Feeding chicken to your chickens?

[impr3]

In reading stock recipes on this forum, I've come across several folks saying that they give the strained stock contents (bones, giblets, veg scraps) to their chickens after they're done cooking with them. On the one hand, I'm a big fan of not wasting anything and would love for my chickens to benefit from the calcium, protein, and other nutrients in those leavings. On the other hand, feeding chicken to chickens feels a) discomforting and b) like a great way to spread disease in the flock (feeding cow to cows was a big part of how the Mad Cow Disease outbreak took off...). Of course, this would be more of an issue if I fed store bought chicken to my chickens which I'm highly unlikely to do.

So, do you feed chicken to your chickens? If yes, in what contexts? If no, why?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I give chicken bones to my flock. They don't know it's chicken though, they just know it's good and protein. If the chicken they eat is healthy, it won't hurt them

 

[3KillerBs]

Chickens are naturally cannibalistic. *shrug*

I wouldn't feed raw or undercooked chicken parts to them, but if stuff that's been simmered for hours could spread disease I'd be more worried about feeding it to my family than to my flock.

 

[Aapomp831]

In reading stock recipes on this forum, I've come across several folks saying that they give the strained stock contents (bones, giblets, veg scraps) to their chickens after they're done cooking with them. On the one hand, I'm a big fan of not wasting anything and would love for my chickens to benefit from the calcium, protein, and other nutrients in those leavings. On the other hand, feeding chicken to chickens feels a) discomforting and b) like a great way to spread disease in the flock (feeding cow to cows was a big part of how the Mad Cow Disease outbreak took off...). Of course, this would be more of an issue if I fed store bought chicken to my chickens which I'm highly unlikely to do.

So, do you feed chicken to your chickens? If yes, in what contexts? If no, why?

No chickens will not get the equivalent form of mad cow disease from eating chicken. Cows did not get it from eating beef, either. The leftover byproducts from processing beef were used to add to animal feed, and a few cows happened to get contaminated because the byproduct contained the protein responsible for the disease. It wasn’t eating cow that made them sick - it was eating byproducts from beef that happened to be contaminated. A body cannot recognize where a protein came from and therefore make you sick. The protein has to be infected or contaminated in some way. So you would have to feed your chickens undercooked chicken that happened to be contaminated with salmonella (for example)... it would be the salmonella causing the illness, not the fact that it’s chicken or that it’s undercooked. Eating undercooked chicken is fine if the chicken doesn’t have salmonella (but since there’s virtually no way to tell, we thoroughly cook chicken to be on the safe side).
A lot of people have misconceptions as to what mad cow disease even was in the first place, and I’m going to attach an informative article that explains it. Yes, you can give your chickens chicken - as long as it is thoroughly cooked. Like I said, the chickens body will recognize it as protein - not chicken.

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/all-about-bse-mad-cow-disease

 

[Ruby Rogue]

I just avoid it personally. Because it's weird.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I also avoid feeding them chicken.
But I do feed them scrambled eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

strained stock contents

I've found that strained stock contents make excellent bait. I use it in snap traps for mice and rats. I've caught rats, raccoons, possum, and skunks in my live traps. I've also trapped feral cats, doves, and once a groundhog but I think the groundhog just blundered inside instead of being attracted by the bait. I wish groundhogs were that easy. The cats and doves get released alive.

do you feed chicken to your chickens? If yes, in what contexts?

Yes. When I butcher chickens I keep two buckets handy. I put the stuff I'll bury in my garden or orchard in one. The other bucket gets the stuff that goes back to the rest of the flock. That includes the digestive tract cut into fairly small pieces (maybe 2"), bits of fat and other "edible" bits, the contents of the crop and gizzard, testicles from the boys, and the lungs. I toss that bucket in the run and try to give them no more than they can clean up before dark. I don't want to attract predators. The run I toss it in is an area about 45' x 65' inside electric netting and covered with grass. It is not one f those tiny backyard runs with bedding.

When I catch a mouse in a snap trap I toss that to my chickens. When I catch something larger I often split it open and toss it in the run for the chickens to pick the meat and internals. Before dark I dispose of what they haven't finished to avoid attracting predators. That keeps everything fresh too. If I find a mouse nest with babies, they babies go to the flock. If I kill a possum that has babies in her pouch those babies go to the flock. I know, I'm a total barbarian.

The way I look at it, chickens are omnivores. They eat both meat and vegetable. They catch small snakes and frogs and eat them. With chickens it is either "do lunch or be lunch". If it doesn't eat them they will eat it. Foraging for their diet means eating whatever they find. As for disease, if one has a disease they all already have it. If what is inside a chicken hasn't killed it then it will not be very likely to kill a chicken that eats it. I try to keep their immune systems strong instead of trying to keep them in a sterile environment. Mien don't live in a sterile environment anyway.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine are little carnivores, except with mice. They keep those dang things as pets

 

[3KillerBs]

With chickens it is either "do lunch or be lunch". If it doesn't eat them they will eat it.

*nods*

Mine seem to have dug up all the mole tunnels in their pen, eaten the moles, and turned the ruins into dustbaths.

 

[svh]

I also avoid feeding them chicken.
But I do feed them scrambled eggs.

If you think about it, eggs are just boneless chicken !