Dixie Chicks

[Outpost JWB]

BARKEL'S LEMON RACING HOMER.
Anyone know anything about them?
Who has them?
Costs?
Best Climate?

There are a few pigeon farms around here. I know of a family that raises (unknown breed) pigeons in an adorable little pigeon house. They also have chickens in a separate coop. I've heard of people raising them together. The thought of pigeon poop in my coop does not thrill my soul. Just my personal opinion.

 

[Beer can]

I know a few people into them racing pigeons. A LOT of money in it, they are super serious about it. Good ones cost $$$$ also. They are like a line of race horses, quite a few different lines.You can eat them....
I think they will live in any environment.

 

[vehve]

I saw some documentary on them from Britain, it was pretty interesting. Did you know Queen Elizabeth has her own pigeons? She doesn't raise or race them herself, but I believe the court handles the costs.

 

[CanuckBock]

Quail eggs tend to be fertilized here too. I admit to not knowing a heck of a lot about quail keeping, but I would assume they are mostly produced on a lot smaller scale, so they tend to be kept in mixed batches.

Does cage free in Canada mean that they can still be kept in "activity cages"?

Quail like button quail live to like two years of age isn't it...I hate saying, "goodbye" that soon...same can be said about rats, short lived compared to other beings...so therein lays the issue I have in thinking I could acquire any and not constantly be...

First things to understand is in battery cage systems, we expected a hen to be kept in a cage, debeaked, acting badly (behaviour issues due to inhumane confines) and never to squish mud between her toes or see the sun shine or rain fall. Her counterpart in the production of her, the male meets an end immediately when culled as in shredded...but we are unsure if his demise was a blessing compared to her "life."

:
Rather than telling consumers their meat and eggs came from concentrated feeding operations where countless of animals were housed in cramped, unsanitary conditions – marketers capitalize on the “positive” and label these product as being fed and “all vegetarian diet.” This creates the illusion that animal welfare was actually given ample thought and consideration … making the consumer feel like they’re making and informed choice and picking a high-quality product. The same often occurs in the case of the “cage-free” and “free-range” label for chickens and eggs. Sadly, the difference between what this label implies and what it actually means, seems to have consumers incredibly confused.

What Free-Range Should Mean Versus Reality
In the chicken industry, the label “free-range” largely applies to chickens who are raised for meat. From accordance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) guidelines, free-range chickens are allowed access to an outdoor area. The official governance reads as such, “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”

...

However, around 99.9 percent of chickens raised for meat in the United States are raised in factory farm conditions. So, rather than just having a few birds to keep track of, the typical factory farm “farmer” has around 20,000 to look after. Usually, these birds are confined to warehouses, where they may technically have access to a door that leads to designated outdoor area, but because of the mass crowding of birds – it is highly likely that many will never see the daylight during their extremely short lifetimes.

According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), “no information on stocking density, the frequency or duration of how much outdoor access must be provided, nor the quality of the land accessible to the animals is defined.”

In addition, chickens who are labeled “free-range” are also subjected to painful industry practices such as debeaking, which involves searing off the sensitive tip of the chicken’s beak without pain-killers.

I don't have the personal fortitude to look thru the animal laws up here but free range is not free range in how a BYCer would deem it....Let's keep it that way, eh by exercising our rights to keep the birdles...and keep them well and happy! We're making a foot print on the planet and our impressions are GOOD for the Earth besides just having pets with benefits....ever so good to the living!

​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[vehve]

The types of chicken keeping in the EU (or mainly Finland in this case) are your basic battery chickens, which are no longer allowed, I think they've been banned since 2012, and I think the exempt farms have phased out them already too.

Then there's "activity cages". You need to provide a bit more space per chicken, and they must be allowed to have a spot to nest on. The floor can't be all mesh, and some other restrictions are also in place. Still not a huge improvement.

Then there's barn raised, usually marketed as "eggs from free chickens". Huge warehouse with tons of chickens running around, sure it's not cages, but not that good of a life either. I think you can have a max of 9 birds per square meter.

Then we've got organic, they have to be let outside for four months in the summer, after the Avian flu restriction is over (end of May). And the space requirement for the outside is huge, inside you can keep up to 6 birds per square meter. Also, natural light, and 95% organic feed are required.

And then there's free range, year round access to the outside (minus the avian flu restriction, March-May), same huge outside space requirement (4 square meters per chicken), inside you can keep the same 9 birds to one square meter. This is my favorite way of keeping them. But we only have one place in Finland producing these eggs. The feed doesn't need to be organic, but they do feed non-GMO feed at the place that makes them. Below are some videos from the place:

Interview with keeper, shows b-roll from their "terrace" and the insides, next videos are from the outside.

 

[Razadia]

Not just chickens are kept in commercial cages...sun bears for their bile, foxes and mink for their fur (recall the Russian experiment where they bred for tamed foxes and the foxes became quite colourful and acted like our pet dogs would), and civets (infamous for that expensive c@t pooped out coffee beans...sigh!).

I remember this. They tried to make it easier for them to process the foxes and ended up destroying their own business. They were a Silver Fox breeder, but as they bred for tamer foxes it made dormant coloring come out. The ended up selling the farm and it was bought by a geneticist that was intrigued by what had happened and how different the tamed foxes behaved. They ended up selling them as pets. I know of someone that actually has one from there. She lives in Michigan. Sadly, the site for the institute has been down for several years now.

 

[CanuckBock]

Now I want to find NR graded eggs to try hatching... Lol
Cool info Tara

Uh, no you won't...you don't want the mush meaters or swill eggers...believe me! You need to raise animals that don't really need us...and when we DO lavish them with care, love and resources, they prosper beyond our expectations...they don't need us but thrive when we do help out...yee haw!

THE last thing any of us BYCers would want is commercial factory farm stocks. Good gack--talk about needing coddling and being crippled from the get go's! We, the peoples, have been royally spoilt with REAL BIRDS...thinking chooks, that fend for themselves, know how to avoid predation, know how to put themselves away...know how to be chickens.

to factory frankenbirds. It always kills me when we get these persons (who will remain unnamed) that want to re-invent the factory farmed birds but just a tad backwards from where we are today. They want mush meats and swill eggers but once removed from the factory farmers...thinking and saying these are much better than the heritage stocks. No they are not...that be me though. We want birds that are NOT hybrids...that breed true, make more of the same and we can be self-sufficient without needing to continuously get new genetics in our mix. Freedom from the ball and chains of dependency from outside our worlds.

I am willing to raise a bird, that won't be slaughtered at 47 days (and earlier now), that requires true biosecurity (livin' in a glass bubble because the REALWORLD will kill them in the under two months they live their pathetic lives in for meat or less than a hen's proper age for swill eggers)...have to have antibiotic feed (used often not only to get them to live the under 47 days to meat sized but antibiotics are fed to our food because there is a side affect of growth to antibiotics...besides making the nasty bugs it kills or controls immune to the antibiotics and forcing us into a corner where there are now super illness we have NO antibiotics in reserve any mores!), that have bones you can bend (no skeleton, no supporting structure to move with, to forage by...rubber chicken...pretty close!)...

Hen's new farm perhaps?

That have organs that fail them (heart attacks...don't you as the producer DARE SNEEZE in the dandery barns or you'll kill 30 birds going ACHOO!

)...that contact with wild birds will kill...I could rant onwards...and downwards about how factory farmed chooks suck big time!

How about SICK birds...that is what is in the commercial factory farms being raised up for outputs at the grocery.

​

1950 compared to 2008...and things have gotten worse since 2008...
What we don't know, surely won't hurt us...right...right...right???
Blinders on past 2008...

What has been done since these Cornish/Rock crosses, further engineering...is make a bird that is never satisfied...never feels full. Stop a sec and think...back in 2008 you get to live for under 47 days, and the improvements could be that you don't avoid pain, you have no instincts past you are forever and EVER hungry and thirsty...you are a glutton for punishment...you eat and would eat till your crop bust...so you have to have regulated "time outs" so you can digest what you got stuffed in your gobs.


The Cornish Rock hybrids have to have a time out from feed...I can only imagine what happens now, eh.

​

You want those...heavens NO! I don't figure so.

So long time back...Rick says he wants turkeys and I am aghast at him...."What the $#&& you want those for?" I practically scream at him. But he knows better...he always steers me right...He brings me up to speed, not the sick white monster turkeys that will look skywards in a rain storm and drown, short lived, never stop growing, cannot breed, forage, stunned & stupid ...he took me to a bird show and showed me the Heritage Turkeys...we saw our first Bourbon Reds and they were wonderful in so many ways!

This above is ten toms and one hen...colour me world or what...bang up excellent...​

WARNING; if you think chicken or duck math is dangerous...jest get yourself a pair of heritage turks and L00K out! Sweet, endearing, intelligent, personable, delicious, plenty of huge eggs for hatching or consumption, just WATCH OUT...big bird, big addiction...you bin warned, eh!

So you like EVER notice that commercial animals lack colour and pattern...white colour...are easy to manage or in another words STUPID as all tomorrow...I mean there are sheep breeds that if picked up in a flood, will not fight and just turn over and drown...I got me Jacobs...primitive feisty, better recall than dogs...primitive intelligent beasts with ATTITUDES!


Nope, no factory screw ups thanks...nobody could EVEN pay me to take on commercial factory farmed poultry genetics...it would sicken me to the very core of my humanity...

Quote:


HERITAGE defined for the chook...

http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/heritage-chicken:

I personally have some issues with chicken definition...there are and always has been NON conforming chickens in our breeding pens...has to be...even things like breeding for blue dilution means fifty percent of the outputs from APA recognized variety (the BLUE which is heterozygous or impure!), will not conform to the description of the variety and yes, they state BREED. To be a real stick in the mud...define "traits that meet the APA SOP?" A simple disqualification...is that allowed to call any breed heritage then...may Chanteclers with PEA combs (SOP says CUSHION combs) be in a breeding pen then and the offspring labelled livestock conservancy HERITAGE then?

Besides my own pickiness...it all boils down to the same cause. We the people that choose to keep the heritage poultry...WE are special as special as our birds are...don't EVER envy the factory farmed commercials...there is a special place in my heart for what we have done to fellow beings in the name of cheap food...the shame and lack of a value system that would produce HAPPY food if we were not enslaven by the values of the almighty dysfunctional dollar...money measures success...not quality of lives. Sigh...

WE need each other to raise heritage birds--birds that could do quite fine without our interventions, easy keepers, those that need us because they like us and all our personal human shortcomings. Smart birds, intelligent birds that have instincts and are taught to fend for themselves quite well. The farm animals that need us to allow them to enjoy good lives, let them just be themselves, birds we need so we may love them, birds that supply us with good outputs to eat happy meat and happy eggs, to have birds that run in the dirt, breath clean air and soak up sunshine, sleep in the shade when not chasing bugs on wing or feets...to be REAL like us humans need to be REAL...to be outside enjoying life in the REAL WORLD and to continue to OWN IT...the right to have control over our food and keep our pets with benefits. When we get lazy, we let others control our basic needs to survive, heaven help us all and how very ill we shall all be...right down to how ill that will make this EARTH.

Rah rah rah!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[hennible]

The EU still imports GMO grain for feed and GMO feed, at least that was true the last time I read about it.
Yeah I don't need franken birds, mutts work great. I don't mind growing out birds for months, I actully like it. But I get a huge kick out of mystery eggs, but I can get those from local farms.

 

[CanuckBock]

The EU still imports GMO grain for feed and GMO feed, at least that was true the last time I read about it.
Yeah I don't need franken birds, mutts work great. I don't mind growing out birds for months, I actully like it. But I get a huge kick out of mystery eggs, but I can get those from local farms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_genetically_modified_organisms_in_the_European_Union

Seems these ones have banned GMO (genetically modified crops)...

October 2015, Bulgaria
September 2015, France
April 2009, German
September 2015, Ireland
August 2015, Scotland


Well at least not all of European Union is under wraps fer GMO...

EU, this is what they will accept...49 GMO's...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_genetically_modified_organisms_in_the_European_Union:

But unlike here in NA...we are not even aware of what is GMO...there are no laws that I know of that force labelling of our foods...we have no idea but betting that corn product (which is in everything these days) IS GMO.

We the consumer are blind...hog tied, blinded and force fed...

Now all of us be good gooses and let them cram you full until yer liver bursts...eh.

Lunch anyone...

Pass the Foie gras, luxury food indeedy...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[hennible]

Foie gras... I'll pass thanks