feast on grasshoppers and locusts instead, obviously I have no say in what they want to catch.

Also witness my roosters swallowing small mice before, those T-Rex!

 

[WingItRanch]

What does iguana taste like?

Tastes like chicken

 

[Ridgerunner]

Since you are eating iguana I'd feel extremely safe to feed it to the chickens. Iguana is eaten throughout Central America so I can't see it being dangerous. Other than the normal precautions you should take when preparing and eating any meat I don't see anything special about preparing iguana.

If you are that concerned you can try contacting your county extension office and chat with them. They should be able to put you in touch with someone who knows, probably a professor in animal sciences at one of your land grant universities.

 

[saysfaa]

My son-in-law's family eats them regularly. He has too when there. They thoroughly cook all the meat they eat.

Iguanas may have more reason than most meat to need being cooked. There was a news article the other day about dogs having issues from eating them. It wasn't clear if it was something different about them or if it was just how long after they died that the dogs found them.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Iguanas may have more reason than most meat to need being cooked. There was a news article the other day about dogs having issues from eating them. It wasn't clear if it was something different about them or if it was just how long after they died that the dogs found them.

I think they carry salmonella. Which isn’t unusual but something to be aware of when preparing it