Debate on food, free range and egg quality...

[Badchickenpun]

It is not complicated. Good luck!

Don't worry, I make things complicated...

 

[Krugerrand]

That link says they did not find any glyphosate residue in eggs or milk.

Ha! you are right! I first read 'no violative levels' as to be 'deemed small.' I'll edit my post.

 

[raingarden]

It's not just 'cancer.' Here's an interesting read from The Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry:
Glyphosate pathways to modern diseases VI: Prions, amyloidoses and autoimmune
neurological diseases
http://www.amsi.ge/jbpc/11717/25SA16A.pdf

But you are absolutely right, it affects more than just soybeans.

I don't know what to think of that AMSI outfit. They are in the former Russian state of Georgia publishing in English. When they started talking about childhood vaccines causing Autism, I lost faith.

 

[igorsMistress]

Pasture doesn’t always mean grass. Pastures are where other animals are kept, say cows for this example. There may be grass, but the chickens would have access to cow poop and bugs and other plants in that pasture as well. Even when I was a kid on the farm we kept feed available year round. The biggest difference is we used less feed in summer than we did winter. I find this to be the case even in my suburban backyard.

If you limit treats, provide a quality feed and don’t use your flock as a garbage disposal when you clean out the fridge you’ll get healthy eggs from healthy chickens. I keep my garden in a pen and my flock normally has access to the rest of the yard

 

[Perris]

Chickens don't really eat grass

Where did you get that idea? Mine do.

 

[3KillerBs]

Where did you get that idea? Mine do.

They'll eat the broadleaf plants and the grass seeds first.

The grass itself is the last thing to go when I move the fence.

 

[Perris]

They'll eat the broadleaf plants and the grass seeds first.

The grass itself is the last thing to go when I move the fence.

Interesting. I think it must depend on the type of grass then. It is notable here how one irregular area near the washing line gets to grow long, while another irregular patch around it is nibbled to the extent that it barely needs mowing. I think the original lawn was sown with a mix, and it's evolved over decades. The grass all looks pretty much the same to me, but clearly they find some of those green grass leaves very tasty, and don't like others.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

They'll eat the broadleaf plants and the grass seeds first.

The grass itself is the last thing to go when I move the fence.

Similar experience - though mine (almost) never eat the grass because they have so much else available. But they will take the seeds off the grass almost as quickly as it can come into season. and they are very particular about the broad leafs they will eat as well.

Of course, mine also compete with ducks and goats, so what is obvious to me walking the pasture, visually, doesn't clearly indicate that it was the chickens, as opposed to the ducks or the goats, who did the deed in determing what has been eaten. Or the bunnies. Only what hasn't.

My chickens LOVE flax. Toadflax too. They take the tall stem and flower, even before its gone to seed. But again, tend to leave most of the greens. The ducks, oddly, seem to ignore the whole plant - but will tear up duckweed and other "dollar weed"-looking things close to the ground, where its too low for the goats, and of no interest to the chickens.

 

[Krugerrand]

I don't know what to think of that AMSI outfit. They are in the former Russian state of Georgia publishing in English. When they started talking about childhood vaccines causing Autism, I lost faith.

AMSI is just a hosting place where the article is stored. Do you prefer to read it from MIT site?
https://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/2017/SamselSeneff_Glyphosate_VI_final.pdf

That was just part 4. Other parts are hosted on a .gov site, if you like yourself some .gov's:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392553/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945755/

 

[Wolfie2]

Don't get much by the way of leaves. I guess I can try to save the cottonwood tree leaves in the back... are there any types of leaves to stay away from?

I let the leaves from my tree get incorporated back into my own soil during the winter. I do roam downtown when people start bagging up their leaves, setting them out for the trash. I usually collect enough to mulch the garden and line the chicken run. We (I ) lucky in that we have an abundance of Live Oak trees in our area which shed their leaves in the springtime. That way I don't have to store as many to last a whole year.