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People love chickens that are “vegetarian fed.” But chickens are not vegetarians.
Washington Post ^ | April 29, 2015 | Peter Whoriskey

Posted on 04/30/2015 11:46:17 AM PDT by C19fan

Many of the largest U.S. sellers of organic eggs boast that their hens are vegetarian, and for an increasingly food-curious public, this may be great advertising.

A carton of Eggland’s Best advertises that the company uses “vegetarian fed hens.” Horizon promises that their eggs “come from hens that are fed a 100% organic, vegetarian diet.” Land O Lakes hens have a diet with no animal fat or by-products.

Yet for the chickens, who are natural omnivores that readily devour bugs and small animals when they’re available, the forced vegetarianism can be a disaster.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Food; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: chickens
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Some of the foodie types are so stupid. Reminds me of stories of vegans who force their cats and dogs on vegetarian diets.
1 posted on 04/30/2015 11:46:17 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

By the same standards, cows ARE, and should not be fed bone-meal and meat-based supplements. That is why we have mad cow disease.


2 posted on 04/30/2015 11:48:25 AM PDT by SpinnerWebb (IN-SAPORIBVS-SICVT-PVLLVM)
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To: C19fan

Chickens will eat chicken.


3 posted on 04/30/2015 11:48:33 AM PDT by dainbramaged (Get out of my country now)
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To: C19fan
the company uses “vegetarian fed hens.”

So, vegetarians are the ones who feed the chickens?

4 posted on 04/30/2015 11:50:45 AM PDT by Defiant (Making Stephy a news anchor is like making an arsonist the fire chief.)
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To: C19fan
the forced vegetarianism can be a disaster.

I'm sure our chickens get some protein from bugs they find in the run, but by and large they've been on organic layer feed (and grass when we let them roam the yard) for years with no health issues.

Ummm, good eggs!

5 posted on 04/30/2015 11:50:53 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: C19fan
Chickens eat rats, too. Baby ones, still blind and in the nest.

I know from experience.

6 posted on 04/30/2015 11:53:26 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: dainbramaged

They will eat eggs, too. Once you have a hen that starts sucking eggs, all you can do is make a chicken dinner out of her.


7 posted on 04/30/2015 11:53:50 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (True followers of Christ emulate Christ. True followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed.)
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To: C19fan

I believe that it is ‘settled science’ that chickens are omnivores.


8 posted on 04/30/2015 11:53:50 AM PDT by tbpiper
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To: Defiant
the company uses “vegetarian fed hens.”

So, vegetarians are the ones who feed the chickens?


Perhaps. Or maybe the vegetarians are fed TO the chickens.
9 posted on 04/30/2015 12:00:40 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: C19fan

Chickens will eat lizards with astonishing gusto. I can say it’s a behavior I’ve facilitated, way back in my youth, owing to a purely scientific curiosity.


10 posted on 04/30/2015 12:01:15 PM PDT by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: SpinnerWebb

Cattle get all the animal protein they need consuming the bugs and other small creatures living in their forage. Chickens are predators and will even kill mice.


11 posted on 04/30/2015 12:02:48 PM PDT by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: dainbramaged

We have very rarely used our garbage disposal since getting our chickens. And they turn those scraps into tasty eggs.


12 posted on 04/30/2015 12:04:43 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Defiant

Feed the vegetarians TO the chickens.


13 posted on 04/30/2015 12:05:05 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: muir_redwoods

They are more vicious to mice than cats are.


14 posted on 04/30/2015 12:05:51 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: C19fan
One if my favorite memories is sitting on the tailgate of Papa's pickup shucking corn from the garden and throwing the corn worms to the chickens. Left then right, had the hens going back and forth like a tennis match.
15 posted on 04/30/2015 12:08:46 PM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the Ozarks)
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To: C19fan

As an omnivore of the classic design, I am sick and tired of food fetishes. If there is a GMO that makes chicken tastier, get the injection needle fired up!


16 posted on 04/30/2015 12:10:14 PM PDT by jonrick46 (America's real drug problem: other people's money (the Commutist's opium addiction).)
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To: SpinnerWebb

“That is why we have mad cow disease.”

I haven’t googled it but i thought mad cow was a result of cows feeding on the brains of other cows?


17 posted on 04/30/2015 12:11:18 PM PDT by Leep (To put it in laymen's terms liberal/progressive ist coo coo.)
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To: C19fan

feeding on the brains of other INFECTED cows


18 posted on 04/30/2015 12:12:40 PM PDT by Leep (To put it in laymen's terms liberal/progressive ist coo coo.)
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To: C19fan

The producers feed animals grains because it’s a cheap and quick way of fattening them up... not because it’s healthy for us to eat them. It’s becoming easier to find grass fed meats, and I can buy eggs from pastured chickens... but I’m still trying to find a store that sells pastured chicken meat close to where I live. I found it amazing that I could easily buy pastured meats and fowl in Lexington, Ky but not here in Maryland.


19 posted on 04/30/2015 12:12:59 PM PDT by Katya (Homo Nosce Te Ipsum)
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To: C19fan

It gets worse. There are now people demanding eggs from chickens fed only grass

There is nothing at all "natural" about it.
20 posted on 04/30/2015 12:19:53 PM PDT by GeronL (Clearly Cruz 2016)
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