Weird things chickens eat

SummerChick

Songster
11 Years
Mar 4, 2010
399
34
201
Somerset, Texas
I was sitting outside watching my young hens peck around when I noticed one pecked at something then another ran and tried to grab it from her and was able to get a piece. I walked over to see what delicacy they were fighting over. Before I knew it the first hen had it almost gobbled up but was able to see it was a baby bird! No feathers and the hen gobbled it and it's legs were hanging out her beak! She looked at me as if I were going to grab it from her, she then swallowed it!! The poor baby must had fallen from its nest.

What's a strange thing you've seen your hens eat?
 
Too bad for the baby bird
sad.png
, but it was probably a wonderful treat for the chickens. I have often marveled at how my 8-week old chickens run to something and try to eat it - no matter what it is! I have had to really check out my yard to make sure nothing dangerous is around. A few days ago, I saw my Silver-Laced Wyandotte grab something orange from the ground and start running away from the other chickens. I gave chase along with them as I knew anything orange was not edible. By the time I cornered her, she had half-swallowed a long piece of knotted orange string/twine. I pulled it right out of her throat and shudder to think what might have happened if that had gotten into her crop! Perhaps it would have disintegrated or passed through, but I'm glad I was paying attention. I also wonder if I wouldn't have chased her, if she would have been more likely to not swallow the string...
 
my favorite is when they grab something good and then run off yelling about it
if you dont want them stealing your treat, dont tell them about it

I have searched and they say they will stop this but so far they havent
our chickens loves bees
hmm.png

once they take a few stings supposedly they will quit
but so far they havent got the message
 
Thankfully mine seem to leave the hay twine and such alone. I just grab it when I see it, but I am always finding some here and there.
What drives me nuts is that I uses shredded paper in their next boxes, and when I get the eggs, they think the tiny bits of paper that fly around are the best things ever. Thankfully it is crosscut shredded, so quite tiny, but sheesh, I wish they would quit lol.
 
When our girls were chicks, we had them in a brooder indoors. I would let my daughter get them out and let them run on our laminate floors for a little boredom relief before it was warm enough for the great outdoors. One day, one of the girls found a twisted elastic ponytail holder and grabbed it and ran! The other two started to chase her, and my daughter and i were chasing all three trying to keep her from swallowing it! Fortunately we got it away from her. My daughter had been digging up small worms outside and giving to them so I think they thought the hair tie was a wiggly treat!
 
It's funny how they run with their treat. Even funnier when one finds the treat and another chicken comes along and thinks it's ok to just snatch it away!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom