Oh gross!

[Nicole01]

My frizzle Cochin Daisy found a baby dead shrew that my cat killed and left in the yard. I caught Daisy and I tried pulling the shrew by the tail, so she wouldn't swallow it. Apparently I pulled too hard and the tail broke off.

I had to take Daisy over by the weeds and open her mouth to drop the shrew. I did not want her to eat a dead shrew for breakfast.

Daisy wasn't too happy that I took her prize possession from her, but she forgave me soon afterwards. Eating things like that could give her feas and tapeworm. Bleh! I'm so grossed out.

 

[maybejoey]

Dont think it would of been a problem if she would of ate it. But there could have been germs but pretty unlikely. Still gross.

.

.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Ummm....my chickens pretty frequently kill, dismember and eat rodents, snakes, frogs, sparrows, whatever they can get a hold of. They are like packs of little dinosaurs, I am glad I am larger than they.

I have heard both responses to whether birds can get mammal/fish/reptile/amphibian/insect parasites from eating these prey creatures. It seems likely that some bird parasites spend part of their juvenile lives in prey species like earthworms and grasshoppers in order to be more easily picked up by the creatures in which they reach maturity. Does anyone know for certain?

 

[mythkat]

I look at it as they are free ranging, so they are eating what they would if they were feral or wild. That's what makes their eggs so good and good for us. I think Joel Salatin said "Letting the chickens be chickens."

 

[yinzerchick]

Quote:

 

[Fred's Hens]

Agreed. No matter folks pet them, coddle them and fluff them up, the chicken is a dinosaur at heart and by instinct will catch and eat anything they can.

 

[juliaaa]

Fred's Hens :

Agreed. No matter folks pet them, coddle them and fluff them up, the chicken is a dinosaur at heart and by instinct will catch and eat anything they can.

Agreed!​

 

[they'reHISchickens]

The man delightedly tells me of finding a mouse in the hen house- - devoid of its eyes and feet.
Yes, dear, they are real vecelorapters. Cannibalistic too.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Fred's Hens :

Agreed. No matter folks pet them, coddle them and fluff them up, the chicken is a dinosaur at heart and by instinct will catch and eat anything they can.

Ayep. And if chickens came twenty feet tall they'd eat YOU.​

 

[Chemguy]

Quote:
Yes, they can. Here's one way in which roundworm is spread, with a raccoon as an example. http://www.raccoonworld.com/raccoonroundworm.html

Most parasitic worms have a life cycle that uses more than one host. Some are transmitted by specific hosts.