Feeding chickens live maggots idea??

[Rattlerjake]

Maggots do NOT give chickens botulism! They are a great protein source. Even the fish heads can be hung by a string or just tossed on the ground and the chickens allowed to forage off of them.


Botulism normally is caused by water that has been fouled by feces for several days. As long as you provide clean water daily or every other day, botulism shouldn't ever raise it's ugly head.

 

[Rattlerjake]

I had read that if the carcass the maggots feed on has bacteria which gives off the botulism toxin, the toxin will be consumed by your poultry and if eaten in high enough quantities, will kill your birds. If the fish you have caught happens to have ingested the bacteria, which are ever present in both soil and water, you'll pass it on to your chickens. Botulism is a horrible affliction, which acts quickly, paralyzing poultry, as it moves through the body. The poor birds are still conscious, but can't do anything, as they're paralyzed. Horrible. Eventually it attacks the respiratory system and then it's game over.

I think the bacteria is more of a problem as the weather warms up. If you wanted to do something like that when temps are cooler, it might not be as big of a problem.

I think you also might try cooking the fish heads first, and then letting the flies have at them. From what I understand, the cooking will kill the bacteria.

Here's some info:
https://www.northeastwildlife.org/disease/botulism

If you like the idea of giving your chickens larvae, I would think a safer bet is black soldier fly larvae.

READ the article in detail. The botulism toxin is produced in a specific environment, one that lacks oxygen and takes time for the bacteria to increase. That is why waterfowl are most susceptible. In the case of a few fish heads being eaten by maggots in a can, the conditions are NOT suitable for botulism to proliferate - lack of moisture, plenty of oxygen, maggots are eaten as the fall from the can so they are not dying and allowing the bacteria to grow.
Large groups of waterfowl and shore birds that get affected, happens because of large fish die-offs in our waters, where an event like red-tide, algae bloom from fertilizer runoff, or other oxygen depriving pathogen kills large numbers of fish, then those fish rot, are eaten by invertebrates to include maggots, and those invertebrates die and the botulism bacteria multiplies. This causes an extremely high percentage of toxin.
I have given dead carcasses and meat scraps to my poultry for 50 years with no problem with botulism. BUT THEY ALWAYS HAVE FRESH WATER!!!!!

 

[Rattlerjake]

I bought a large bag of dried maggots at Tractor Supply, they were allot cheaper than Meal Worms so gave them a shot. The chickens really seemed to like them. I'm sure Tractor Supply wouldn't sell them if there was any way they could kill / infect your flock with Botulism.

Now I grant you there's a big difference between a store bought freeze dried product and a live maggot. What I'm attempting to convey is that there is obviously a safe way to produce maggots as chicken feed and still be significantly more cost effective than meal worms. So its worth some additional research.

Botulism does not proliferate in dry or oxygen rich environments.

 

[Colvinwe]

How would Botulinum grow in this situation? It is an anaerobic bacterium.

 

[Colvinwe]

How would Botulinum grow in this situation? It is an anaerobic bacterium.

I would worry more about Salmonella in fish heads.

 

[Rattlerjake]

I would worry more about Salmonella in fish heads.

Stop with the hysteria! All of these bacteria occur naturally in nature (botulism, ecoli, salmonella, etc.). The only time there is a problem is when conditions are right for the bacteria population to explode to numbers that far exceed normal. We humans and animals alike, eat all of these bacteria every day in foods we eat, in putting things in our mouths (like cups, fingers, etc.), water we drink, and air we breathe, but our natural immunities are enough to prevent any problems. A few fish heads thrown into a chicken coop or the maggots feeding on it, is NOT cause for alarm. But take those same fish heads and leave them soaking in water for a week, where even the maggots die from the "disgusting ooooooze" - then you have a problem.

If you're scared to feed fish heads to your birds, then DON'T, but stop spreading misinformation and hysteria. Your birds are far more likely to suffer from poisoning from the tons of pesticides and herbicides dumped on the grain crops that your processed bagged commercial feed contains!

 

[Rattlerjake]

How would Botulinum grow in this situation? It is an anaerobic bacterium.

Most of these "bad" bacteria prosper in low oxygen environments, they also need excess moisture (like soaking in a puddle of water); they desiccate in a dry environment.

 

[Crzy Chi Lady]

I have seen chickens eat many different kind of bugs, lizards, bury things in the dirt. Dig them up later. There digestive system is different than ours. Of course you wouldn’t eat maggots. But remember some parts of the world they are eaten. They are animals.

 

[CindyinSD]

If you were to pack the bucket, or if the meat were to, in the process of decomposition, become compressed into a mass by settling, oxygen could be excluded from the parts of the mass not on the surface, allowing the growth of anaerobic bacteria.

Technically, you could make this work, and maggots can be good food for chickens. My chickens will be following my cows in rotational grazing this summer (if winter EVER ends), and I hope they’ll be eating their fill of nice “clean” cow-poop-grown maggots (or as we prefer to say, fly larvae .)

I would never do this rotting meat thing... not because of botulinum toxin, though that is a consideration, but more just because I could *not* stand the sickly sweet, necrotic smell of the rotting flesh. There’s a reason this smell so repels us; most things that smell like that are decidedly not good to eat, or even to breathe. Obviously maggots are good food for chickens and historically, food for humans as well (not this human!). The conditions in which they grow can be dangerous to the creatures that eat them, though and possibly to the creatures that eat the creatures that ate them.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My understanding in regards to the botulism/maggot thing is that there is most often rotting chicken feed involved.

Maggots while a fun and free treat.. have got to be fairly high in fat. So I would personally go easy on them, same as meal worms.

For me one factor in the maggot bucket idea... is I don't want to attract any other predators to my coop area.

I did catch a rat and chop it in half. My birds didn't touch it until they were enticed by the fly larva... which are extremely small in my area, I'm guessing due to low temperatures in part.

FUN STUFF! Thanks for sharing.