Show Off Your American Gamefowl and Chat Thread!!!

[centrarchid]

I was curious so did a quick Google search. Fresh insects looked to be about 21% protein and dried seemed to be in the low to mid 50's. Centra, what is the advantage of beetles as opposed to some other protein source that is more cost effective?

Below is what we are working on now. I am also Blue Tiger to keep documentation straight later. We have a bulk density problem and the drying is too slow. Working on expediting the drying process.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/making-feed-from-japanese-beetles.1223688/

 

[B123]

More cost effective?

Harvesting and processing is labor intensive, which is costly, unless you do not count your time... Perhaps this is doable for the backyard person on a small scale, but there are certainly more readily available sources. I am not sure of the digestibility of chitin, but I assume it is rather low. The chitinous exoskeleton passes through wild birds pretty well intact, at least intact enough to determine dietary consumption rates for various arthropods.

 

[1cock2hens]

The beetles are very easy to come by and i imagine he has to do very little to collect them. do you realize how many Japanese beetles are in this part of the country? you literally have to set out a lure and a bag and you can catch hundreds in a day. we use a store bought lure and can catch hundreds a day, well we have the last couple years

 

[centrarchid]

The beetles are very easy to come by and i imagine he has to do very little to collect them. do you realize how many Japanese beetles are in this part of the country? you literally have to set out a lure and a bag and you can catch hundreds in a day. we use a store bought lure and can catch hundreds a day, well we have the last couple years

Hundreds of lbs in a day.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Or you could let the birds run loose and eat them on their own. Problem solved.

 

[centrarchid]

See links below.

We appear able to produce chitin digesting enzymes which in the past was assumed not to be the case.
https://phys.org/news/2018-01-humans-digest-bugs-assuming.html

Poultry have the enzymes. I doubt they are important for highly productive breeds, but games on a maintenance diet or more realistic growth curve like we see, then chitin digestion might be very important.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19940-8


See mess below; ignore fish.

What is not shown is resulting feces. Some shells evident but much less than what was ingested by human.

 

[centrarchid]

Or you could let the birds run loose and eat them on their own. Problem solved.

I should have video'ed what happened. There is no way my chickens could have kept up with harvest rate. They were filling up a group of eight 35-gallon trash cans every couple days. This was something unlike anything I have ever seen before, essentially a river of beetles flying all in the same direction. I am surprised it did not make the national news.

 

[sdm111]

I'd prefer dealing with water than enough beetles to harvest 100s of pounds per day sounds extreme

Side q. Is that the average size of crawfish out your way?

 

[1cock2hens]

yeah absolutely no way chickens could ever eat all the Japanese beetles. there are times you go outside and they are literally flying everywhere and most of the leaves on most of the trees will have beetles mating on them and the garden will have beetles on literally every plant. the beetles are a real problem in this part of the country and human intervention is welcomed by most in the area

 

[roosterhavoc]

I should have video'ed what happened. There is no way my chickens could have kept up with harvest rate. They were filling up a group of eight 35-gallon trash cans every couple days. This was something unlike anything I have ever seen before, essentially a river of beetles flying all in the same direction. I am surprised it did not make the national news.

I remember in the 80s early 90s there was a lot more Japanese beetles around. I put out a few traps a few years ago and only caught about 10. Farmers im surrounded by must spray or something. Stink bugs are a different story