People love chickens that are “vegetarian fed.” But chickens are not vegetarians.

Washington Post ^ | April 29, 2015 | Peter Whoriskey

[JimSEA]

Maybe they mean the chickens are fed chopped up vegetarians?

[Neidermeyer]

Chickens will eat chicken.
***************
My chickens LOVE chicken ... and I had a huge laugh last week when one (a very quick small hen) caught a tasty lizard and was chased around the yard for at least 5 minutes by her sisters that wanted that morsel...

[right way right]

Chickens eat fire crackers.

Then my Dad made me pluck it and eat it.

[11th Commandment]

Chickens on an unsupplemented vegetarian diet typically fall short of an essential protein-based amino acid known as methionine, and without it, they fall ill. Worse, the birds will also turn on each other, pecking at each other in search of nutrients, and these incidents can escalate into a henhouse bloodbath, farmers say.

Eggland is making a marketing ploy. All chicken today is feed on Corn and Soy plus feed supplements. Methionine is an organic byproduct in a complicated chemical manufacturing product. What I can't stand is companies market BS all the time to uninformed consumers. We see "gluten free" on products that never had gluten. We see "No trans fat" on products loaded with saturated fat. We see "organic" and assume environmentally friendly when metals are used as pesticides which is deadly to animal life. This is why myths become cultural nomenclature because asinine companies exploit the uneducated to make a profit.

[Ditter]

Thanks for the reply.

[Mr. Lucky]

Umm, no.

Mad cow disease is spread when cattle eat the brain or spinal stem from infected cattle over three years old. The disease is not spread by bone meal or meat.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Cattle get all the animal protein they need consuming the bugs and other small creatures living in their forage.

Not true. The cow's gut ferments raw fiber into fats and proteins big time.

Cow digestion

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Chickens are evil pecking and pooping machines. Their only virtue lies in the fact they taste good and produce tasty eggs.

Oh and they eat bugs.

In fact they will eat everything.

Including you if you happen to fall down.

[GeronL]

lol

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Chickens used to be my job as a wee bit of a lass.

I preferred the ducks as they were smart (compared to chickens) and did not try to eat me.

[eartrumpet]

I was taught that cows let the bacteria and protozoa in their rumen and reticulum digest the plant matter, then the cow digests the bugs in their omasum and abomasum. They are actually carnivores, sorta.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“US chickens are heavily armed.”

In the wild; chickens are much more dangerous than mountain lions for example.
I’ll never forget the day last year when I was out hiking on a remote trail.
I felt like I was being watched for a while. I rounded a corner on the trail and met up with a chicken.
I was terrified. I still have nightmares.

[Rastus]

“Mmm, tastes like me!”

[Doomonyou]

I let our Chickens roam around the garden all day. Best insecticide ever. (Way back when), Snails, slugs, flying critters, all gone.

[hearthwench]

Mine will not eat the mice. After trapping 16 there is one left. I am about ready to shoot thing. They chase any other traveling protein, but not the mice for some reason. Once a month I have my husband chop up beef liver for a treat. I cannot stand liver, even cutting it up for the chickens is vomitus to me. It is best to put it in their treat bowl, get into the yard quickly and keep your hands out of the way. Wear full clothing. They start snapping and jumping a good 3 feet in the air when they see the bowl come out. They also go bonkers for cottage cheese and yogurt. They dance for a fat mormon cricket. The woman who processes chickens says she has to lock up their huge flock when they do their weekend slaughter, or the chickens will jump on the tables, trying to eat everything up. These people sell all the parts so do not want to lose any bits. ick...

The chickens have an enclosed pen around their coop, an A-frame with hardware cloth around the bottom to close up at night, besides their trapdoor. They also have a chicken tractor to take them out to the meadow, and a moveable fence we set up so they can range further, but still have the tractor for protection. We have golden eagles, besides bald eagles. Goldens, along with the hawks,are thick and a threat to the chickens around here. Free range means dead chickens. The guy at the beginning of our road still buys an older flock and lets them free range every year. Every year they are dead on the train tracks by his house within a month. Idiot.

I could not eat eggs for 15 years, having a severe allergy to them. I found out it was the soy I was reacting to. I am in egg heaven now. We were accidentally given 4 cocks. We kept one and the others became “3 Stooges Soup”. My flock gets organic soy-free feed with fish for the protein. I have a mealworm “farm” in the craft room for winter feeding. Snow makes it hard to scratch in the dirt and meadow.

Before planting in the various garden areas, I set up the fence and let them clean, “till” and fertilize the area for me.

I do not have enough hens for Elvis, the rooster. Poor things are featherless on their backs. I was told to put the saddles on them. Oh yeah, I am supposed to make them saddles and get them to wear them?! laughing...

[muir_redwoods]

Cattle inevitably eat insects and other small fauna with their forage. There’s nothing in the write up you cut and pastted (and clearly didn’t read) that suggests or describes a process by which this animal protein is separated from the forage and rejected by the cattle. Cows digest this animal protein so what I wrote is correct and you are wrong.

[Leep]

“I still have nightmares.”

I probably will just reading about your encounter.