Granny's gone and done it again

Copied from BYC Facebook.

EDIT: THIS IS NOT A THREAD FOR CONSPIRACY THEORISTS. THIS IS A THREAD TO DISCUSS ORGANIZING BYC FARMERS INTO AN EFFECTIVE POLITICAL / ECONOMIC FORCE FOR CHANGE.

PLEASE STOP THE OFF TOPIC STUFF OR START YOUR OWN DISCUSSION.

I have been carefully following what little news is sneaking out of commercial chicken growers in the US. Current best number I can find is 30 million+ euthanized so far this year with a lot of concern about the near total lack of biodiversity in these huge commercial flocks.

Imagine they are like the British royal family. Genetically narrow immune responses lead to mass culls because when one dies, they are all at risk.

Anyway, I have learned many things lately, like the fact that Tyson spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year making efforts to ensure that limits on backyard flock sizes in local and state government have almost nothing to do with science and good animal husbandry.

We, the BYC'ers are the ones who have biodiversity in our flocks and therefore are less likely to have to mass cull.

Anyway, bottom line..

By summer's end we may be looking at a situation where it's hard to find a dozen eggs at the store much less meat birds in the quantity America is used to eating at a price they can afford.

Meanwhile the costs of inputs are rising (scratch and layer pellets etc). Many of us have run into this already.

The point of this post is to say we are small but we are many. It's time for BYC'ers to become politically active! Flick sizes should reflect good science not Tyson's desire to keep us from laying 2 dozen eggs a day (in my town I am legally only allowed 3 chickens and no roosters unless I own an acre of land)!

Also, it's time to start feed co-ops and going around TS etc. It's time to address the issues of vaccines that are marketed to large producers in 10,000 dose batches when all we need is 100!

Sorry this is so long and sketchy a post but the point is We, not Tyson, are the backbone of chicken biodiversity and it's time to say it out loud and get government on our side not working against us!

Discussion about whether a new group of "Political Chickens" is needed is invited in this thread. These are ideas, the question is how to make a reality that favors (politically and economically) urban/rural agriculture.

We are the safety net. It's time that was articulated in policy and economics.
 
Copied from BYC Facebook.

EDIT: THIS IS NOT A THREAD FOR CONSPIRACY THEORISTS. THIS IS A THREAD TO DISCUSS ORGANIZING BYC FARMERS INTO AN EFFECTIVE POLITICAL / ECONOMIC FORCE FOR CHANGE.

PLEASE STOP THE OFF TOPIC STUFF OR START YOUR OWN DISCUSSION.

I have been carefully following what little news is sneaking out of commercial chicken growers in the US. Current best number I can find is 30 million+ euthanized so far this year with a lot of concern about the near total lack of biodiversity in these huge commercial flocks.

Imagine they are like the British royal family. Genetically narrow immune responses lead to mass culls because when one dies, they are all at risk.

Anyway, I have learned many things lately, like the fact that Tyson spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year making efforts to ensure that limits on backyard flock sizes in local and state government have almost nothing to do with science and good animal husbandry.

We, the BYC'ers are the ones who have biodiversity in our flocks and therefore are less likely to have to mass cull.

Anyway, bottom line..

By summer's end we may be looking at a situation where it's hard to find a dozen eggs at the store much less meat birds in the quantity America is used to eating at a price they can afford.

Meanwhile the costs of inputs are rising (scratch and layer pellets etc). Many of us have run into this already.

The point of this post is to say we are small but we are many. It's time for BYC'ers to become politically active! Flick sizes should reflect good science not Tyson's desire to keep us from laying 2 dozen eggs a day (in my town I am legally only allowed 3 chickens and no roosters unless I own an acre of land)!

Also, it's time to start feed co-ops and going around TS etc. It's time to address the issues of vaccines that are marketed to large producers in 10,000 dose batches when all we need is 100!

Sorry this is so long and sketchy a post but the point is We, not Tyson, are the backbone of chicken biodiversity and it's time to say it out loud and get government on our side not working against us!

Discussion about whether a new group of "Political Chickens" is needed is invited in this thread. These are ideas, the question is how to make a reality that favors (politically and economically) urban/rural agriculture.

We are the safety net. It's time that was articulated in policy and economics.
That's sad :(.
 

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