Feeding squirrels to your chickens

[lookyhereboy]

Since chickens are omnivores and like meat, I was wondering if anyone has ever given a freshly killed squirrel to their chickens. I have an abundance of squirrels that need thinned out and am thinking about trying it. Just seems like an easy way to add something to their diet this time of year when the bugs are few and far between. Has anyone tried it, or know of possible pros and cons of doing so?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I did not feed a squirrel on purpose. They managed to catch and consume one though.
Mine will catch and eat mice and like Ridgerunner said pretty much anything that does not eat them first.

Side note.... do NOT hit your head and fall down in the run. Chances of getting out alive are slim.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Got a wood chipper? Maybe you can make those squirrels "bite-sized" to make it easier for the chickens to eat the whole thing and not leave waste for predators and other animals to find.

And yes, I know that's a bit gross.

 

[lookyhereboy]

Thanks for the info. I've got plenty of carcass disposal space well away from my chickens. I think I may put the air rifle to use and give it a try to see how they do. Going to be expanding the flock this spring so it would be a cheap way to supplement feed as well. I like to give them variety when I can.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I take it you don’t like sushi.

Mine catch and eat snakes, mice, frogs, earthworms, grubs, grasshoppers, June bugs, basically anything that moves. I’m not worried about bacteria or anything like that.

 

[goosiesnougs]

I LOVE sushi.. Never tried squirrel
Mine do the bug thing. I haven't seen them eat snake or rodents. The sizes of the rats I've taken out of the coop.. It could've eaten them!

 

[tjcib]

I realize this is a year old, but I am Very excited about feeding squirrel to my chickens. I killed 54 squirrels last year just from my deck... our area is overrun and they need population control.

My girls are gonna have lots of protein! I thought about removing the intestines (not the heart, lungs, etc tho).

 

[123xyz]

Three years more later, I want to thank everyone for addressing my exact question, which I come at from a different perspective. I have fruit trees and cute red squirrels with fluffy tails (Eastern fox squirrels, I believe). They don't cause trouble burrowing and are pretty funny creatures really.

BUT, they eat way too much fruit, so each year from plum season to persimmon season I savagely murder 20-50 of them. I use their bodies to enrich the wood chips and soil that I used to fill in a swampy area across the creek, but it still seems wasteful not to find someone to eat them. The family's not interested (not even me) and the neighbors aren't about to put up with me having a pig, so I'm thinking about getting chickens just so I have someone to eat my squirrels. Eggs would be a side benefit.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

I know this post is pretty old, but since it's been resurrected I just wanted to point something out just as a precaution.

It's fine to feed meat to your birds, but please make sure you're going over the carcasses and checking them beforehand.

Wild animals are by no means clean, and often times are riddled with ticks, fleas, mites and parasites. Some of these can easily transfer over to your flock.

I would highly recommend freezing anything you're going to feed them beforehand. Freezing will at least kill off most of the insects on the outside. Not sure if it would kill tapeworms/internal parasites.

 

[123xyz]

I know this post is pretty old, but since it's been resurrected I just wanted to point something out just as a precaution.

It's fine to feed meat to your birds, but please make sure you're going over the carcasses and checking them beforehand.

Wild animals are by no means clean, and often times are riddled with ticks, fleas, mites and parasites. Some of these can easily transfer over to your flock.

I would highly recommend freezing anything you're going to feed them beforehand. Freezing will at least kill off most of the insects on the outside. Not sure if it would kill tapeworms/internal parasites.

Oh, I agree. It was my plan to cook them (outdoors) before feeding them to the chickens.

That said, I will say that, in my experience, while deer are disgustingly swarming with ticks and other parasites, coyotes seem to have many fleas, and mice can also have tons of small ticks, the squirrels I trap all look pretty healthy and clean.

There's a large buck that likes to rest where I bury my squirrels. I have to wear insecticide-treated clothes when I go over there or I'll come back with fleas on me.