How can chickens eat so many different foods?

[mylittlechickpea]

Quote:
My chicken stole a cigarette out of my mouth once

..... And ran around with it for a good minute or two until I would catch her.. As irresponsible as I felt that my chicken looked like she was smoking I wish I had a picture...

 

[Raven81]

haha that would be a good pic.
i learnt a few yrs back (bout 4 yrs) that they eat each other. i found that quite strange. i was working on a dairy farm & the chickens were free range but the milk tanker drivers would run over quite a few each year & i was soo shocked when i would go down the road to find 10 or so chickens eating there road kill mate... that was pretty much my intro to chickens. & now 4 years later im getting addicted & wanting to breed rare breeds here in NZ.

 

[Chris09]

Chickens are classified as a Omnivore but I think a better classification would be a facultative carnivore.
Chickens will eat Meat ( fresh or carrion ) and Plant Products. In my option some chickens could be considered a Mesocarnivore.
IMO, Chickens are closely related to the Dromaeosaurs (Raptor). Some species of Dromaeosaurs is said too may have been facultative carnivores.

* Note -- Facultative carnivore, a carnivore that does not depend solely on animal flesh for food but can also consume non-animals.
Mesocarnivore, A mesocarnivore is an animal whose diet consists of 50–70% meat with the balance consisting of nonvertebrate foods which may include fungi, fruits, and other plant material. *

Chris

 

[gritsar]

For their morning treat this morning my adult flock got leftover jambalaya and fried apples. Just as I knew they would, the first thing they picked out was the slices of smoked sausage. Little land sharks.

 

[Nostalchic]

That's probably one of the reasons that chickens and people hooked up way back when. Chickens, more than other potential bird candidates for domestication, were able to thrive on humans' leftovers and whatever else was around and available, and we also benefited (still do) from that cleaning up and utilization of scraps, and the fact that the chickens hung around and stayed available (to be eaten, etc.). The funny thing is that humans have language and culture that allows them to pass on information about what should and shouldn't be eaten (I'm paraphrasing Omnivore's Dilemna, I think) since our range of potential foods is so wide, but chickens don't... do they? They seem to know very well what to eat and what to stay away from, but it's hard to imagine what would clue them in about, say, a sucker...