Chicks vs rats and mice

[WildLore]

OK i've been feeding rats and mice and then the thought occurred to me that...i raise chickens.
I often buy locally or order eggs to hatch to restore my flock from the inevitable neighbors dog/cat or the local homeless or just those who like to steal nice birds. Usually i will have one good set of eggs hatching in the incubator with a few that quit right on the last week of development then i have chicks i cull for one reason or another which for me typically means being sent into the meat bird flock.


the eggs i buy locally are typically standard breeds (marans, RR's, Anacona,Orpingtons, Sussex, and so on)
the eggs i order are from a breeder of bantams out of state so smaller breeds that might have less protein than the standards but due to shipping i inevitably have moving air sacs and at least a few die late in incubation as well (usually the ones with detached air cells)

I have 4 ball pythons of varying ages and sizes.

when i go to rodent pro to look at feeders it gives me this:
http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

Would you give some positives or negatives to feeding chicks frozen thawed that have quit or are being culled? (keep in mind the culls are usually eaten by me when they are older unless there is something seriously wrong aka cross beak, head or organ abnormalities) would these be a good in-between for meals of rats and mice ?

someone was telling me that it could be a staple while another told me it had less value than rats and mice for the snake while another said that it was best as an every other week meal between rat and mice feedings.
your thoughts?
sry if this sounds odd i just want to do some research first i'm stuck in my ways of feeding rats and mice lol

[chilliscale]

My Boas loved chicka and chickens when I kept them but I have personally never tried it with balls. I did notice a looser stool and a more pungent odor from the stool. When a 7 foot boa eats a couple pounds of chicken, the smell from a stool almost greets you at the door.
As far as nutrition goes, I believe rodent pro has a break down of nutrition value of the different prey items. I would stick to rodent personally

[RatAtat2693]

Not an expert on herps. But from what I read on raptor nutrition, chicken, regardless of age, has a lot more fat than rodents.