cooked bones not good for dogs -- how 'bout chickens?

[amiachicknorwat]

Got a bone broth soup I'm done with. Can I feed the bones and/or broth to my flock? They're beef rib bones. Thanks

 

[junebuggena]

If they're soft enough to peck (which they should be if you made the bone broth properly), it should be fine. If you can break the bones with your fingers, they are soft enough for beaks to break.

 

[chicklover 1998]

If they're soft enough to peck (which they should be if you made the bone broth properly), it should be fine. If you can break the bones with your fingers, they are soft enough for beaks to break.

X2 they will pick off the marrow and anything else left on the bones

 

[amiachicknorwat]

Thanks all, will give 'em some. See if it stirs them crazy

 

[DreamsInPink]

Let us know!!!:cd

 

[amiachicknorwat]

Hard to tell. We've canopied off their run so we can plant the garden without them eating our starts or seeds. We also shortened their run so we could get on with planting. The relative shrinking of their run is bound to make them stir crazy. My switching their feeding to myself hand feeding from using stationary feeders in the past also factors in. So they're always a bit stir crazy anyways, then more so when they think they're gonna be fed or are being fed. I throw the feed this way and that, from one end of the run to the other, giving them exercise, making them hunt and work for their food. Still they jostle each other abruptly intensely. I should feed them in the run immediately prior to stealing eggs in the coop cuz they loom over me as I stoop down for the eggs, giving me that creepy Hitchcock feel. Plus I got a rooster that attacks me and did today as I was gathering eggs. This gives rise to questions about broodyness. I thought they would continuously sit on eggs they want to hatch, so I wouldn't see them to pick them up anyway. I heard the hens switch off sitting on a few fertile eggs, giving all but continuous incubation. In short I dumped the pile of bones and broth into a pile in the run. They all dove on it. That's all I saw, was busy and turned away otherwise.

 

[junebuggena]

Having a rooster will not cause hens to go broody. And there is no good reason to keep a rooster that attacks people, he'll just pass that temperament on to his chicks.

 

[chickmomma03]

If your rooster is attacking you you need to consider culling. My cockerel has become a total jerk. He's heading for the dinner table fairly soon. I'm trying to see if I can find an appropriate replacement.

 

[amiachicknorwat]

"Having a rooster will not cause hens to go broody."

This wasn't my interpretation. I thought the rooster, Ivan the Terrible, attacked me right there and then out of protection of hens trying to hatch. Now I'm more sure cuz today at 6pm I went in to collect and 3 eggs were in that very same spot. They were warm. That was the only time I'd collected warm eggs after even 5pm let alone just after 6 as it was. Sure makes me wonder if a hen was sitting on those laid earlier in the day eggs just prior to my going in there. Then tonight closing up the coop I saw a hen in that very same nesting box when the rest were perched on their roost. Now thinking I better clean up the nesting boxes while staying out of brooder's way, add DE and scoop out poop. Work-work-work, my as well whistle, Nick

 

[junebuggena]

He still shouldn't be attacking you. There is no good reason for him to attack you for just doing your usual coop/flock maintenance. It can take a few days or even weeks for a hen to go full-blown broody. Those hormones take some time to really reach the level needed to make them stay on the nest 24 hours a day. It's not related to the presence of the rooster. Hens go broody without ever seeing a rooster in their lifetime, all the time. Having a rooster just means that you have fertile eggs. But an aggressive rooster is not the kind you want to keep around for breeding. That nasty temperament will be passed on.