Feeding Chickens RoadKill???

[Frantz]

Ok, I have a buddy that I raise chickens with. Well we talk a lot and have become friends. I have my birds, chickens, quail, pheasants etc. Up on a ranch about 15-20 mins away from the city. He lives up there closer to the ranch so we have become friends shooting the breeze and such when we are up there. The area is very rural and small town, it is beautiful.
So the other day I am wimpering about the crazy price of feed and how if it keeps going up I don't know what I am going to do. Talked about another gal that I know who has gone to bulk dog food to feed her chickens and how I thought that was a little crazy but she works at the factory so she sees what goes into the dog food and I guess that makes it ok.
Well he up and tells me that if he wasn't supplementing his chicken feed with Roadkill that he would never make it either.
I about fell over, I was quickly going through my mind to make sure that I did not have any of his flock mixed in with mine. I am thinking mad bird diesease etc. All kinds of things are running through my mind. I told him that was nuts..... He said that ever day or so he stops and picks up a coon, or rabbit, or sometimes even a deer and supplements his birds diet with it. Says its protien and they pick it clean. Says its always fresh kill from the night before, cause he drives the route everyday to and form work.  So ??
So after calming down a little at home and all I starting thinking that maybe it isn't so bad. I mean I don't know that I would feed my birds that way, but I guess its not doing any harm.
Of course knowing him he is out late at night chasing deer with his truck for feed
Anyone ever heard of that???
Frantz

[EasternShore]

This post is from Becky.

Can't say that I have heard of that practice!  I do know this.  I went out to check on my chickens a few weeks ago, and saw that they were all chasing each other around the pen while throwing something up in the air.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a dead sparrow.  Not sure if they killed it, or if it died in some other manner, but they were seriously chomping that bird down.

Ewwwwww...... yuck.   

[randydrivesabus]

if they clean it up good it sounds ok.....but if they are nearby your house and they don't do a very good job of it it will start smelling pretty bad and attract flies and unwanted critters. but i think the chickens would be fine eating it. but i'm not so sure going around picking up roadkill would be very pleasant. around here the vultures and flies get it.

[poka-bee]

I don't know about that...the road kill would have parasites & pathogens that are not usually found in your chix yard..BUT many of them are host specific so might not be a problem w/chix eating them..rdab is right, I can think of more pleasant hobbies than scraping up road kill..& you would have to dispose of the bones & fur & be careful so your dogs don't get into it..   Jody

[JP]

As long as its fresh roadkill I don't see a problem, like in just killed, other than that, do we really need to go there?

Hey, ya''l ever see this movie? http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eating_raoul/


...JP

[Brian D. Bray]

Chickens are not vegetarians.  I feed mine table scraps, everything from meat to vegetables.  They really like seafood and the crab, lobster, and shrimp shells they consume helps in the production of egg shell.  I also smash up clam and oyster shells and feed that to them as grit.  If you've got chickens their isn't much that need go to waste, they're walking compost convertors.

I was enlarging the chicken pen yester day, more than doubled the size, and when tearing down the old fence you should have seen the hens and roosters fighting over the worms, beetles, and other crawlies.  They also loved the fresh grass and weed shoots that got dug up before fully sprouted.

[poka-bee]

Brian, I do the same, there isn't anything they won't try.  There is nothing in the compost pile but dried out corn cobs & they went after the drowned squirrel from the stock tank..eewww I had to go in the house so's not to be grossed out!  Won't be telling the vegetarians at the CSA that buy my eggs bout that!

[danno]

our youth deer hunt (age 12 to 16) was this weekend and my chickens are cleaning up a rib cage as i write this.  They love meat!!!!!!

[poka-bee]

The squirrel is gone..they even carried off the bones & are fighting over the fuzzy tail bit left !  I'm afraid to sit still too long around them!   Jody

[JP]

The squirrel is gone..they even carried off the bones & are fighting over the fuzzy tail bit left !  I'm afraid to sit still too long around them!   Jody

Don't fall asleep in the chicken yard with an open wound.


...JP

[danno]

you should see them go after my wifes red painted toe nails

[Jerrymac]

Nearly every time I walk out the door the whole mess of chickens and guineas come running up to me. After reading this I sometimes wonder what their intentions are.

[Frantz]

So Ok, I guess it aint so bad... My buddy wants me to watch them devour a meal. He said that after watching them, you will no longer wonder if they are little dinos or not. Little T Rex buggers he calls them.
Sounds like a movie plot developing here!!!
F

[Jerrymac]

I have seen the articles saying Chickens are cousins of the Rex 

[Brian D. Bray]

I have seen the articles saying Chickens are cousins of the Rex 

Reverse engineer the feathers back to scales and Wah La, mini T-Rex.

[Melilem]

? I have never tried to feed my chickens meat, but I have never seen them eat anything on their own. I mean, they never eat their fellow chickens when they die. Mine don't anyway... what kind of chickens are you people raising, anyway?

[Brian D. Bray]

? I have never tried to feed my chickens meat, but I have never seen them eat anything on their own. I mean, they never eat their fellow chickens when they die. Mine don't anyway... what kind of chickens are you people raising, anyway?

Wait until one has blood or sore showing.  They will ignore a dead coup mate if it is intact but just a slight injury will cause them to cannablize it.  Sometimes, when pecking each other, the low bird gets eaten after it starts bleeding from being pecked so much.

[Jerrymac]

I have found the more chickens you have the more different stuff they eat. My first few always seemed a little picky, but now I can throw anything out there and one of them is going to grab it and wolf it down. I guess it is because those on the lower rung of the social ladder is going to grab what they can before they get run off.

How ever... I found a mouse the cat had killed and threw it in amongst them. They just looked at it and walked away

[Michael Bush]

In the world at large, chickens became popular because they can turn garbage into eggs and meat.  Chickens will eat anything they can get in their mouth that has nutritional value.  Feeding them meat, however, is illegal in most states UNLESS it's cooked first.  This is to prevent the spread of diseases and parasites such as trichinosis.

[JP]

? I have never tried to feed my chickens meat, but I have never seen them eat anything on their own. I mean, they never eat their fellow chickens when they die. Mine don't anyway... what kind of chickens are you people raising, anyway?

Wait until one has blood or sore showing.  They will ignore a dead coup mate if it is intact but just a slight injury will cause them to cannablize it.  Sometimes, when pecking each other, the low bird gets eaten after it starts bleeding from being pecked so much.

This post is starting to scare me!!!


...JP