Crayfish Curiosity

[rhoda_bruce]

Hello.....I qualify in the Cajun Dept. Well, if you do have crawfish locally and can farm them and already have a large enough pond to keep them in, go for it. Supposedly you will need a levee surrounding the pond and thats where they will burrow to lay their eggs. The locals plant rice in their ponds to feed the crawfish. I think they basically eat the plants root systems. I have asked if its possible to get a bumper crop of wild rice as a result, but none of the people I know have done so.
My brother has asked me if he can make a large pond on some property I will be coming into and it is a consideration.
Now they are seasonal. You will want to start fishing them in late January or February....maybe later, but thats when you'd do it if you were in Louisiana. But before summer, you'd stop, because the shells would get too hard and they wouldn't taste as good. I prefer crawfish to shimp. The peeling is the same, except that the shells are much harder. Put some water to boil and add crab boil, until you are choking....directions should be on the box or bottle. Put in potatoes and when you have a good boil going, put in the live crawfish and time it about 7 minutes, then kill the fire. Let it set another 3 minutes and drain off.
Save the peelings for your chickens and the next day you will have crawfish flavored eggs, with really dark yolks.
Get a few traps, but if you leave it unattended, make sure you disguise them really good. They have a tendency to grow legs and walk away.

 

[austintgraf]

Thank you for the advice! I had never thought of feeding the left overs to the chickens! That's an amazing idea. It really goes along with the self sufficient lifestyle for sure.

 

[austintgraf]

Alright guys I'm changing my approach! I would like to start farming Crayfish in my one acre fish pond or perhaps our half acre fish pond. I was thinking paper shell crayfish. Any ideas?

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Everytime DH and I think about doing something new and are not sure exactly how to go about it, or what kind of what to obtain for our area, we go on the LSU website and read all the Ag studies for our area. I'm sure ya'll must have such a site esp for ya'll area. When we buy crawfish, it is known as either pond or Belle River crawfish. Both can be very good, but sometimes the ponds are muddy and small. You'd have to determine what can tolerate your area. Also, can rice grow in your area? If not, perhaps something else needs to be planted, that can feed the critters or you would just have to manually feed them periodically. Naturally there is a large market in my area for the crawfish and they can go for almost $4/Lb depending on the time of year. You might want to experiment small, for your family and see how it works out for you and determine if you want to attempt to start a local market. Good luck with whatever you decide. I'm afraid to put another log in the fire, on my end, unless its to be a silent partner.