Hi folks. I just got into trapping within the past few years. I have chickens, ducks, rabbits, etc on my homestead and collected a few dead ones over the winter last year and had them in a fridge for months to age and rot. They were pretty gross, I went full bore and stabbed them all up a bit, threw them in 5 gallon buckets with lids and buried them for the last half a year. They are probably a soupy mess of juices,fur, and feathers by now.

Question is,can I use this to make a bait or lure in any way? That was my intention from the start but I didn't really think it through all that muchuntil I really started toying around with the idea of making lures. I just collected the oil sacs and castors from a roadkill beaver recently and I'm hoping to take a skunk for some skunk essence soon.

Any suggestions? If those buckets aren't really useful I suppose I could just fill them withssome water and freeze them solid and use them as a bait block for coyote hunting.

I'm sure it would provide some attraction. Maybe base for a lure or use the liquid as a secondary odor in a formulation. Just have do some testing and see what u got.

A trail cam on some in a dirt hole would help you.
Liquid baits are a good thing, too.
Much of your poultry bait needs are covered in Nick Wyshinski's lure/bait books.
You'd be wise to join the FREE bait/lure makers book club!
here's what ya do!...get several trapping supply catalogs, which your local mentor should already have helped ya get, like from FandT, PCS, Trap Shack, Sterling Fur, MTP, Schmitt Ent, Southeastern Outdoors, etc, etc and circle a couple different lure/bait making books in EACH catalog, then give to the loved ones that buy your birthday and Christmas and anniversary and thanksgiving presents and tell them "i want your money to go towards things i want, need, and will use, making your money well spent, as opposed to a sweater that'll hang in the closet most of the year." Ya can do this with a lot of other trapping gear you want/need too. It works great in our family. I might be the only guy you know that got bobcat urine and muskrat glands for Christmas.

Not a bad thought, I wonder if I could convince my wife to buy stuff for me so she doesn't have to find as many dead animal surprises in the compost and freezers

sounds like she should buy you a freezer this Christmas for starters....even a used one off CL.