Random question: Feeding fish to chickens?

[FoodKillah]

I fish with fish traps sometimes. I get fishes ranging from 2 inches to 10 inches. I throw back in the sea the small fishes that range 2-5 inches. I rarely fish but when i do, i get alot of fishes. More than 50/hour, i use 2 fishtraps that were made in the 70s

Can i keep the small fishes and feed them to the chickens, raw, alive? Or is there any risk?

I dont mind not throwing the small fishes back in the sea if i know my chickens would like to have them.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I would! Lots of people have posted here about feeding fish they've caught to their chickens. Some cook them first, some give them raw. Seems like a good protein source to me.

 

[palochknldy]

We gave our girls the left over pieces of crappie after cutting them up and they loved them. What they loved more were the fish eggs!

 

[RIBill]

Just try to be responsible with your fishing. If you take a lot of juvinile fish, you're taking your future catch of adults. Don't know where you are but around here fish traps are highly regulated and must be designed to reduce overcatch. While your infrequent fishing probably wont make a dent in fish populations, recreational fishermen need to be stewards of the ocean in order to ensure that our children have the rights and abilities to fish.

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
this...


i fish several times a week, and always practice catch and release on younger fish... usually, in these parts fish traps aren't aloud...

 

[FoodKillah]

Quote:
I aggree with you, i love the sea. Talking about law, in my country my fish traps are illegal (thats why i catch alot of fish) however i throw back in the sea what i think i should not catch (at least until now). Even the bite i am using is illegal to kill (Urchins cut in half) but there are billions of Urchins at my fishing spot. More die from people stepping over them.
In these years that our goverments spent more time to give us restrictions of what not to do, i prefer to use the way and the spot my grandfather that i never met used to fish 50 years ago even if the goverment says its illegal. What isnt? I do hide my traps if i see someone weird, or a commercial fishing boat that destroys the sea life with the goverment permission, just because they pay taxes for doing that, i dont destroy it. I called the coast guard when i saw a fishing boat doing illegal fishing few feet from the coast, they never showed up because thats where they get their money from.

These words are comming from someone that rarely goes fishing, but enjoys it. If i fish from the outside with a fishing pole i spent most of my time gathering garbage (beer cans mostly) from foreign recreational fishermen to throw them in a garbage bin when i leave. I grew up here. 9 out of 10 times i dont even catch any fish with a pole and 1 of 10 the fishes are just a few and i throw them all back in the sea. Thats why sometimes i use the fish traps that never miss a fish, because i deserve to do so hehe

I respect the sea, but not my goverments laws and regulations that nobody follows. I dont encourage anyone to do so, thats just me.

(I dont live in the USA)

 

[gumbii]

omg i want to go fishing where you fish... :homerdrool:

 

[Woofless]

The only thing I've heard regarding fish, was that it could affect the way the eggs taste. Not sure whether it's true or not, as I didn't give any fish while mine were laying this year. I didn't want to take any chances, didn't want to find out the hard way, by frying up a fishy-tasting egg for breakfast. Yuck!

They quit laying for the season in October, so I did give them a couple freezerburnt pieces of store-bought fish last month (raw) and they gobbled it right up!

I grew up fishing and cast-netting for mullet off Florida's gulf coast until I was a young adult, and I agree with the idea of throwing the younger fish back so they have a chance to grow & repopulate. Even if you only fish once in a while, it's still good practice IMO.
If it were me, I'd just keep the larger fish that I planned on eating myself- and I'd throw the scraps to the chickens! I'm sure they'd enjoy fish heads & entrails just as much as they'd enjoy the meat. Chickens will eat just about anything- I've yet to see them turn down ANYTHING I've thrown to them and I've thrown some pretty interesting things their way!!