Omnivores! Remember that!

[Penpal]

I think people ask if we get eggs if because they don't know chickens are laying most of the year. They also don't realize that, like us, they create a mature egg with or without a male present. They may be wondering if you have chickens to eat them, or for egg laying.

 

[joyce_huang]

That's funny. I've seen a hen cut a frog into bite-sized pieces with her beak. That's why I try to not let their beaks get that close to my eyes.

The flock was moving to the orchard to forage and a hen held back. I saw her go off to the side in taller grass and nab a frog. She carefully did not offer to share food (no sounds) but cut it up for herself. They are supposed to be flock animals but not that sneaky girl!

You did read her minds!

 

[birdlady11]

My girls are prolific lizard, frog, snail, and slug hunters. Florida has lots of bugs and the girls especially love spiders (which I try not to let them have because they are good to have in the coop for bug control) and palmetto bugs which I absolutely abhor and which they would run through a pack of starving wolves to get. If I roast a chicken or turkey I give the girls the uncooked giblets & heart cut up into chicken-sized bites. I tie the neck that comes inside the turkey and tie it to the chicken fence so they can pick the meat off. If I don't feel like making soup with the carcass, I'll tie that loosely to the chicken fence as well, and let the girls go at it. They love the meat (raw with the neck and cooked with the carcass) and it provides a day of entertainment for them. At the end of the day I take whatever is left and bury it in my compost pile. I also give them a rare treat of a small amount of dry puppy chow or a bit of canned dog food, especially when I'm feeling guilty about having kept them cooped for a day.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My birds will absolutely devastate a moderate sized snake, a mother rat and her babies, and will do a reasonable job of picking clean goat bones after I've butchered and sent most of the animal to freezer camp.

I'll take a few more bags of feed with Porcine Blood Meal as one of the top ingredients, thanks!

 

[Love Donkeys]

I've seen a hen pounce on a stunned little gray bird. She gobbled it down, from beak to tail in two gulps! I believe the chickens are better at catching mice than our barn cats. Chickens are a far cry from being vegetarians, that's for sure!