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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Maggots for poultry feed

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  • From: "Greg and April" <gregandapril@earthlink.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Maggots for poultry feed
  • Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 08:42:59 -0600

Let's see if I'm reading this right.

With thin skinned animals and dressed meat you don't have the problem of large parts of pelt with uneaten meat on it as you do with thick skinned pelts.

Have you dressed the thick skinned animals, removing the skin before feeding chunks?

Have you feed your chickens rabbit before? If so how and what were the results?

Greg H.


----- Original Message ----- From: "Harvey Ussery" <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 7:32
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Maggots for poultry feed




I knew I'd get this question eventually. The truth is that I haven't
always gotten anything like full utilization feeding the straight
carcasses. With beavers especially, I've offered them to the chooks,
putting big slashes first through the thick pelts so the birds could get
to the goodie inside. Have even chopped them into chunks for the birds.
And subsequently found big swatches of pelt with a lot of uneaten meat
on them. I don't have an explanation for why the birds fail to eat all
of a thick-pelted animal like a beaver (or groundhog--have had the same
results with them--even road-kill squirrel).

When maggots process the carcasses, they convert *everything* but hair
and teeth and bones to high-quality protein and fats. Interestingly, the
protein in the maggots is *higher* than in the original meat on the
carcass. Protein content of fly maggots close to 50%, fat content close
to 20%. A check of USDA composition of foods site indicates raw beaver
24% protein. (Of course, I do not know the total weight of maggots in
comparison to original weight of meat and entrails. Pardon me if I don't
perform that experiment!) Also, I'm assuming the enzyme content of live
foods like maggots--like earthworms and slugs as well--is higher than in
meat (tho raw meat should have plenty of enzymes as well).

I have a neighbor who is rather negligent keeping things in her freezer
organized. Every coupla years she cleans out, and passes on meats more
than a year old for my flock. Some of those meats I do not put thru the
maggot buckets, but just thaw-and-throw. The chooks pick those bones
clean. For windfall dressed meats like that, feeding straight works just
fine.

~Harvey
--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us





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