maggots and flys, ok to eat?

[plantoneonme]

I was having a problem with flies so I bought a catcher that did a remarkable job of getting rid of flies. It said to put some raw meat into the container and some water. In a few days the think stunk like crazy but the next day had a 2" layer of flies in it and none were coming into the house. The thing said to leave it until it was full. The problem was when it stopped stinking, the flies swarmed again and no longer were interested in the fly catcher.

I decided to dump it and try again. When I looked inside, there were tons of tiny maggots on what was the meat. I put in another piece and the maggots quickly moved to the new food. I then washed off the new meat into a bucket of water and poured it into the chicken tractor. WOW! Were those chickens happy

My question is...can the chickens also eat the now dead flies safely. It sure would save me some gross work if I only had to dump the container into the coop and remove the old

nasty meat. Kim

 

[TwoCrows]

Although chicken do eat flies, flies carry disease and parasites. So I wouldn't add to the amount of flies they normally catch naturally.

 

[33yardbirds]

Mine snap up any maggots left in the trash can like pop corn. I wash them out with a hose and they come running.

 

[Speceider]

I would be very cautious feeding maggots. If maggots are in anoxic conditions for Clostridium can grow, they will concentrate the toxins becoming a major souce of botulism. Botulism in wild ducks is usually traced back to anoxic conditions, birds die, the maggots feed on the dead birds, other ducks eat the maggots and then die.

Clint

 

[CC1892]

Threehores has a comprehensive post on proper worming of your birds. I believe she covered the issue of flys and maggots as possible source of worms in chickens.
I'm sorry I don't have the post handy but it is easy to search.

I use fly traps too. Mine is called "Rescue" boasts of collecting 20,000 flys. It has hasty odor but works like a charm, then close it up and depose it.
I bought several from Lowes for less than 5.00 each.

 

[Love2Homeschool]

I don't have personal experience with this, but growing up my parents always said that maggots would kill the chickens if they ate them.

 

[kerroppi76]

the "rescue" thingy . .. is that they bag with water stuff in it?
I had flies from the dog run and we used a trap similar to the one with meat (it sounds like) but it came with a powder to mix with water and and hang, it cought a ton of flies and didn't smell until it was near full. NO maggots either! The meat sounds like it is turning into food for the flies that is why the maggots are there and they will turn into flies of not killed fast enough. PLUS we once had maggots in the trash cans (which are about 5 - 8 feet from front door) and we could not kill them fast enough.

the only info I could find was to "boil" them. So it was difficult to boil enough water fast enough so don't let maggots get too cozy at your home!

 

[triplepurpose]

Read about Joel Salatin's pastured poultry systems at Polyface Farms. Maggots (fly larvae) are a key feed element for his layers.

Spreading around misguided notions that it might be harmful to have chickens eat insects flies in the face of the facts about chickens' natural diet (fact=chickens are insectivorous/omnivorous, even occasionally necrophagous scavengers). But most unfortunately, it is damaging to the efforts of people who are seeking to give their chickens healthier, more sustainable diets than industrially grown soy-based protein.

[edited for clarity]

 

[kizanne]

What kind of fly? There are whole threads dedicated to raising black fly larvae as a natural protein source. I know my chickens love them. I don't have neighbors so I'm letting them grow on purpose but in my compost bin not my chicken coop.

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
I've done this too. We have a big bin designed for the purpose. Those are black soldier flies (aka BSF). A whole different life cycle from house flies or blowflies (which I would assume is what the OP got). But I think most any larva is good. When flies (houseflies, usually) get into the scrap bucket or the trash cans I feed them to the chickens. Once recently I just set the whole maggot filled trashcan (minus the bag of trash itself) in the chicken run, and boy do they have a good time with that...

I remember in Thailand seeing the chickens combing through the garbage piles outside the slums, and thinking they seemed quite content... One can imagine that might be how they originally became domesticated...