Feeding chickens wild cottontails

[azjustin]

So, we are completely overrun with rabbits as like any year and it got me thinking: since chickens are omnivores, can I feed them rabbits?

I'm leery about raw, since the lice and parasites are just not something I want to worry about. Skinning and gutting is fine, just not sure if I want to put that much time into it.

We have a 30+ qt fryer that has long since been given to the outdoors. If I throw them in the pot whole and let them roll at a boil for 20 minutes or so, would there be any worries about internal parasites and such?

Any comments are welcome!

 

[cactusrota]

Honestly, I don't think that would take care of internal parasites. But I could be wrong. If it were me, I would choose to skin and gut. But then, at that point I usually feed them to my dogs, sooo...

 

[chickengeorgeto]

If Rabbets are bad for chickens then the foxes, coyotes, and hawks would all be extinct. I have fed numerous cotton tailed rabbits to chickens and have never seen it cause any harm. I only fed my birds road killed bunnies because the lead pellets in shotgun killed rabbets were too much trouble for me to get out of the meat unless I was going to eat it myself. Never feed chickens soiled meat or spoiled anything for that matter.

 

[Foristers]

My thoughts are that I would skin and gut them and then boil them - before feeding them to my chickens. HOWEVER - if I was to go to that trouble I would just eat the rabbits myself and perhaps give the chicken the table scraps.

Either way, whatever you do, post the results so that the rest of us can learn from your trials.
THanks,.