What is wrong with feeding chickens meat?

[Nostalchic]

So back to the original post - the reason that you don't put meat into your compost pile is that it will attract unwelcome guests - flies, rats, raccoons, etc - and it smells really really really bad. I don't think there's any connection between the compost issue and the chicken issue, unless you have your compost pile in the chicken run so that they can forage there, turn it for you, etc. (which is all good).

 

[lotzahenz]

I feed mine anything that I may eat except I hate scratch for some reason!

As an omnivore, I think both meat and veggies/fruits are necessary. Oh, I don't care much for bugs but they seem to love cheesecake. Chickens are scavengers, they enjoy most everything and I have had no trouble with the meat or eggs. HenZ

 

[Alabama ee]

I have seen mine eat a mouse.

I wondered at the time why I had not seen any mice around.

We didn't eat eggs for a while after that. Thinking about what went in the chicken went into that egg...yuck.

 

[bigdaddyabc]

Are you kidding? I am careful not to fall down in the run or coop because I am made of meat!

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
And yet people drink milk, even though cows, while herbivores, WILL eat the placenta of the calf they just birthed. Aren't the things that bother us just funny, sometimes??

 

[Akane]

I purposely toss the caught mice to mine.

 

[PortageGirl]

Mine get all table scraps meat included, and including chicken and any roast chicken carcasses that I don't have the time or energy to turn into soup. I know a lot of people wouldn't waste the opportunity, but I don't care much for the broth made from a leftover chicken so the live ones benefit. Chickens don't know what kind of meat they're eating, so people that think it's some kind of cannibalism, but they are definitely clueless, to them it's just protein, not cousin Henrietta. Besides, chickens aren't just omnivores IMO, I think they're practically carnivores and the direct descendants of Velociraptors straight out of Jurassic Park! If they were only a little bigger we could be in serious danger!

Maybe you're confusing the reluctance of people to feed chicken feed that has meat or meat by-products in it. In my case, I prefer to know that the meat I feed my hens come from sources I know about, not from a commercial who knows what kind of ground up stuff source. Also, the feed I've tried that does have meat protein in it made their poo extra stinky so I avoid it mostly for that reason. Maybe it's the meat protein in it, or maybe it's other ingredients in it... regardless, I feed a vegetarian feed (Purina Layena), but not because my chickens are vegetarians. Mostly because my locally owned feed mill carries it and because it seems a more efficient feed for my birds.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Mine love fish ...especially salmon... fish and rice they go crazy !!

 

[Bunnylady]

My chickens will eat just about anything that doesn't try to eat them. That includes things like lizards, frogs and THEIR OWN EGGS (grrrr!) I buy chicken food that assures me it contains no animal proteins, but only because I can't be 100% sure my stupid goats (or not so stupid, depending on your point of view) won't find a way to get at least a little of the chicken feed. Not feeding meat to goats makes sense, with an omnivore like a chicken, it makes less sense (although there are some people whose sensibilities are offended by it, which may be why the manufacturer uses it as a selling point).

The reason you don't put meat into a compost pile is because the decay process of meat (putrifaction) involves entirely different organisms than those that are involved in composting. Plus, it really stinks, and it will raise flies (unless your chickens have access to the compost pile, and will eat the maggots for you). Grossed out yet?!

 

[love_a_duck]

direct descendants of Velociraptors straight out of Jurassic Park! If they were only a little bigger we could be in serious danger!

yes, this is what i thought about in the first post!

(to the op, has your husband seen jurassic park?)

oh and the person who said they wouldnt fall down in the pen.