Feeding chickens CAT FOOD!?!?!?!

[frankenchick]

I use it for chickens that are getting ready to lay, and to finish my "meaties."

Oh, and sometimes my DH eats it:
This from my journal:

July 27, 2007
. . . Tonight, I was putting away groceries and preparing to go and bring in the chickens. Roger was rummaging around, looking for a snack. I heard him munching something; he said, “This stuff tastes like cow food!” That’s what he usually says about the stuff I eat, so I had to narrow it down: “Which stuff?” I asked. “On the table, your ‘Naturals,’” he said. I started howling with laughter. “That’s because it’s the dry cat food for the chickens!” I cried, gasping for breath.
I shall never let him forget this.

I don't feed it to anyone on a regular basis.

 

[hankus]

My chickens and the ducks eat dog and cat food in small amounts. It doesn't seem to affect them. My neighbor also does this, and we like it for finishingmeaties like stated above.

 

[lngrid]

I don't know much about chickens, but cats are obligate carnivores. They can't manufacture amino acids from plant sources like humans can. I don't feed my cats a raw diet because I work away from home. I feed them Evo (formerly Innova Evo) instead. You can see that Evo is about 50% protein, but it's also nearly 10% ash. I've heard that the salts of the ash are not good at all for chickens over time. Evo is fantastic for my cats. They're SPCA orphans, but their coats are as glossy as show cats. I honestly don't know what it would do for chickens, but I would be careful. It's about $35.00 for a 15 lb. bag, but they eat much less of it than the cheap cat food. Since it keeps them healthy, I'm betting I'll save money in vet bills in the long run, too.

 

[TipsyDog]

I throw my girls a handful of cat food as a treat. They love it. Be careful to only feed it in moderation.

 

[feathersnuggles]

I occasionally feed my chickens Orijen dry cat food which is about 45% protein (mostly chkn/turkey, various wild fish, whole eggs) and 20% fat. It's animal proteins/fruits/veg/botanicals/vit/minerals and no grains. The hens get about 1-2 large handfuls a week, and for a molting hen I'll feed another handful or two per week.

This food seems to be good for some of the neighborhood cats who are always prowling around my yard. Now & then I've been feeding them this stuff, too, and they look much healthier than they did a couple months ago. I hope this means they're less of a disease threat to my hens.

 

[Roy and Vicky]

I'd like to see some more discussion on this topic. Does anyone use this to help molting chickens? How much do you add daily to their diet? How long do you use it?

 

[lwiese58]

I just came across this thread as I was searching for more information on something I read a day or so ago that said to scatter it on the ground after a hen has been hen-picked a lot and it would not only distract the offenders, but it might also supply some salt that they seem to be needing when they resort to picking on someone. Is this generally known/done?
Thanks!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Someone also told me they used it with their laying hens to give them the extra protein they need since the layer wasn't the right protein amount, said they needed more. ?? I really don't know. Anyway they said their chickens lay through their molts when they're given the extra protein from the cat food. They told me when going through a molt it can cut the time in half and they will still lay.......... Dry, small pieces and a little hand full mixed in goes a long way. Wal-Mart sells the big bag of Meow Mix with the 40 percent protein and just seen dollar store starting to carry the little bags of it.


Mine isn't laying yet but been saving info for later so I'd know what to do when the time came.

 

[Tippy Toes]

My four girls eat cat food and they don't seem to have come to any harm.
My logic is... my two cats leave some leftovers which attract flies (I live in Australia where flies are part of life). I could throw it in the bin or... I could feed it to my chickens. Makes sense.
Secondly, I have a largish frog pond which has a population of little native fish. Occasionally, the water grass takes over and I thin this out. A few of the little fish end up being caught up in the net and the chickens gobble them up in a second.
They also eat insects as they free range around the yard.
The cat food contains some grain (though unrecognisable) so I figure... meat, grains... that is part of a chicken's natural diet.. right?
They also are fed dried mealworms (when there's no left over cat food), lettuce, fruit (whatever's inexpensive) porridge and fermented layer mash.
I wouldn't feed meat exclusively though.. as with everything... balance is the key.

 

[ageewax]

My chickens are having some feather issues - one of the girls is pecking the butt feathers off of everyone else, and then one of the victims of her bullying has taking to plucking her own feathers where she can reach them. It devastates me, because she has the more gorgeous feathers of the bunch! The thing that concerned me the most is that I'm not finding her feathers anywhere in the coop or run, which makes me think that she is eating them. That can be a sign that the girls are not getting enough protein.

So I did my usual anti-plucking routine - mainly I put Baby Vick's Vaporub on all of the bald areas to stop the girls from plucking (they don't like the taste). And I filled a rubber feeding pan with a thin layer of cat food soaked in water. I left that in the run for them to pick at as needed. They still get have their layer feed handing in the run and their daily bowl of cabbage and grapes. They ate a decent amount of it on the first day, but not all of it. And it looked like they ate a little less of it today.

I think it's kind of like oyster shells - they only take what they need. Now if I left a pan of mealworms out there on the other hand.... They'd be gone in an instant.

We'll see if that helps with the feather issue. They did not molt this year (they are only about a year old or so), so at first we thought this was molt, but it's localized and there's no feather loss on the neck. Either way, protein is important to help they regrow their feathers, so I'll take the cat foot out of the run once there is good feather coverage. It's about to get cold here - I don't want them freezing!