Extruded mixtures of spent hens and soybean meal

Utilization of spent hens is a major concern for the poultry industry Conve rsion of spent hens into feed may add value to this abundant agricultural r esource. Whole spent hens were ground blended with defatted soybean meal at ratios (w/w) of 25:75, 50:50 or 75:25 and processed with an Insta Pro 2000 R extruder Extrusion reduced (P < 0.05) aerobic plate counts of raw blends by four log orders to 1000 cfu/g. Moisture and fat contents of extrudates i ncreased (P < 0.05) with increasing amounts of spent hens in the mixtures. Blend formulations did not affect (P > 0.05) crude protein content of extru dates (51.9 to 52.2% db.). Pellets prepared from dried extrudates were eval uated for unit density, durability and color: Unit density ranged from 17.3 to 24.4 kg/m(3) and was not affected (P > 0.05) by blend formulation. Pell ets from all three extruded blends had high durability (85.0 to 98.2%) due to the good binding properties of meat and soy proteins. Pelleted extrudate s from mixtures of 75% spent hens and 25% soybean meal were darker (P < 0.0 5) (greater L value), redder (P < 0.05) (greater +a value), and yellower (P < 0.05) (greater +b value) than those containing 25 or 50% spent hens. Thi s likely was due to the dark color of hen blood and offal. A process involv ing grinding, extruding, drying, and pelleting may be implemented at large farms to convert spent hens, mixed with soybean meal or other dry materials , into a protein-rich feed ingredient.