Thread creator : if you do not want this study on this list, tell me now and I will move it to its own thread. No hard feelings.
Hi,
I've decided to start sharing my science project on this list. I was going to use Heritage Large Fowl Phase II but I think this list is more appropriate. Have come to the point in life where I don't care if anyone reads the study. Those who care will read and to those who don't, it won't make or break your breeding season. I've been privately studying the neonatal G.I. tract in multiple species for 16 years now. Wrote a successful evidence-based protocol for puppies called "The Bellwether Neonate Protocol" , published in 2002. The result of 4 yrs. (1998-2002) and over 11,000 hours of research. The end result of the Protocol was to avoid puppy losses due to environmental challenges. It worked just fine by interdicting the developmental timeline with a carefully researched trio of supplements that gave the neonate puppy more of what it naturally needed to thrive. Creating a better foundation upon which its body systems could mature after birth.
The chick is no different from the neonate puppy in that its G.I tract goes thru a period of rapid development during the first days of life. In the puppy, the 1st 18 hours are
The Golden Hours for enhancing the immune system. In the chick
The Golden Days are the 1st seven days of life. It is during these days that we can interdict the developmental timeline with carefully researched and approved supplements to help create a better foundation upon which the chicks body systems will mature. To understand this we need to change our focus on the chicks. We are not looking at a fluffy ball of down. We are looking at a developing G.I. tract which is running around the brooder. ( go ahead, get the laughter over with now. You will appreciate this viewpoint later) In the neonate, with few exceptions, the G.I. tract is most important to health and development now and later in life. A healthy, robust G.I. tract in the chick produces a better end product, whether it be meat or eggs.
This study will take several weeks to finish, depending on the difficulty of finding the info, collating it, and getting approval of conclusions from noted experts in the poultry science field. In the end, there should be a simple, inexpensive protocol for interdicting the developmental timeline in neonatal chicks with a carefully selected trio of supplements which will help create a better foundation upon which the chick's body systems can mature. Resulting in more robust chicks with better resistances to illness and a better end product for the raiser.
Note this is not an end run around breeding for vigor. That is a whole 'nother subject. Instead, this project is an idea to make the most of what the chick has
already been granted in its genetics. Giving the chick what it naturally needs to make the most of its genetic potential.
In all these years of study, the article below is the finest synopsis I have ever read on the 1st few days of life in a species. The synopsis is not dependent on one's acceptance or approval of the product listed at the end. The product can be incorporated into the article ( or not) without changing the article's meaning. A rare occurrence on product-based articles.
First week - getting the best possible start for chicks
By: Andrew Robertson (Poultry Technical Manager, BIOMIN)
http://tinyurl.com/lyu2lkd
To make posts on the project easier to find later on with the BYC "search this thread" feature , the posts will be titled "The Golden Days" Part I,2,3, etc.
Best Regards,
Karen
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