Feeding chickens live maggots idea??

[austroberta]

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!!!!!

If the fish heads are wet, they have moisture and when they decompose, can go anaerobic, especially if they are in a closed receptacle (can) with not much air flow or without carbon. That horrible, garbage smell you get when you haven't turned your compost, for example, is caused by anaerobic bacteria (probably because the pile got wet.) Stick a couple of heads into a can, walk away for a day or 2 and then tell me those heads are bone dry, especially if you leave it in a hot place. They'll be wet and sludgy, just the way anaerobic bacteria like them to be. The OP was planning on putting the heads in a can and then giving the maggots to the birds. I suggest that's not a great idea.

As far as a few fish heads are concerned, it just takes one fish head of a fish that has the bacteria to pass the bacteria on to the maggots and then on to a bird. The maggot falling dry, into an oxygen rich environment will still have the botulism bactera/toxin if they have been consuming an animal that also had the bacteria.