i have a carton of eggs in my fridge that my aunt bought that says they came from "vegetable-fed hens. that got me wondering… are all the other eggs laid by carnivorous hens? if so, what exactly do they eat… horses like dogs do?
Some chickens are trained to be rodent control officers in grain storage facilities. Naturally, they eat what they catch, to maintain their razor sharp reflexes. No, I made that up. Actually, some poultry ranchers mix bone meal and some other animal products into the chicken feed. The protein makes 'em bigger when they’re ready to graduate to the food industry. Some folks even feed 'em marigolds, so they’ll look golden in the grocery store.
Well, a quick Google of chicken feed ingredients shows items such as bone meal, fish meal, hydrolyzed chicken feathers, worms and even termites used in producing meals for egg-laying hens. Also found that catch-all term “animal byproducts” as well.
It appears that chickens are not too discriminating in their tastes.
There’s a series of commercials on TV in Canada for chicken raised without animal byproducts in their feed. (One of them features a man eating a bowl of the feed like his breakfast cereal, and offering spoonfuls to a chicken across the table.) I suppose it’s a response to fears of Mad Cow Disease.
I don’t even remember the company.
okay, that’s kinda groos but i guess it’s not quite as bad as real meat as we know it. it just doesn’t seem right for chickens to eat cows, horses, etc.
Chickens are not picky at all. And it’s not like they eat the “animal byproducts” only because they don’t know what is ground up in their food.
Chickens will naturally eat insects, lizards, toads, small snakes, - basically anything that won’t put up much of a fight. They can even resort to cannibalism. If a hen develops an open wound and another notices and pecks at it, maybe the next hen will peck some, and the next, and the next… well, you get the picture.
Chicken feed can also include the ground remains of the male chicks who weren’t useful as egg-layers. They should have probably called it “grain-fed” or something to cause less confusion, but perhaps they’re fed vegetable matter other than grain.
[anecdote]
I helped a friend of mine work on his grandparent’s sheep ranch in southern Utah one day as a teenager. We took the remains of a coyote-killed lamb, ripe with maggots, and tossed it to the chickens. Within ten minutes it had been picked clean. Chickens are nasty birds and will eat anything.
gypsymoth3,
Thank you for saying HENS and not chickens. (To say chickens is like mixing up cows with “beefs”)
Hens naturally eat vegetable matter along with insects and possibly some small vertebrates. They may eat other bits of dead animal which they happen across, and a little meat may get into general table scraps - if they are back-yard hens as opposed to commercially kept ones. “Meat” as such shouldn’t really be given as food.
Hens are generally lovely creatures, and pay better “board” than cats n dogs.
okay, yeah, i had forgotten what my seventh grade teacher who knows the people who raise chickens for tyson or something said about how nasty chickens are. yay. i’ve just recently been grossed out about the fact the beef rots in your intestines for three days, and now, this? i think i’m goona go vegan, vegetarian, or at least pick up the old testament jewish diet. wait, no, i can’t do that because i belong to a strictly meat, potatoes, or anything saturated in cholesterol eating family. darn.oh well, potatoes aren’t disgusting that i know of, hmm… wahtt about butter?
Ask a worm if hens are vegetarian.