Frog in the throat / toad in the hole

[T-lady]

Gosh, nearly forgot to ask you all something. On Sunday one of the girls didn't come running for her treat of grapes - very suspicious. So I went looking for her and found her in the paddock trying to eat a frog (or toad, I'm not much good with identification). She'd killed it (well, I guess she did) and was sort of bashing it about to try and get a leg off it. I went to take it off her and she ran away.

So I left her to it for a while, went to see how she was 10 minutes later and she was still trying to eat it. But she had its legs down her gullet and looked to be trying to swallow it whole. I took it off her - literally pulled it out of her throat - and that was that.

Question: what would have happened if she'd eaten it. They obviously have really tough skin, would she have been able to digest it?

[janeyo]

I know they eat mice if they fond them, rip them apart with glee.... and I have heard of them eating frogs. I guess it depends on the size of the frog!

Yuk

[lynda66]

well, if you hadn't seen her, she'd have eaten it, and i can't imagine a frog coming out whole lol

[frias]

We used to have lots of frogs in our garden but the girls have eaten them all. We have tried to save them but it's not easy to get something off a chicken, she just swallows it whole. Not seen any come out the other end whole!

[Two_Sheds]

Chickens are your true omnivore .. they will eat almost anything. http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...frogs_936.html

[T-lady]

Heavens! Thanks for the link to the thread Two Sheds, I had no idea they'd eat so many other creatres. Now I feel a bit guilty for stealing her lovely meal off her - I'll know not to interfer next time.

Now ... when did I last see the cat?

[-pat m]

Strange mice and snails are fair game for my lot but frogs seem to have a free passage through their domain. My girls love Ve++ snails but only a few eat the slugs (much to my annoyance)

Pat

[BilboWaggins]

Strange mice and snails are fair game for my lot but frogs seem to have a free passage through their domain. My girls love Ve++ snails but only a few eat the slugs (much to my annoyance)
Pat

Haven't I read somewhere that if chickens eat too many slugs they'll end up with worms?

Which, if true, is a blasted nuisance 'cos I was hoping when our girls come they could help in the gastropod department.

[frias]

I think they only have to eat one infected slug/snail/worm to get intestinal worms but that's the risk of free ranging. A regular worming programme should take care of it.

[lynda66]

apparently i'm a really evil chicken parent ...... i just gave mine a chicken carcass and they are having a great time fighting over it ...... son said that is just wrong lol ....... i said they don't know it's a chicken lol

[Gwen11ian]

Oh.. how gruesome!

[Hilary B]

When we had the farm the hens got any meat scrap unsuitable for dog food, which definitely included chicken carcases. This was before it was anyone's business what you gave them if the eggs were only used at home, and there was no rubbish collection (big wheelie bins, shared by whole island, quarter mile away, didn't get introduced until last few years I was there) Once the bones were fully 'cleaned up' they went on the Rayburn cooker, final disposal of ANYTHING burnable and of no other use!

[lynda66]

they have had the leg and wing bones today they said thanks mum, it's very tasty, they picked every last morsel off the body carcass last night ..... though i did find myself stopping myself saying heres your chicken for brekkie, and changed it to meat lol

[HayleyB]

BUT, a frog whole may have been a problem. Chooks don't have a easy digestive system like us. The reason they need grit is because it is stored in their crop to break down food (as well as helping to provide calcium) to make it easier to digest.

If a crop becomes compacted due to lack of grit or something that cannot be broken down then it is extremely life threatening. With mice and so on the bones are very fine and with carcasses they tend to strip bones clean but a whole frog may well have been a problem if she had managed to swallow whole as the bones are more substantial.

I think the normal course for a hen would be to tear it apart which would normally occur in a flock due to fighting over it. Being on her own would not be totally normal circumstances. So I think maybe you did do the right thing.

[Nicos]

I always make soup with my chicken bones