Feeding live fish?

[Andi-N-drew]

Planning on feeding my hens some leftover bait. They are live pin fish. Should I cut the barbs off them? They are rather sharp and I wouldn't want it to cause injury.

 

[Poultry parent]

If they could hurt the birds then cut them off

 

[Top Rooster]

I've given them a dead fish they weren't fans of it and wouldn't eat it so I doubt they would eat it. The fish wasn't rotten or anything it just died in our pond recently at the time

 

[Andi-N-drew]

I've given them a dead fish they weren't fans of it and wouldn't eat it so I doubt they would eat it. The fish wasn't rotten or anything it just died in our pond recently at the time

We ended up feeding them the fish( I did cut the barbs off just to be on the safe side) they loved it. I guess it just depends on the chicken and the fish.

 

[Andi-N-drew]

If they could hurt the birds then cut them off

Thats why I asked. You see birds eating the same fish all day long. Seeing as chickens are not shore birds I wasn't sure if they could gobble them up the same as a shore bird. I'm still curious to know, but not going to experiment with it just in case.

 

[jolly wattles]

Saw a video where someone put a tiny kiddy pool into their chicken run and put live minnows in it. The chickens caught every last one. They loved it! Gonna give it a try one day.