Don't feed your chickens ,Chicken

[momofdrew]

When I was a kid they used to feed pigs garbage from peoples back yards... they actually had men go around and collect the garbage from our back yard garbage cans....the rule was to fully cook pork or you could get trichinosis...then they started to raise corn fed pigs and that decreased the risk of tric... but you should always fully cook any meat be it chicken pork turkey beef lamb or goat to the temp recommended by the usda....

I gave my birds a half of a turkey breast yesterday that still had scraps on it and they loved it...I also give them hardboiled eggs as a protien treat...

if we take notice of where our food comes from and handle it properly we do not have to worry about desaeses...

 

[JennsPeeps]

One poster made a good point about diets closely matching what a wild version of that species would eat.

Cows eat grass. Period. They should not eat corn (which I know is technically a grass... but it wouldn't exist in the wild, hence is excluded). They should not eat other animals.

Chickens are omnivores. They are scavengers and are opportunistic. They would gladly eat a dead animal they found in the wild, so I see no problem with them eating meat on occassion. In fact, they shouldn't eat corn, either.

Read Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Fascinating book!

 

[redhen]

Quote:
thank you! this was all i was trying to say....

 

[FlaChickenMan]

I fed my chickens leftover bacon and now my roo roots instead of scratching?? Is that a sign of med pig disease?
Now really, if they will cannabalize each other (raw), then what chance does cooked (160 degrees kills most things) chicken have to infect any other chicken. My chickens were sick and got raw milk, yogurt, oatmeal, and finely diced chikcen with antibiotic in it for 5 days and they all are fine and healthy now?? Thats all i'm saying.

 

[mjdtexan]

I have read this complete thread. Now my head hurts. And I'm scared.


Just kidding about the scared part. Though it seems wrong to me to feed chicken to chickens, chickens will cannobolize (sp?) each other. Seems like nature answered the question for us. I am a novice to chicken raising and I certainly have much to learn about raising chickens.

It has been an interesting thread and I for one am glad I read it.

 

[Buster]

Quote:
Chickens don't have the common sense to associate eating leftover chicken with eating live chickens. It's just extra protein for them. They don't have any moral issues with it either. Chickens are omnivores. You should have seen what mine did to the leftover turkey carcass from Christmas dinner- you couldn't identify it the next day. I guarantee you they won't eat the live turkeys I raise next year because of it.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
Where is it Illegal? Please cite the law in question if it's not too much trouble.

Actually the above quote & the op both make excellent examples of the internet at it's worst. Anyone can post any misinformation they choose as long as they have internet access & there's no controlling entity to say no. Newspaper & magazines have fact checkers to avoid this kind of thing-book publishers have editors.
There is no Mad Chicken Disease, It's not "illegal" to feed pork to pigs & cows didn't gwt BSE simply because they were fed beed byproducts.

 

[maine chicks]

My chickens go crazy over the carcass from the Thanksgiving bird and get the occasional chicken leftovers thrown their way. They love it. Its like kids grabbing the candy from the pinata at a birthday party. Candy in moderation.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
Redhen:

This is a complete falsehood.

The regulations regarding feeding animal products relate to feeding ruminat products back to ruminants. With these regulations, virtually every feed mill in the USA only uses porcine or poultry meat or meat and bone meal for livestock feeds.

You should read the regulations before make statements about legality.

Jim

 

[ZooMummzy]

Quote:
Same here. My chickens love chicken! In fact, they pretty much love everything I give them...pig, cow, corn.... If I wouldn't eat it or feed it to my family, I don't give it to my girls.