Single hen

[chicktasticmaria]

Hi, i have a couple of questions: 1/is it safe to give hens tinned cat food daily? 2/My friends hens have yellow feet, what is this?

[..lay a little egg for me]

Personally, I wouldn't feed cat food regularly...firstly it is mostly made with the bits of poultry humans can't/won't eat, so that does not seem a good idea since it was feeding beef products to cows that caused mad cow disease so feeding chicken to chickens doesn't seem right. Secondly, it probably doesn't have the right balance of nutrients for their health or egg-laying.

 

Yellow legs...I believe they lose their colour when they start laying, but it may be a breed thing. I expect someone else will know...Egluntine, where are you?

[Olly]

I wouldn't feed cat food, but if mine ever find the back door inadvertently left open, they make a beeline for the cat's dish and scoff up anything he's left! They have also been known to eat sicked-up cat biscuit if I don't spot it before they do ... Won't do them any harm occasionally, and some people suggest feeding cat-food if they are recovering from a moult to give them extra protein.

 

I think yellow legs are more pronounced in some breeds than others.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Oh dear ............

Mine get a sachet of cat food and all the egg shells I used the previous day mixed in with their mash most mornings unless I have left overs that I know they will eat. They are very fussy but then that's probably my fault.

They seem to be OK and laying

[Kittycat]

Please don't feed your chickens cat food. Whilst an unintentional snack from an unsupervised cat bowl (or cat sick!) probaly won't do any harm, cat food is incredibly high in protein and will almost invariably have a high meat content. Chickens are not supposed to eat any kind of meat (unless you're including slugs, snails, worms in that category). Besides which, cat food is far more expensive to buy than chicken food!

[Egluntyne]

I have fed organic, non-poultry based cat food to my hens during a moult, precisely because it is very high protein....to help with the feathering up process.

 

I don't give it as a general thing though.

 

It is worth mentioning though that Defra don't approve of the feeding of meat products to poultry, mainly to prevent the spread of salmonella from inadequately cooked foods.

[nikplus]

Cat food is a very expensive thing to be feeding to your chooks. Whiskers / Kit-e-Kat / Felix is about £3 for a box of 12 sachets, of which I'm reckoning you would need to give at least three sachets a day for a flock of 3 hens.

 

By contract, I buy layers' pellets at 20KG for £7.05 from my local miller, and that lasts my 3 hens about 2 months, so it's much more cost-effective.

 

As for chickens' legs losing their yellow colour when they start laying, I don't think that's always the case. One of mine still has yellow legs, even though she has been laying for four months now. Perhaps it's an age thing, or maybe breed-related.

[*mummy_hen*]

My chicks have fish flavoured cat food when they under the weather or every couple of weeks as a treat. They do absolutely love it and it certainly helps perk them up when they are feeling a bit low.

[dancing cloud]

My ex-batts got cat food as a treat for a while to help them grow feathers and still get it sometimes, when picky Loki-cat decides he's gone off a particular flavour .

 

My Dandelion has pink legs and yellow feet, whereas all the others have pink feet (when they're not filthy, which isn't very often!). I don't know why - she's a standard ex-battery hybrid, so two-plus years old and laying well - but it doesn't seem to be a problem and her little yellow toes look quite cute

[wiblick]

I was researching this topic a lot yesterday and decided on the following: cat food to be used as a medicine, therefore only for the duration of moult or during extreme bad weather and then only a couple of times a week.

 

For medicine I don't mind spending the extra and would get only these, and then only the 400g bag. The recommended daily allowance being something insane like 45g for an adult cat I figure 15g twice a week for each hen would give them a boost, and would last 3 for a month.

 

No poultry derivatives or methionine which can be dangerous for chickens

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/orijen/133323 or http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/orijen/133233

[chicktasticmaria]

thanks for all your replies, they were sneaking in the conservatory eating the cat food and so i was worried. They went mad for it and almost caused a riot between them! Then of course you start thinking - is it harmful etc etc. Really appreciate your comments.

[wiblick]

I'd say if it's something they only get when they are being sneaksy then no harm!