Interesting find about what chickens prefer to eat - not what I expected

I didn't know where to post this but since people sometimes have chickens for preping I thought it would fit in here somewhat, IDK where livestock discussion would be.

So I've had a few visitors the last week or so. They come scratching around under my bushes foraging for whatever they can find. The bushes are burning bushes and they have LOTS of small red berries that are supposedly poisonous, especially when eaten in large quantites but the birds like them and so do the chickens it seems. I've never seen them here before but he neighbors have had the birds for years. I thought the neighbors were away and maybe didn't feed them or something as it is a fair distance between houses and they completely searched (scratched the earth almost tilling it) a massive area between our houses.

So I decided to put out some old cereals and such for them and see if they liked it. I put out rolled oats, cracked corn, barley and green split peas and a mixture of beans - all of this was dry. Well after 3+ days the bowl had been picked clean of everything but the cracked corn! I found this odd b/c when I look at poultry feed (specifically for chickens) the largest component is usually cracked or flaked corn. It was like they picked through the entire plate (about 12" diameter), ate what they liked and left what they must have really disliked.

I'm wondering if the reason they ate the other things is because maybe they are tired of corn if that is what they are often fed? It could even be a vitamin thing, maybe they came over b/c they were lacking some vitamins with their feed and looked elsewhere to supplement their diet and they got lucky with a neighbor putting out food. So maybe the new cereal/beans were desired b/c they gave a different nutrient profile than corn.

Well anyway, that's my thoughts on this. IDK much about chickens but I thought they would like corn. I will say that I think they went for the oats first and then the barley but I'm not certain, all of it was mixed up pretty good. I wonder if scientists test what foods the chickens like most or if they go with whatever fits the "nutritional needs" and is cost effective. It would be interesting to see the difference in their eggs when being fed a different diet and what the meat was like as well.

Corn isn't really a natural food for most animals- but it's a very high in starch/sugar grain so it's often used in farming to fatten up livestock.

Tell you what though- chickens are stupid. They'll eat the meat right off the bones of your BBQ chicken leftovers, even fight over it.
They like bugs- they'll eat mice. Ticks are a special treat.

Can't wait to have chickens again.

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
I found this odd b/c when I look at poultry feed (specifically for chickens) the largest component is usually cracked or flaked corn.

.

Sheesh you don’t say. Next thing you know we’ll find out dogs and cats don’t prefer brown compressed nuggets of by products!!!! Even though it says “Dog Food” right on the bag. Huh! It’s almost as if humans only feed animals the bare minimum and cheapest available. Who’da thunk it?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Corn and cracked corn is more a squirrel and rodent thing. Chickens are like pigs and will pretty much eat anything! Mine would go into orgasmic battle devouring found wasp larvae in a nest! They loved any leftovers proffered from our table...including a chicken carcass!

It doesn't surprise me that they will eat chicken, especially cooked and seasoned along with other things like mice or whatever. IDK how far their species is from the raptor family but we know those things will eat just about anything dead.


As for the cracked corn, it is odd that they wouldn't even eat it and prefer to pick at the ground. It would be easier to eat what was in the plate but they chose the poisonous berries (even after picking them clean) that cause very bad diarrhea and dehydration in animals. So they left the easy meal and went back to savaging for toxic berries. That is what surprised me the most.

I don't recall how to embed these, but here goes...



If that didn't work:
www.youtube.com...


This one has gained popularity lately, but it's just an example... cat is out there playing with the mouse (intentionally not killing it, more value as a toy) - chicken doesn't waste any time.

Pretty much anything you'd throw into a compost bin makes good chicken feed.
If you have a lot of chickens, you'll have more eggs than you can eat- every now and then you can take the oldest 30 eggs or so and make a big egg pie. Cycle out some of your oldest dry storage beans, rice, whatever your SHTF food is that you don't think is much worth storing anymore and cook it up. Make a big egg pie with whatever you've got. Chickens love it. you can even crush up the shells and put them back in the pie, they'll eat it right up.

Chickens eat a lot of #. My dad's chickens'll eat most fruits and vegetables, they ate the raspberry bushes and any other plants that grew along their coop, they eat just about any kind of bugs, grains and such. My dad used to crush shells into their food occasionally for calcium. It made the egg shells thick as #. You had to hammer those things against a bowl to crack them.

There's really not much chickens won't eat. A raccon got in once and killed one of the chickens overnight, in the morning the other chickens were eating the dead one.

You can also put your chickens in the garden and they will eat all the bugs.

Best to do this before your garden is bearing fruit or veggies because the chickens will also devour the veggies

Also, chickens only lay really good for a couple or maybe three years, then you need some young ones if you like your eggs.

Chickens are way older genetically than humans and they can eat a lot of stuff we can't eat.

As far as the corn, if the chickens have their choice, they might opt not to eat the corn. They have a lot of food outside that is way more healthier than the corn, why eat corn when there are a lot of great tasting bugs around. Being outside like that and scavenging for foods is good for the chickens. They have genetic knowledge, they know what they need to have when they need it to help them be healthier. Their subconscious guides them to eat what they need and save the junk food for later. Humans often lack that ability, they do not pay attention to their cravings yet overindulge in things that brings their enzymes out of whack. That leads to addiction to certain food chemistries as enzyme production to metabolize a food takes a while to make in any numbers.

Most animals do not like corn unless they are trying to put on weight for the winter. Corn comes ripe about the time winter is coming, everything evolved around seasonal eating. Even humans. Humans are just a little ignorant and can't fathom that.

a reply to: lordcomac

Tell you what though- chickens are stupid

I disagree.

Seagulls are cannibals too, I work at a dock and see seagull bones all the time picked clean.
Nasty little buggars
I

Some people I know feed their chickens a vegetarian diet. Chickens are not vegetarians, the eggs taste way better if they get out and eat some bugs. The meat from a chicken that goes outside and eats bugs and stuff tastes far superior too.

I have 6 hens left and one giant rooster. They like the scratch grain, which is cracked corn and other dry things. But once, I cut myself while working around their coop and when they tasted my blood, they kind of went nuts. It worried me that if I ever passed out and cut myself while in the pen, they might only find the bones and some very, very fat chickens.

They even look at me a bit more sinister now. I don't turn my back on them.

originally posted by: SeaWorthy
a reply to: lordcomac

Tell you what though- chickens are stupid

I disagree.

I do not. below freezing, I put a heat lamp in the coop, and they still sleep outside. they are dumb.

originally posted by: gr8skott

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
I found this odd b/c when I look at poultry feed (specifically for chickens) the largest component is usually cracked or flaked corn.

.

Sheesh you don’t say. Next thing you know we’ll find out dogs and cats don’t prefer brown compressed nuggets of by products!!!! Even though it says “Dog Food” right on the bag. Huh! It’s almost as if humans only feed animals the bare minimum and cheapest available. Who’da thunk it?

they say dont give any dog chocolate! it may kill them
NOT true ! its the same as some people die from peanuts.

one X-mas I gave my black lab dog his X-mas present from under the tree.
he loved unwrapping it.
next year one night he remembers this.
he opens them ALL and eats a great deal of chocolate.
he was happy and full. NO bad effects.

BUT in saying this some dongs will get ill and may die.
them silly small dogs!

Bust open some old pumpkins and watch the chickens and guinea come running from there "favorite" food. Great visitors to have, nothing but opossums eat as many ticks and bugs.

All of our most recent chickens got eaten by the coyotes (one at a time), but before that the minute we let the chickens out in the morning they would make a B-line right for the cattle corrals. Oh man, they are in heaven out there getting bugs in the manure! They'll even make the cows move, or go around them, if they've found a good spot.

a reply to: buddha

Milk chocolate isn't fatal to a healthy dog but it takes as little as a single ounce of baker's chocolate to kill all but the largest dogs. It is also worth noting that a lot of holiday candy has a high wax content as a cost saving measure so it reduces the overall chocolate content.

ETA: Public Service Announcement> always check accredited sources before you share potentially fatal medical and veterinary advice publicly

Chickens go crazy over blood
farmers used to have a problem when a chicken got injured; the others would see the blood and kill it.
they came up with red spectacles so the chickens couldn't see blood.

sounds like a joke or hoax but its real.

en.wikipedia.org...

Red-tinted lenses were considered to be effective in reducing internecine pecking because they disguise the color of blood. As summed up in a 1953 article in Indiana's National Road Traveler newspaper, "The deep rose-colored plastic lenses make it impossible for the cannibal [chicken] to see blood on the other chickens, although permitting it to see the grain on the ground."

they LOVE watermelon

Our neighbor has chickens and feeds them old donuts from the Krispy Kreme in town. She gives us a lot of eggs and they taste like chocolate eclairs!!