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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Maggots for poultry feed

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  • From: Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Maggots for poultry feed
  • Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:22:53 +0000

Instead of slaughtering wild animals to grow maggots why not just grow them in your own feces. They grow in it just fine too.
Uriel

1) I do not slaughter wild animals to grow maggots. If you read my original post you will see that I said:

A buddy of mine who is a trapper supplies me with "primary ingredient" [30-35 lb beavers]

So the beavers I am cycling thru my maggot buckets are beavers that have already died by someone else's hand, as a result of decisions taken by someone else. My (grateful) use of them seems at least as respectful as tossing them out into the weeds.

Which is not to say that I will never kill an animal and put it thru the maggot cycle. However, doing so is something I would not do casually. For example, if there were a groundhog in direct competition for what's growing in my garden, I would not hesitate to "fight dirty" with him, and you can bet he'd provide protein for the flock via the buckets. In other words, I would honor his death by entering his remains into the cycle that nature has so wisely devised for us all.

By the way, I have also picked up the odd roadkill to put thru the buckets. Also, when I slaughter poultry, I now add the offal to the maggot buckets as well--I'm finding that an excellent way to recycle them.

2) Don't think it would be a good idea at all to feed maggots from human feces. See Joe Jenkins THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK, the bible on the subject of recycling humanure. He points out that the manure from even a healthy human can contain serious pathogens. He also outlines a method for recapturing that fertility through proper composting, and using it as high-value compost in the garden. That is my preferred method for recycling my own poops.

As for poops of other species, some of them can indeed serve as substrate for maggot production, to the benefit of the chicken tribe. My longterm guru Joel Salatin has (for at least the two decades I've known him) followed the beef cattle on his pastures with a big flock of laying hens. The hens pick apart the cowpies for the maggots (indeed, Joel times the moving of the hens to correspond with the ideal stage of development of the maggots), getting for themselves top quality (free) protein, but providing other services as well--spreading fertility from the poops more widely over the pasture, sanitizing them for pathogens by exposing them to nature's cleansers, air and sunlight, etc.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us




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