Warning.......not for weak stomachs!

Ok, I am just going to lay it out there for you.  I won't mince words.  Chickens will eat ANYTHING!  I have seen chickens eat some pretty disgusting things over the years, many of which I do not care to mention.  Believe me, you're better off not knowing.  That's just chicken reality. 

One of the biggest reasons I have meat birds is for clean up.  They are excellent at foraging in the field and cleaning up after the sheep, pigs and cows.  Suffice it to say that the animals I just mentioned don't digest whole grains well.  It has to go somewhere, so it comes out.  Chickens love scratching around in the manure for those grains.  They also eat fly larvae and other bugs that love manure.  That's just chicken reality. 

So today I went out with the camera to get some pics of the cows all lounging behind the wind break.  It was late morning and they were in the shade.  While I was out there I spotted a fairly fresh cow pie and about 4 ft. from it was another that the chickens had already taken care of.  Seriously, with chickens you don't need to harrow.  I was thinking how interesting it would be to take a picture of each to show what they are capable of.  Just then, one of the meat birds decided to join me.

They are quick, believe me!  No sooner did I snap the picture and he was scratching his heart out, up to his chicken elbows in a fairly fresh one.  Now, up until this point in my life I thought they only liked the dried out ones.  I must say though, that this flock of meat birds loves water, mud and the pig wallows.  They are like a bunch of kids in a mud puddle!  He peeled the top off that cow pie just like it was the skin on an old-fashioned pudding cup!

So this is what it looks like when the chickens are finished with it.  They are amazing at clean up.  That's just chicken reality!

 So if you are what you eat, what does that make me?