Is bacon grease a no, no?

[Badbaby05]

I feed mine a combination of bacon grease and rendered pork fat. Cool and mix in wild bird seed, mould in round shapes and chill. They love they're suet treats but don't get them to often. Like all things in life...moderation is the key

 

[LightRedeemer]

I am a new chicken owner or maybe I should say they own me.... We got a mix of 15 Black Austrolorps and Red Sex Links in June '11 and by the end of August was down to 6... 3 of each (lost them to that red fox in the front-yard or was it the fisher in my side-yard

, either way, they now have very limited exposure to free range. We, my significant wife and our last child in the home, keep a close eye on them when they are out of their pen, which I have discovered needs to be made higher. (Wow, they fly pretty good

). Anyway, I am grateful for these postings about feeding fat. I have some pork fat that has been in the deep freezer for about 2 years (yes I said years), that came from a friend's organically raised pig (my friend has a lot of allergies). So parasites have been killed from the freezing, and I plan on rendering it down to lard for my girls as a winter supplement since I am in upstate NY.

SO, here're my questions: Since salt is an issue (per the older post about bacon grease), it would seem this plan is favorable as long as I don't add salt to the renderings, right? I can also give them the cracklins left from cooking down the fat, I guess. And once the lard is produced, would peops recommend I add some grain, seed, regular feed, etc. to make it like those store-bought suet blocks (like Badbaby05 suggests)? And lastly, how often can/should I feed these supplements? Thanks BTW, got them as chicks and they are still as funny to watch grown as when they were chicks and now they are finally "working" to support their keep.

 

[Country Parson]

As far as how often to feed these supplements, you will find a wide diversity of opinion. As for me, we have a bucket in the kitchen that gets all the scraps and leftovers for the day. In the morning, this all goes out to the chickens. We throw everything in there (almost), including leftover greese from the pan (though sometimes we save this for our Border Collie who struggles putting on weight). The chickens free range, so between the scraps, foraging, and cracked corn I suspect their doing fairly well. All last year I fed only layer crumbles, but with the scraps/foraging/corn method I see no less egg production.

 

[chicmom]

That would be very salty....Chickens can actually get saline poisoning.......I don't think it's a good idea........I can't blame them for thinking it's delicious! Anything bacony is yum-yum!

 

[LightRedeemer]

Quote:

Are you talking about "Country Parson's" reply? As in using bacon fat? My fat is right off the pig and was never salted, so I guess this doesn't apply to my question?

Does anyone have any further thoughts about what I proposed? BTW thanks for the warning chicmom.

And thanks Parson for the scraps suggestions. Considering that we are moving into winter, with less forage material available when they are ranged, I was looking at ways to supplement my support of the local chain feed store.... ...now let me see what has been sitting in the fridge too long for anyone to miss and not long enough to spoil.... ah Chinese fried rice.... Hey girls, polish up your chop sticks...

 

[SnoozeRooster]

Well I have to put in my 2cents. I keep seeing all this various chicken feed supplements and different foods and all that....I'm sure it's fine, maybe even better. I didn't know my dad ever fed anything but cracked corn and let'em forage the rest (I know, not much to forage in a cold winter). Anyway, I give my chickens anything we have left over or I am given (minus chocolate/sugar/salt and green potatoe peels). Everytime I hear a problem about, 'my chicken's butt' this or feathers that or laying deformed eggs or curly toes, it is usually from the same one's who are feeding these 'scientific balances'...just sayin'. There's probably those that feed in a manner as this and don't have issues, maybe a better system than mine; however, Thank God I haven't run into any of these problems. If I do I will eat them and get some more free or cheap ones off craigslist. I also understand that many want to maximize production of meat and/or eggs but for my backyard purposes, it's 7 degrees outside and I don't put a light on for them and eggs roll out from under my deck to a pile of leaves at the door everyday LOL (were layin' right beside the front door but snow blocked my breakfast, now I gotta step outside 3 steps).

Oh yeah, grease, sorry. My chickens won't eat vegetables too well so I just finished chopping up carrot and potatoe peels with one of those spring-loaded chopper things and poured grease of all sorts from the grease cup over the concoction. I mixed in my scratch corn/grain just a little in case they needed to accidentally taste the grease and hopefully like it. It went over really well and like the Country Parson said, I gave it to them just before they went in to roost for a little extra warmth (I always feed real close to that time in winter). If it kills em, God forbid, they'll die happy and I'll eat them....but I'll let you know. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

 

[cybersharque]

Chickens are not stupid. They know what's good for them, they don't gorge themselves, and my goodness they love fats. That's enough for me.

 

[laruecharles]

Long as you toss in some bread in there so they can sop it up.Long as the gobble it down quickly,and its not salty,then its ok.

The sexual life of the camel
is stranger than anyone thinks
In the height of the mating season
He tries to bugger the sphinx
But the Sphinx's posterior orifice
Is filled with the sands of the Nile
Which accounts for the hump on the camel
And the Spinx's inscrutable smile

Take that!