Cornish Thread

[CanadianBuckeye]

QueenMisha well said.

 

[hellbender]

Hmm. I see we're having a nutrition discussion over here? My 2 cents, since I've been studying the scientific (as well as anecdotal) literature on the subject recently:

A lot of people have the problem of believing that you have to either mix your own feed all the time or use solely a commerical ration. Not true! I'm a big advocate of commercial rations (and don't you dare say it's got any thing to do with Purina or their money - I'd sooner feed my birds dirt than that crap-feed! I'm Bar Ale all the way) but I know that even nutritionists aren't perfect.

Commercial rations are designed commercially! The standard 16% layer feed that people buy is a trickle down from what is fed to the billions of industry standard White Leghorns and Brown-Egg Hybrids. And if you have a flock that consists of only these breeds, then it is really the ideal feed for them! Same thing with a ~20% broiler ration for the Cornish Rock hybrids. But even the standard nutrition manuals, created on a base of scientific research and study, and used by feed mills to formulate feeds, warn that beyond these breeds variances can occur. A Barred Rock, a Cornish, a Gamefowl may not have the same nutritional requirements as a White Leghorn, and in fact they probably don't!

But commercial rations are also great for generalization. A lot of study goes into the feeding of the most engineered animal in entire world. These studies are based on companies and conglomerates trying to determine how little they can put in to get a big return, but they are also based on maintaining the health of the birds! A poorly fed bird don't grow or lay. And please remember that anecdotal evidence is NOT an end-all, be-all! Moderate and severe nutritional imbalances show themselves on the outside soon enough, but what about the little stuff that goes a long way? The extra % that's taking a toll on the kidneys, the liver, the bird's muscle and bone? Slowly eating away at the bird's lifespan? And without a single outward symptom. In studies, cocks were fed a layer ration with around 5% calcium. For the record the calcium requirement of a SCW Leghorn cockerel is 0.02%. None of the birds showed any external signs of illness, and yet more than half of them had the left sides of their kidneys significantly enlarged (a sign of growth to make up for prior damage), and 7% had actual kidney stones present. Now issues resulting from feeding cocks layer ration for their whole lives are quite rare, but who's to say these birds aren't living to 8 when they could've lived to 12? 15? Unfortunately no long term studies have been conducted. And this goes for all imbalances, not just calcium!

The point I'm trying to make is that the height of poultry nutrition can be reached by marrying anecdotal knowledge - the old ways of free ranging and home mixing - with modern scientific knowledge, and commercial rations. Use a commerical base, but tweak it as is fit for your breed. Just don't tweak too far.

Pretty well the way I do things but I do tweak the hell out of the ration, for both birds and my dogs.

 

[big medicine]

I don't know why your surprised. It is amazing the number of vegans I have got into arguments with trying to convince me that humans are vegetarians. I even had one show me proof using a hippos teeth.

Just curious, if the vegan used the hippo tooth as a club to try to change your point of view ? Have them watch the linked video below.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Just curious, if the vegan used the hippo tooth as a club to try to change your point of view ?  Have them watch the linked video below.

LMAO! I was arguing that we were omnivores and that our teeth proved it. One of them came back at me with a meme showing a hippos teeth and that hippos were herbivores. I never even questioned if hippos really were herbivores, what do I know. LMAO
Nah I left the site, they got to political for me.

 

[JRNash]

I've abandoned a few for similar reasons. I Rember a news story some years back. People were finding ground nesting birds minus their heads.After all sorts of wild theories and guesses,the culprits were caught ON CAMERA in the act. It was deer. The biologists determined it was a response to deficiencies in their diet,seems like they were on an island.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

huh, I guess if hungry enough anything will eat anything.

 

[JRNash]

Seems like it was up in Alaska. There are numerous documented accounts of so called herbivores eating meat. It's the way things are done in nature,so how can it be wrong for us to do the same?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Seems like it was up in Alaska. There are numerous documented accounts of so called herbivores eating meat. It's the way things are done in nature,so how can it be wrong for us to do the same?

agreed

 

[varidgerunner]

50% of all herbivores eat meat. The females, just after they give birth.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

50% of all herbivores eat meat. The females, just after they give birth.

Yes but that is just so the afterbirth does not attract predators to their weak and still vulnerable newborn.