[flangey]

Ok joyfull I'll split it  :lol

[LittleRedHen]

I give my hens fish cat food once a week mixed in with wet whole wheat bread.  They're mad for it.  This sure made me laugh.  She definitely has a taste for it!  Impetuous indeed!

[steaders]

A slo mo with Charriots of Fire music would be good.

[hillfooter]

Feeding meat products to chickens is not just a case of whether they are herbivores (actually they are omnivores) or whether they like it or not, EC regulations on feeding Animal by products makes it illegal to feed waste meat products to poultry.  Below is an extract from Defra guidelines.

"The Regulations prohibit the feeding of meat, fish and most other products of animal origin to ruminants, pigs or poultry. They also make it an offence to allow them to have access to such material. They also prohibit any catering waste being fed, whether processed or not. This also includes catering waste from vegetarian restaurants and kitchens."

In making these regulations the EC is more concerned about the feed industry and commercial food processing and the likeihood of creating another BSE nightmare so it is unlikely that any one would be prosecuted as a result of feeding kitchen scraps to pet layers but none the less it is technically an offence and I certainly wouldn't do this with cat or dog food which is technically unfit for human consumpsion.  That goes for dry biscuits containing meat produce too. If you want to feed protein to your chickens, and there's no compelling reason you should as layers feed should contain a balanced feed without additional protein, use growers feed or soya but in moderation and switch back to layers once the reason for doing this is past ie moulting.

I don't think videoing this would be a great idea no matter how amusing it might be.

Regards
Hillfooter

[kitkat]

Hillfooter, we all know the chooks eat frogs , birds worms etc, I dont give layers, growers or soya. I give them a bit of cat food if they are moulting and they enjoy it.

[dizzylizzie]

Hi , now im confused!  Ok, as im getting ex-bats at the weekend, i had been looking for information about how to help them in the first few days with building strength and helping them get feathered up ready for winter. i had read loaaaads about giving them cat food or even tuna as a protien boost. so i have been stocking up on cheap tuna and cat food in anticipation of their arrival. Reading Hillfooters response worried me as i do not want to be breaking the law, so i rang Defra! i rang the national number , who gave me our local number. i spoke to the vet who i explained my worries to . he said there was not a problem at all in feeding my chickens cat food....and i said even though its not for human consumption and he said no problem in feeding them cat food of tuna...just not too much!!!!. he knew i wasnt a farm/smallholding, and that i was getting 6 ex-bats...he also said about not feeding kitchen scraps, but i asked several times , just to make sure and the answer was the same...its ok to feed them cat food. if anyone would like the phone number so that they can phone the defra vet and clarify for themselfs, please feel free to p.m me

[too many girls]

right or wrong i still want to see a vid if sneaking into the house and eating cat food/dog food/ tuna is breaking the law i have about 30 hens who are guilty, look out for them on crimewatch

[joyfull]

along with two of mine trying to eat the dogs dry food - they have realised that they are too hard so they plonk them in the dogs water and keep pecking until the outside gets soft    These hens are cleverer than they look 

[dizzylizzie]

i think maybe we should just explain to the hens and let them decide. What will happen? can you just see the headlines
"MEN IN WHITE SUITS HAVE WAYS OF MAKING CHICKENS SQUARK!
chicken spokesperson claims cat food was for personal  and medicinal use only "

[dizzylizzie]

can we see the video now please?

[smileysal]

she's a very naughty girl obviously with a mind of her own. 
 Try a bead curtain?

She'd probably eat the beads!!! 

[too many girls]

i got one of those bamboo bead curtains last year in an attempt to stop the flies, the hens pecked at the beads till they were all gone, we had half a curtain (up to chicken height left)

[flangey]

I'm just charging up the video camera now (its been gathering dust for about 6 months) then I'm going to call her agent and PR guru............... She nearly got squished by the man delivering a washing machine to me this morning because he had to bring it into the kitchen and guess what, marjorie saw her opportunity and ducked in underneath it just as he was putting it down! I screamed 'watch my chicken'!!,  he managed to stop it in mid air, looking at me expectantly (i think he thought i was flashing something at him)as I squeezed in past him scooping her up in my arms.  He then said 'I didnt think you meant a real chicken', which left me wondering what he thought i did mean, a frozen one that I happened to leave laying around on the kitchen floor? Anyway, she got a big big lecture after that one, I can tell you

[bexy]

haha...my imagination is going overboard lol....how funny.
I took a video of my girls yesterday running up the garden to me on call.....they are like dogs in which when you call them they come running...they look so funny when they run especially has they still haven't got all their feathers lol. 

[smileysal]

That reminds me of a story (true apparently, I know the guy!) I heard a few years ago about a blind bloke who was met at the door of the pub who was told he couldn't bring his dog in 'like that', when he protested and stated that he was a guide dog, he was told that wasn't the problem, it was the raw chicken in the dog's mouth they obnjected to, it had apparently picked it up out of someones shopping bag and was just carrying it around!!!