Chicken Affecting Hormone Levels

[Zali Lane]

Hi

Someone said to me the other day that pure bred dogs who want to be used for breeding should not be fed chicken, necks, carcass's or meat as the hormones can affect their fertility and success of a pregnancy. Does anyone know if there is any truth in that.....?

[Staranais]

Maybe in America? Growth enhancer hormones aren't fed to chicken in NZ, and I'm pretty sure they're not fed to chickens in Aussie either, even intensively farmed ones.

[Crisovar]

Hormones have been banned from Australian chickens for many years.

[Stolzseinrotts]

Hi

Someone said to me the other day that pure bred dogs who want to be used for breeding should not be fed chicken, necks, carcass's or meat as the hormones can affect their fertility and success of a pregnancy. Does anyone know if there is any truth in that.....?

It is fiction...........this statement or similar has been going around for many years.

It it was a problem then I would be in trouble we feed chicken in all forms and it hasn't affected my girls or boys........all of them have produced large litters 10 or more each time. I also use chicken with baby puppies onwards as well so if it did these dogs that have produced the numbers for me would not have as all of them have been raised the same way, I am now on my fourth generation of BARF fed dogs (which includes chicken).

Edited for spelling.........

Edited March 27, 2010 by Stolzseinrotts

[sas]

Hormones haven't been given to Chickens in Australia since the 70's, they are however given Anti-biotics.

[Crisovar]

I meant to add we have never had any fertility issues or breeding or whelping isues and have fed all types of chicken as a part of our dogs diet.

[centitout]

I have heard the same crap from dry food manufacturers about using raw meat-hormones have not been used since the 70's.Low dose AB'S are often fed to chicks,but with the chemical screening these days,no way is there hormones etc being fed without authorities knowing about it.My dogs are primarily chicken fed-litters of 14,18,13 and lowest of 9 and 8.

Edited March 26, 2010 by centitout

[Clyde]

We bred Kelpies when I was a child. They got the cheapest dry food on the market, the odd fresh roo tail or leg and helped themselves to the compost cooked bones and all. They were very thin 'working condition', too thin IMO. The dogs whelped in outdoor kennels or gallon drums and the puppies stayed there. We rarely had a death. It makes me wonder if all this extra care and worrying about nutrition is to the detriment of our dogs. *says she who feeds Holistic food and dogs sleep on the bed*

sorry, slightly off topic :D I've gone off on a tangent.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Clyde

[Crisovar]

We bred Kelpies when I was a child. They got the cheapest dry food on the market, the odd fresh roo tail or leg and helped themselves to the compost cooked bones and all. They were very thin 'working condition', too thin IMO. The dogs whelped in outdoor kennels or gallon drums and the puppies stayed there. We rarely had a death. It makes me wonder if all this extra care and worrying about nutrition is to the detriment of our dogs. :D *says she who feeds Holistic food and dogs sleep on the bed*

sorry, slightly off topic I've gone off on a tangent.

Shock Horror LOL

Yep, very few mortalities from my experience back in the old days too.

What a good subject for a new thread

[Zali Lane]

Thanks guys I appreciate the insight, how then do they get those meat bird chooks so big in such a little time. I think they are ready for the table at 16 weeks, if they dont give them hormones, then gould the food be genetically modified or was this person just old school and perpetuating the rumour?

[Staranais]

Thanks guys I appreciate the insight, how then do they get those meat bird chooks so big in such a little time. I think they are ready for the table at 16 weeks, if they dont give them hormones, then gould the food be genetically modified or was this person just old school and perpetuating the rumour?

They're selectively bred for growing really fast. That's why commercial egg producing breeds are different from commercial meat breeds, they're both specialised for different things, the male egg breed chickens don't grow fast enough to be profitably grown for meat so they're disposed of as day old chicks.

[stormie]

haha yep, our old goldens were all fed Pedigree or Friskies. Both lived till they were 16 and were pts due to arthritis.

I wish chicken still had hormones - then I'd have massive boobs!

[Chocolatelover]

Thanks guys I appreciate the insight, how then do they get those meat bird chooks so big in such a little time. I think they are ready for the table at 16 weeks, if they dont give them hormones, then gould the food be genetically modified or was this person just old school and perpetuating the rumour?

Saw a program on ABC lateline on Friday and it was sooooooooooo sad :D

They had about 40000 chickens in a barn and some animal liberationists (think it was in Victoria) broke in and took video footage and rescued some of the birds, although most had to be PTS. Apparently what they do is use artificial light to trick the birds into feeding constantly, hence they become very large, very quickly. This particular "farm" had left dead rotting carcasses amongst the chickens, plus the sick and weak were not able to access food and water and quickly died. The other chicks were cannibalising the dead birds.

Sorry for graphic detail - but was quite shocking.

Apparently this is where a major chicken fast food outlet sources their chicken (probably shouldn't mention names) which I'm glad I never frequent And we are only buying organic certified free range eggs now as apparently just "free range" does not necessarily mean what I thought it did.

[Crisovar]

The meat birds are a special breed, you can grow them that big and fast in your backyard without the need for lights :D if you don't turn them off (kill) early enough you will have big blobby chickens who cannot walk around.

eta commercial chickens are turned off from 42 days old, that gives you some idea as to how fast they grow.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Crisovar

[Chocolatelover]

The meat birds are a special breed, you can grow them that big and fast in your backyard without the need for lights if you don't turn them off (kill) early enough you will have big blobby chickens who cannot walk around.

eta commercial chickens are turned off from 42 days old, that gives you some idea as to how fast they grow.

Yes I do realise that they use the fast growing breed (broiler chickens) but they still use artificial light to make them grow faster (fatten them up quicker, sell more, more $$ for greedy humans). This is common practice on large scale farms. The mortality rate is much higher than if the birds were feeding/sleeping naturally as they do grow too quickly and their skeleton cannot support them.

Never underestimate the power of humans to take full advantage of any situation

[k9katz]

Maybe in America? Growth enhancer hormones aren't fed to chicken in NZ, and I'm pretty sure they're not fed to chickens in Aussie either, even intensively farmed ones.

Nope not in America, hormones are not approved for chickens there either.

[centitout]

there is a giant breed of chook,cant remember the name,but i bought 100 day olds.They averaged 3.2 kg when killed at 5 mths.They had a slower growth rate as we raised them under normal conditions,no artificial lighting or confinement,or AB'S.

[CareyJ]

Jamie Oliver has done a special on eggs and chickens and is worth a watch. It is quite informative...if you dont mind watching Jamie. Its been on TV a few times.

[rajacadoo]

Jamie Oliver has done a special on eggs and chickens and is worth a watch. It is quite informative...if you dont mind watching Jamie. Its been on TV a few times.

I think that was on pay TV just a week or two ago, and it was a real eye-opener... Very sad actually ...