05-10-2003, 02:34 AM
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The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Franz Heymann wrote:
Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc.
Grass? I think that is a bit misleading.
Not at all. Have you ever kept free range chickens ?
They certainly will eat
grass seeds, and even some grass roots, but I think that most of the
grass (leaves) they eat is by accident! They certainly don't graze
it, the way that genuine grass eaters do, though I can believe that
they will eat the youngest shoots. When I have observed their runs,
they have eliminated the grass mainly by scratching it up.
Can they even digest grass (i.e. the leaves)? I don't know how geese
do it, but most mammals need specialised systems to do so - it is a
notoriously indigestible plant.
Grazing mammals need a specialised digestive system to extract
sufficient nutrition from their diet of grass and leaves. Poultry eat a
much wider diet including animal protein.
Chickens who have the opportunity eat a lot of grass, intentionally,
just as geese do. They pull or snip stems/leaves of grass in the beak
then swallow it down without chewing. It's well enough digested to be
unrecognisable in droppings; presumably it gets ground up in the
gizzard. It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.
Janet.
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