Raising fish for chickens?

[Tracydr]

Just wondering if anybody ever raises fish for their chickens. What type of fish would be most efficient and reproduce quickly? I was thinking about guppies or small goldfish, maybe those mosquito eaters. I have rain barrels so they could stay in them. I can add a few bubblers. Here in AZ, the summer heat would require a tropical fish ( guppies?mollies? ) for the summer but in the winter I'd probably want to switch to a cooler water fish, probably goldfish, since they're readily available and cheap. I was also thinking about putting duckweed or watercress onto of the water for both the fish and the chickens, since it grows so well.
Just a thought. I used to always have goldfish in my huge water troughs when I had a large farm and they thrived. I used run-off water from gutters to keep the troughs full and rarely needed to water the thirty head of cattle. I never did try catching the fish for the chickens. Don't remember getting over run by goldfish but I didn't provide any hiding areas for the babies so they were probably eaten b the adults.
The koi in the koi ponds did reproduce a lot.

 

[Medicine Man]

I would do guppies. Mosquito fish are, for all intents and purposes, a guppy. They are probably the most adaptable to cold and hot water and of course they are prolific breeders.

 

[LottieDa]

Do chickens like fish? I didn't know that! We raise tilapia for our own dinner table and I never thought of sharing with the chickens! Hhmm... I'm gonna have to look into that. Obviously wouldn't want to give them pieces with bones.

 

[RobLII]

Do the chickens eat the fish out of the barrel?? I've never head of that, that sounds pretty cool to me.

 

[donrae]

I hear others going on about their birds loving fish, but mine never seem that crazy about the parts we throw out. I don't know why, I'd think they'd love the heads/guts, but they're pretty indifferent.

 

[KenK]

What would/do you feed guppies? I can't see it being very cost effective but if just doing it for fun it doesn't matter. We used to have an aquarium and a very small jar of fish food was $5-6.

 

[speedy2020]

I feed them guppies before. I would refer meal-worm because it is much more easy to deal with.

 

[gdplum]

Buy ground beef...chickens love beef...raw. Cheaper than fish...

 

[dragonlair]

I get meat/fat scraps from a local meat shop (who specializes in local grass fed meats) for my dogs. I add some of the scraps to the chickens food and they LOVE it. Free protein!

 

[Farm_Maven]

Quote:
Do you feed it raw or cooked? I have some "scrappy" meat left over from having had a calf processed, that is a great idea!