Cornish Thread

[JRNash]

Prion diseases are not limited to cows

 

[JRNash]

Just DON'T eat the brains.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Solyent Green. It pains me that this reference has no meaning to the younger generation

JR, they do know............... but they are keeping it quiet........ until...................

Actually in addition to the movies Soylent Green (and Dr. Strangelove) I think 1984 should be required reading in school--- but it's already too late, and the irony is already lost.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Yes. I don't use it but plenty of people do. My birds get plenty of meat protein and have for almost 80 years, considering I feed my birds the same as my dad and grand pa did and there have been NO problems due to high levels of excellent quality protein that has been feed pretty much the same way and at the same levels all this time.

Approximately what percent of their diet is meat protein? Does this include layer breeds too, or just the meat breeds?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

JR, they do know............... but they are keeping it quiet........ until...................



Actually in addition to the movies Soylent Green (and Dr. Strangelove)  I think 1984 should be required reading in school--- but it's already too late, and the irony is already lost.

1984 should be required reading, along with animal farm and a few Soviet era novels.

 

[varidgerunner]

I think that the meat protein ban in poultry feed largely came about because they were pushing chicken litter feeding for cattle in feedlots. Don't want to be grinding up a mad cow and risking a chicken passing it on to another cow. So they are basically banning a practice that makes perfect sense to support a practice that goes against all the laws of nature.

I toss random animal carcasses around the yard from October until April, my chickens love me. It's not just the animal based protein that does them good, animal based fat is great stuff, too.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I think that the meat protein ban in poultry feed largely came about because they were pushing chicken litter feeding for cattle in feedlots. Don't want to be grinding up a mad cow and risking a chicken passing it on to another cow. So they are basically banning a practice that makes perfect sense to support a practice that goes against all the laws of nature.

I toss random animal carcasses around the yard from October until April, my chickens love me. It's not just the animal based protein that does them good, animal based fat is great stuff, too.

I don't know what twit thought that feeding poultry litter to ruminants was a great idea, that's insane. WHAT were they thinking???

Interestingly I just read a publication that showed that feeding saturated fat to chickens improves the flavour and shelf life of the meat. I'm feeding a non -GMO non -soy not- pelleted chicken feed (in addition to a non- gmo corn/soy that's pelleted, and meat/bone dust ) and the chickens like to sort through it. So, I've been adding a little water to make sure it all sticks together. It's been below freezing and I was planning on switching to oil rather than water, and I had to do a little research to figure out which oil to use. I'm thinking coconut oil diluted with a little olive to keep it from solidifying.
Don't think I'll start feeding them whole carcasses though, that might teach them behaviour I don't want. You never know I might trip and fall in the coop and then......

 

[hellbender]

Approximately what percent of their diet is meat protein? Does this include layer breeds too, or just the meat breeds?

I would guestimate roughly 30 to 35 percent meat based protein. This includes cooked beef blood and several other things I won't get into here. I've posted my entire regimen on another thread about a year ago and if you want to know the whole thing, you can read through that. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845018/breeding-for-production-eggs-and-or-meat

In cold months, I also dump out 3 gallon buckets of beef stomach contents into the compost and I cook the tripe for the chickens and dogs. All meat and bone is cooked under very high pressure in commercial pressure cookers and ground after it's cooled, then stored frozen 'til needed.

It's a big operation but we have the equipment to do all the processing because my dad and grand dad bought all this stuff several years ago and it still works fine.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks Hellbender I was concerned that I might have been feeding too much meat but if you've fed 30% without problems I should be OK with what I have been feeding. Thanks for the link, I'm going to read that to get more information.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I was admiring my Cornish today- they have such lovely feathers. I just love this breed. I love all my chickens and especially my Buckeyes but definitely, there's something exceptional about Cornish. Even if they aren't exhibition ones. That's not white in the feathers, it's how the shine photographs.