Commingling Chicken & Horses

[boochaces]

Jake and Halona seeing the chickens for the first time... Like, huhhh?

 

[CalicoClare]

My horse and chickens hang out during the day. But my horse has been put on Bute for her ringbone. Are the chickens in danger or us for eating the eggs. I thought the chickens only pick through for seeds ,but are they actually ingesting the manure? Please someone tell me. Can't find anything online to answer this question.

 

[Pocoscowgirl]

What about eating their eggs, after they feen on horse feces???

 

[donrae]

What about eating their eggs, after they feen on horse feces???

The bugs they get out of horse poop are no different than they're going to get free ranging anywhere else. We consider it a protein boost and increased nutrition. It's totally natural diet for a bird.

 

[Peeps61]

My chickens and my horses get along fine. The chickens don't really go into the pasture unless it's to scratch in nearby horse manure piles. The horses have 8 other acres to graze on, so they don't eat much around where the chickens go. The horses act like they don't even notice the chickens, and when cow birds land in the pasture, I see them standing on the horses' rumps sometimes. The horses are completely accepting of this as well as the chickens buzzing around their feedbuckets and manure piles.

 

[Pocoscowgirl]

Yes, but what about human consumption is it safe to eat eggs from chickens that eat horse feces??

 

[enola]

Refer to post 34, chickens that free range eat worse stuff than some grain out of horse manure!

 

[Pocoscowgirl]

So you are saying the eggs are ok to eat?? Why do some people not eat them??

 

[lazy gardener]

I think there were 2 concerns being raised here.

#32 was regarding chickens eating horse feces after the horses had been medicated with Bute for treatment of ringworm. The concern was if traces of this medication would then show up in the chicken eggs. That owner should check with the manufacturer of the medication, or with a local vet... Or ? I don't really know who!

Post # 33 regards chickens who just eat feces. Animal feces contains lots of undigested nutrients. Like it or not, chickens will eat it when they find it. They will eat feces, as well as grains that are passed in the feces, and the insects found in the feces. They are also co-pastured with grazing animals to decrease the parasite load for the larger animals. By the time all of that material passes through the chicken's gut, and the chicken extracts the nutrient, and turns it into yummy eggs, it makes not a single bit of difference what the chicken has eaten. IMO, an egg from a chicken who has been ranging in a pasture with grazing animals is far better by all measures than an egg from a chicken who eats nothing but processed chicken feed.

 

[Pocoscowgirl]

Thank you so much for your feedback, the man I had gotten the eggs from, said his wife would not eat the eggs, because the chickens teen on horse feces.
So that brought up a red flag in my head of course and I got paranoid…..lol

Anything is better then processed, chemical filled teen or chickens.