Is there such a thing as a 100% grass-fed chicken? Hopefully I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble, but there is no such thing as a 100% grass-fed chicken. It’s a common misconception among consumers that there are pastured chickens that are not fed grain. When farmers say their chickens are pastured, the chickens are still fed large amounts of grain in their diet. Could you produce a chicken or eggs without grains? Possibly, but first we need to understand what a chicken is designed to eat.
Unlike cows and other grazing animals that are designed to only eat plants, chickens are omnivores. Chickens can eat plants and animals. Those ‘vegetarian fed’ chickens you see at the grocery store are not a good thing. Those chickens are probably miserable their entire lives. A chicken should have access to bugs, meat, pasture, seeds and more. If you know anyone who has chickens, ask them what a chicken doesn’t eat. There are actually very few things that a chicken will not eat. Vegetable scraps, yup, they love ’em. Meat trimmings and old soup bones, they’ll chase you around for those. Clover, grass, and weeds? They eat those as well. Bugs? They love them. Mice? They’ll fight over them.
So why is it important for a chicken to be on pasture? When a chicken is on pasture it has access to all kinds of things it doesn’t have access to when it’s in a cage being fed only grain. The chicken can select plants, bugs and even occasionally animals to eat that meet it’s nutritional needs and stay healthy. Another reason we should be concerned about purchasing real pastured chicken or eggs is for the better taste and much higher level of nutrition. It’s amazing how much more nutritious pastured eggs can be than factory farmed eggs. When tested, pastured eggs can have levels of certain nutrients 2 or 3 times higher than conventional eggs.
One last thing. You’ve probably seen pastured or cage-free eggs & meat in your supermarket. Unfortunately, this is usually a marketing scam. Often the chickens have ‘access’ to pasture, but in reality get almost none of their diet from the pasture. The result? Eggs and meat that is nearly identical in nutrition to conventionally raised. Not good. Even ‘Organic’ chicken and eggs can have nearly identical nutrient levels to conventional. It’s not a bad thing for products to be organic since the toxin load will be lower. However, if the product is raised in the same way, you aren’t necessarily getting any better nutrition.
So what’s the solution? You need to know how your eggs and meat are raised. There is no surefire way to tell how an animal was raised by just reading a label. Go find a farmer and ask him to show you how his animals are raised. This is the best solution for finding the highest quality food.
I hope this article has been helpful. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below?
The phrase 100% grass fed does not mean all they eat is grass, it means that they eat what they would have eaten ie. Insects, berries, leaves, grass etc. in the wild before they became enriched in omega 6 from the grain in the feed of modern farming. It’s a common misconception by some producers that the consumers are not aware of this so they will make up phrases like “there is no such thing as 100% grass fed chicken” so that they can continue to give the chickens the feed and tarnish the meat ready for your consumption. Some producers however do not feed these grains to their chickens so all hope is not lost, you’ll just have to keep looking. Live long and prosper.
Daniel Kruse from Germany agrees to Daniel Smith’s comment and says thank you for placing this important statement!
The feeding of grains is just the price for the greed and mass production. “Less is more” is the key, so to live in harmony with the limited resources of mother earth. Do not exploit it, just respect it and lower your hunger. Try fasting by dinner cancelation several times a week and reduce the “big” hunger to a normal level of appetite on authentic food from our valuable planet…
I totally agree. If they can do it in the USA what the hell. Why can’t it be done here in Canada. These products just don’t want to have to have the land / animal needed to produce poultry on grass and grubs alone. They take the easy route and pump them full of feed/ grain regardless of quality. And put out propaganda that it can’t be done so people get convinced that it’s not possible and stop demanding it. If they were honest they would call there product what it is organic providing the feed/grain is even up to that quality.
Absolutely disgusting. Grass-fed should mean 100% grass-fed. Those of us avoiding grains for health reasons need to know. Why are they playing with our health like this? Greedy bastards looking for profit and can care less about the health of society. Or those cognizant enough to look for healthy foods. Omega-6, bad!
Maureen agrees with Josiah!
I have kept chickens for years. I live on 4 acres and mostly grow vegetables and fruit. We keep a few chickens because we enjoy their company and their eggs. “Big Comb” is adventuresome, “Mrs White” has some white tail feathers, and so on. Our chickens love to scratch in the grass, under the grass, through piles of grass, they scratch through bark mulch, they scratch through soil. They love eating lettuce, spinach, collards, kale and dandelion leaves. They fight over worms, ear wigs, wood bugs and sometimes my shoe laces. They jump to eat my blue berries, they eat seeds, and insects. They love small slugs. They love grains and corn. When I sit shelling my beans they gather around and snatch up any I drop. They go nuts for meat scraps. I not only agree with Josiah, I know he is right. My chickens usually leave the grass for the cows.
Thanks for the info! Just out of curiosity if you have enough land say 3 acres do you need to feed them at all. If they have protection and can roam and eat whatever will they survive without any feed at all
I have Diabetes Type 2. It’s very important now for my health to find farm raised chickens and eggs. I live in Bedford, Tx is there any place here where maybe I could purchase them.
I would check eatwild.com
About chickens eating mice. Though you may think that is a marketing ploy it is NOT. I personally saw my young layer catch a mouse and to my horror she swallowed it whole then looked very pleased with herself! They also eat small snakes and lizard. Hey they are what is left of dinosaurs after all. I’m glad they are smaller than us.. Since my chicks are well fed a high quality feed plus forging and the garden scraps it must mean they LIKE mice. EWWW. Additionally One day I entered their run and they ran over to show me something. It was a big RAT. They had pecked it to death and were proud. Then they all wanted to get on my lap for praise and petting …which they got.And to think I went YEARS without the fun and companionship of these funny birds.
It is so hard to eat healthy these days. When you think you could trust your supermarket even Whole Foods, then you find out, you can’t.
I eat vegetables and grass fed beef, Lamb and goat, I would love to eat more chicken; however, it is very hard to find health chickens around here in Westlake Ohio.
I am in the moment looking for organic cage free chickens so i can continue with my Kito diet.
thank you,
Rosa
Your wrong about your statement that you can’t raise poultry on grass, grubs & hay.
it can be done
it’s done in the USA
There’s no reason it can’t be done correctly. Pasture raised means the poultry only gets grass and grubs. If the producers feed the poultry organic feeds/grains then that product is organic poultry not pasture raised. If they can do it in the USA what the hell. Why can’t it be done here in Canada. These producers just don’t want to have to have the land / animal needed or the extra time to produce poultry on grass and grubs alone. They take the easy route and pump them full of feed/grain regardless of quality. And put out propaganda that it can’t be done so people get convinced that it’s not possible and stop demanding it. If they were honest they would call there product what it is organic providing the feed/grain is even up to the quality of organic.
Would’ve done better without knowing about the mice and slugs. 🤢
thankyou for posting this…now I know what chickens eat.
I had been vegan and have auto- immune illness . So I am now looking for grain free creatures to add to my diet as the grains and legumes are out of my diet.