Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads... eat 'em up, yum!

[SandraMort]

Is there any reason the layers can't have these for calcium? Or just straight fish bones? Or smashed, crushed, ground? I understand that lots of meal with make the eggs fishy tasting, but what about the *bones*? The fish shop near me throws it out. Do scales present a problem?

 

[SandraMort]

For that matter, I could take my fish frames, put them in the maggot bucket, let them eat anything meaty, then smash up the bare bones and feed those to the chickens. Talk about free food!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

We go saltwater fishing a lot, and I thought of feeding the remains to the girls, but then I read an article about sushi. Turns out that most fish have parasites and worms that need to be killed by either cooking or freezing first, before consumption.

 

[SandraMort]

OKay... so you get your trash bag of fish heads, boil it, wrap it in plastic mesh, let the maggots have a feast and then give the rest to the birds?

 

[SandraMort]

If you cooked it with a bit of acv in the water, a lot of calcium comes out into the water, too. Good for the laying birdies to drink!

 

[tvtaber]

Considering these guys eat maggots, lizards, earthworms, rocks, etc, would a few parasites in the "sushi" be a problem? Free food is cool...

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

You could can them. They need 90 min. at pressure, so that takes care of any parasites. My chickies love the trout "leftovers" from our fishing trips and subsequent canning. It softens the bones, at least of trout, so that they are edible.

 

[SandraMort]

Can I cook them in a pressure cooker without jars? Just like doing a pot of soup? How long would that be equivalent to in a crock pot, do you think, until my pressure cooker is fixed?

Rte.66_chicks :

You could can them. They need 90 min. at pressure, so that takes care of any parasites.​

 

[MissPrissy]

Yes, Sandra, you can just cook it then give it to them.

It doesn't have to be a pressure canner or cooker. The pressure cooker will make the bones softer and they won't risk getting choked on an odd fish bone.

 

[SandraMort]

If it's easy to get scrap fish and fish bone has good calcium, what reason is there *not* to do it?

Picturing a crock pot full of gruel in the barn cooking and doling out a hot oatmeal and fish bone treat when I go out in the midmorning...