Experiment starting

[jackiedon]

Last week I got my meaties and I talked to my niece and her husband has 40,000 meaties coming in the morning. He inherieted a chicken farm from his grandfather. So he is going to give a few chickens to my sister at 7 weeks and I will give her a couple of chickens around 8 weeks. Then let the family see if they can tell any difference in the chickens.

Do you think there will be a difference.

jackie

 

[moenmitz]

40, 000?!! That isnt a typo? Then YES, definitely a difference! 40, 000 chickens will be raised in what would almsot have to be a filthy confinement building. A bird that lives, eats, and sleeps in feces its whole life just cant taste that good. I dont know how you will be raising yours specifically (access to pasture? kind of feed? antibiotics?) and those things will of course be variables, but I would have to think your backyard flock would almsot certainly be healthier, and therefore tastier, than his.

 

[miron28]

40,000

man i wish i had enough room from that many! i wonder what my DW would say?

 

[jackiedon]

It's not a typo it's 40,000 he inherited his grandfather chicken house. Mine now are in the dining room but hopefully this weekend will go outside and will be in a tractor moved everyday.

Has anyone given their crickets as treats? Moths have flown in their tubs and they chase it. I thought I would start out with giving them bugs to keep them active.

jackie

 

[MrGreenJeans]

I'd hand catch field crickets and feed them to mine while they were still in the brooder. Moths are probably better until they get to be a few weeks old unless you want to just give them something to keep them active/freak them out (mine had trouble cracking them open when they were younger). Feeder crickets might have a softer cuticula(sp?) and they'll probably need some grit if they actually manage to gulp down a leg or something.

yay peeps !

 

[blueskylen]

Boy - 2 posts in one week where i just am not able to keep my mouth shut! I usually just brush by the argumentative posters, but just cannot let this go.

Not all farmers raise their stock in filthy, feces caked cages, 10 to a 1ft cage. even tho someone may have 40,000 birds, that does not mean that they are a mega company that has dollar signs instead of feelings.

I was raised on a dairy farm, and we sold milk commercially, we were also inspected monthly and we worked darn hard to make sure that our cattle had clean beds, plenty of hay and sweet feed, a -while not sterile - clean barn, and spotless milk parlor. We let the cattle out to pasture each day, except for the winter months, and worked like dogs to make ends meet. Most small farmers respect their stock and land and work their butts off to take good care of both.

i dont' know the original poster or their family, but i would not dare to imply that they are a neglectful dirty farmer, without knowing the facts.

i am done, and will not fly off of the handle like this anymore on this forum - i'll just read the posts and go on.

 

[MissPrissy]

I presume you have cornish cross? You didn't say what meaties he got. At 40,000 is his contracted out with a corporate buyer/producer?

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
I apologize, I did not mean to offend, or imply that they were a "neglectful dirty farmer" by any means. (Jackie Don, I sincerely hope you did not take it the way that this other person did!) You might note I said that it would ALMOST have to be...I am aware that there are certainly exceptions. The unfortunate truth though, is that MOST operations of that size, no matter the intent, are going to be lacking in sanitation. It is close to impossible to keep a huge facility, with a huge number of animals in it, to the same standards that one can keep a small group.

I am from Iowa, am well aware of how commercial livestock operations operate, and have great respect for farmers. Because this is their livelihood, most farmers try very hard to protect their animals-they have a huge investment in keeping them healthy. I have been in hog buildings with thousands of hogs that are cleaner than some peoples homes.

BUT, even in the cleanest building, you are going to be dealing with mountains of feces on a daily basis! Even with constant removal, the animals are going to come in contact with those feces, and generally, going to be wearing them. Perhaps this person will be bathing 40,000 chickens daily, but I kind of doubt it. Because of that, and because of the exposure of thousands of chickens to eachother, disease is going to be a concern. Powerful disinfectants will be used regularly to kill bacteria and viruses. As a preventative, the chickens will almost certainly be dosed with several different anti-parasitics and antibiotics to keep them from falling ill. To me, a chicken being fed chemicals to keep it from being sick is not a "healthy" chicken.

In addition, a chicken that is confined is not going to be able to pursue normal chicken behaviors most likely, and because of that will likely develop UN natural chicken behaviors, like picking. Have you EVER seen 40,000 chickens kept together that didnt have to be de-beaked? So now you have a whole lot of chickens, very likely living in constant pain from teh de-beaking, being fed antibiotics and anti-parasitics regularly, daily exposure to the feces of many thousands of other birds, and living in an environment which has been disinfected and sanitized with carcinogens.

To imply that a huge number of confined chickens can compete health-wise with a small, well cared for backyard flock, to me, defies logic.

Jackie Don- I think you would do well to wager money on this experiment.

 

[blueskylen]

i apologize for flying off the handle like that, i am not usually so spirited.

we caught a lot of flak when i was a kid - we "smelled funny" at school, wore dirty boots and jeans,etc.. and i guess I can be defensive of a small farmers life - it is not the easy path to take, but can be the most gratifying.

thank you for your kind response to my rant.

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
Not at all- I completely understand! I do apologize for upsetting you in the first place. It is infuriating to be from an agricultural state, to know what it means to this entire country that farmers do what they do, and hear people make blanket statements about something they know little about. I totally understand why you took my statement the wrong way, and re-reading it, I can see how I should have worded it differently so as not to sound all inclusive.

In order to feed the population, unfortunately, large commercial operations are a necessity. I hate it, I hate the way the animals are forced to live, but it isnt practical to expect a family in a Manhattan apartment to grow their own food. Certainly, I think better standards could be in force at alot of large cooperations, who sacrifice the well being of animals for their bottom line. But, rather than eliminate the big guy, who is a necessary evil, I prefer to educate people about the difference between "backyard chickens" and factory farmed chickens, so that when they HAVE the choice to buy their eggs and chickens from the "little guy" they will, and they wont b*tch about why we cant sell it as cheap as Safeway does...lol!