# can pigs eat cooked chicken bones?



## Doc

Wanted to ask if pigs can eat cooked rotisserie chicken bones safely before doing so.

Please advise. Thanks.


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## HeritagePigs

No. They can get stuck in them just like us.


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## Rogo

I don't feed the bones to the pigs, but my dogs get all the bones after my meal, including poultry bones. I've been feeding them to the dogs for 50 years with no problems. So did my parents, with no problems.

A friend who's a vet said he'd never admit it to his clients, due to all the hoopla, but he feeds all bones to his dogs.


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## highlands

Hmm... My dogs and I both eat chicken bones. Never had a problem. Chickens have pretty soft bones. I let the dogs have the pork and beef bones though. I don't have the teeth for that.


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## HeritagePigs

Well, one of my hamp sows found a dead chicken in our woods. Probably a predator kill. Wasn't much more than bones left when I saw her; what attracted my attention was her hacking. I could see a large bone when she opened her mouth. I watched her for awhile; she was breathing okay and I wasn't sticking my hand in there. She seemed okay later so it must have gotten unstuck.

Anyway, it happens.


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## fixer1958

I fed mine after a chicken kill with the remains and they loved that. Bones get hard and brittle after being cooked. They found a duck that was killed by a predator and was chewing on the wing like a piece of jerky. It had to 'season' in the sun awhile till they touched it. 

I'm good with raw but not so much with cooked.


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## RedneckPete

Pigs can eat any bones, cooked or raw. I feed chicken bones cooked or raw to my pigs all the time.

My pigs once, during a major snowstorm somehow killed and/or ate a deer. I cleared snow for almost 48 hours, and as the pigs had free access to hay and water, was not worried about them going hungry.

When I did walk the pasture, I discovered a huge area of blood stained snow, an area where an animal had clearly been eaten. ID was performed by the teeth and the fur left on the ground. Nothing else was left.

Pigs don't have the teeth for it, but they can and will crush just about anything they wrap their mouths around.

Pete


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## Doc

OK< so now I'm confused. Can they or can't they?


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## RiverPines

There is a risk when animals are fed cooked bird bones. The bird bones are brittle when cooked and can splitter and puncture intestines and/or stomach and anywhere in the GI track.
The more conditioned an animal is to eating them, the less risk because the lining of the gut toughens up over time of being fed cooked bones. It actually gets thicker. The gut walls are thicker and tougher in an animal fed bones often.
Thats is why people have done it for years and their animals are fine. The animals toughened up inside. Most probs occur in the beginning periods of feeding bones. Thats why you will hear some people saying i tried it once or twice and my animal was injured or bled, etc.

So the answer is yes with some risk, especially in the beginning of getting fed the bones and no if you want to remove all risk.


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## lonelyfarmgirl

can your pigs eat these bones? yes. Is there a risk of splintering because they are cooked? yes.

We dont concern ourselves with it. Our pigs get everything. they eat raw carcass regularly. the cooked stuff usually goes to the dog because he knows how to chew.
we clean up the bones they dont eat later. They crunch deer ribs like potatoe chips.


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## Doc

Since these are on loan, I think I'll err on the side of caution. Wouldn't want to cause any sort of problem. Thanks all.


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## lupiefarmer

Raw is the way to go on these at least the pigs certainly think so. We had to pen the pigs and put wire around everything. Every time they saw a chicken they would yell buffet. Unfortunately our girls were not accustomed to something in the barnyard or pasture running up and chomping them that was not a fox. The guinea hen didn't even alert on the pigs and these pigs were young when they started this. Now we have to be careful when we go in to feed that the girls don't get curious and meander on through the door or they get munched. It has never hurt the pigs. I would say that if the bones were boiled possibly but be careful on the broiled and really dry ones thats all. Crunchy things keep those teeth healthy and them healthy in turn. 

vtfarma - Laurie


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## bzbfarm

True about the possible issues of splintering, but you can solve that easy enough for any animal - pressure cooking them. I do about 4 chicken carcasses in a large pressure cooker and after 2 hours they are so soft - you can just squeeze with your fingertips and it mashes up real nice. I've done other kind of bones this way as well to make a soft mash that is high protein and can be fed mixed with regular dry food, etc.

I'm going to try making some dog biscuits with them next.

Anyhow... just an idea - worth a try to know how to do it.

Jason


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