Killer chicken!
Discussion
Came home tonight and let the chickens out for a scratch around the garden as usual. About an hour later, the missus calls me out because "one of them's got caught something". Turns out it's a medium sized frog which it's killed by the pond. It then proceeds to run off with its kill before swallowing the thing whole, taking several large gulps to do so, bits of leg and gore hanging out of its beak. Almost as if it'd suddenly remembered that its ancestors were dinosaurs and fancied a bit of veloceraptor time.
So is this normal? The others showed no interest, whereas for corn or whatever they'll fight over every last morsel. Will it go rogue and start terrorising local pets, leaving a trail of limbs and entrails?
So is this normal? The others showed no interest, whereas for corn or whatever they'll fight over every last morsel. Will it go rogue and start terrorising local pets, leaving a trail of limbs and entrails?
tted the cat when he got too close.
Scraggles said:
chickens are birds and birds eat worms, even seen photos of a heron eating a rabbit, might give the eggs an interesting taste 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3352517...Interesting story, the crafty heron drowned the rabbit before swallowing it!
The Black Flash said:
So is this normal? The others showed no interest, whereas for corn or whatever they'll fight over every last morsel.
We have a couple that will do the same , I was nearly ill the first time I saw one swallow a whole frog , it was running around with it in it's mouth with the others chasing after , like a Benny Hill sketch , it swallowed it whole as it was fearfull of losing it .
Mice are fair game to them too
Busamav said:
The Black Flash said:
So is this normal? The others showed no interest, whereas for corn or whatever they'll fight over every last morsel.
We have a couple that will do the same , I was nearly ill the first time I saw one swallow a whole frog , it was running around with it in it's mouth with the others chasing after , like a Benny Hill sketch , it swallowed it whole as it was fearfull of losing it .
Mice are fair game to them too
So far the cat and them seem to have a mutual non-aggression pact, at least.
A lot of birds are carnivores,think of Owls,Kestrels,Buzzards and other birds of prey.
Up until BSE came along chickens were fed Meat and Bone Meal and Fish Meal for the protein,and can be quite cannibalistic,if one of a flock dies the others will sometimes pick it's bones clean, guts included.
Up until BSE came along chickens were fed Meat and Bone Meal and Fish Meal for the protein,and can be quite cannibalistic,if one of a flock dies the others will sometimes pick it's bones clean, guts included.
They definitely go for mice. One of ours started running round with something hanging out of it's beak, the other 3 chasing like crazy. It ran from the field back into the coop to escape the others, and thinking there'd be bits of mouse lying around I went in to clean up. Out came one very strange looking chicken, but no sign of anything left.
Apparently they swallow them whole, bones, tail, the lot.... no, I didn't believe it either.
Apparently they swallow them whole, bones, tail, the lot.... no, I didn't believe it either.
A house I used to rent had a field at the end of the garden, where chickens were allowed to roam along with a few cows.
Our cat brought a mouse into the kitchen as a present for us. Once I'd caught the mouse I took it to the end of the garden to release it.
The chickens ran over, pecked it to death, then ate it.
Our cat brought a mouse into the kitchen as a present for us. Once I'd caught the mouse I took it to the end of the garden to release it.
The chickens ran over, pecked it to death, then ate it.
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