poultry dung as feed for fish

 I just came across my friends farm, he is doing integrated livestock farming with fish and poultry.

He has adapted 2 systems one being free range chickens which are put in a shelter, during night time, right above the fish pond which means the dung doesn't get mixed with the poultry feed.

Another system in which the chicken is inside a cage and feed is given in to the cage. By this method the chicken dung along with feed and more feather, than the previous method, falls in to the pond clogging the suction heads and filters.

By either of the methods there are advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages being the cost for fish feed is reduced drastically and fish seems to love poultry dung and growth of fish is excellent, no need to look at the clock to feed the fish because the chicken drops through out the day and night. On an average Tilapia reaches about 500-600 gms in 5 - 6 months time.

Disadvantages are the bacterias and viruses present in the dung could contaminate the water which in turn could do the same to fish. Some results have shown that fish meat have had salmonella if the poultry is infected with the same.

Now he has planned to do a system in which the poultry is separate and the dung is collected in a tray and then heated on a shallow tray starting with low temperatures until it reaches about 60deg centigrade and once it is dried it is added in to the fish tank.  The dung seems to have very less odor and has the same effect as fresh manure or fresh dung and free from bacteria and virus.

well how about introducing this system to an Aquaponics system. Just came across and wanted to share. some ideas and thoughts about this would be great.