Mean mommy

[BarbK]

I had left over chicken noodle soup that wasnt quite good enough for human consumption so I took it out and dumped it for the chickens to eat. Think I should tell them that they are eating their cousins???

 

[trilyn]

 

[PortageGirl]

They love any meat and as long as it's cooked, (and not truly spoiled) it's an excellent source of good protein for them. The only thing I'd give them that's raw is fish and fish scraps.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm not sure you want to give them any ideas.

Descended from dinosaurs.

They will eat anything that doesn't run away fast enough.

 

[PortageGirl]

*RAWWWWRRRRR*

 

[Camelot Farms]

This may be a dumb question/comment but when we raise hogs, we NEVER give them meat scraps of any kind. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there is a valid reason...

So, I get that it would be okay for egg layers since you arent planning on eating them, but what about the meaties? Or the occasional naughty roo who yesterday ate his cousin then ended up in the stock pot cause he also attacked a 3 yr old. Is it safe to eat him?

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Quote:
i think the reason for not feeding meat to hogs would be if the meat source is contaminated the hogs could come down with any number of diseases.

But chickens are omnivores. Left to their own devices, they eat bugs, worms, geckos, grass hoppers, mice, pretty much anything. So their system is set up to handle meat, and it should not negatively effect their eatability (if that is a word). You would just want to make sure the meat source is not contaminated. i feed my chickens left over stuff from the fridge, but never include anything that is spoiled.

 

[BarbK]

The reason why you are not supposed to feed meat to a pig is because of the possiblity of infecting them and then yourself with trichinosis. It used to be a big problem because farmers would feed their pigs scraps and then eat the pig and get infected. Here is a link to the cdc about it.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/trichinosis/factsht_trichinosis.htm

 

[PortageGirl]

Yes, but hogs are omnivores as well... if you read up it's feeding them raw meat and offal which is dangerous. It's definately a terrible idea to feed chickens either of those too. thoroughly cooked meat is perfectly safe for either, though I think commercial pig farmers won't feed it because of current regulations.