Sponsored Post Hatching the Facts on Medicated Chick Starter Feeds for Layers

[tec27]

I love your avatar? What kind of chicken is that? sooo cute

haha thanks. its just an easter egger. this was a boy. he was a beautiful auburn color.

 

[myhenhouse]

1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp brown sugar per quart


1/2 tsp bs 1/4 tbs acv per pint

 

[lemmerich]

Thank u for this

 

[Jungleexplorer]

After reading through this thread, I think most posters here fall into one of two camps; 1. Man's interference the process of natural selction is evil. 2. Man should use his knowledge and intelligence to help the natural process. I am not going to try to make an intellectual argument for either camp. I am simply going to relate the unarguable facts of my personal experience and let you draw your own cunclusion. Her goes.

I live in the Amazon jungle for almost 20 years. I live in work with Native Amazon people that lived a very natural primitive lifestyle. There is no more natural and organic way to live then the way to these people live. I also had a large flock of chickens during this entire time. I raised my chickens in the most natural possible way. I would have to say they were 99 percent wild. They lived on their own, ate on their own, raise their young on their own, roosted in the trees, and everything else they did on their own. The only thing that I did, was to feed them a daily ration of whole kernel corn. I did that is not because they needed it but because I wanted to train them to stay around the house and so I could catch them if I need them. My chickens have to contend with all elements of nature on her own. They had to contend with the elements, the scenes, and predators. Not only did my chickens thrive in this environment, they out produced all the losses do to disease, the elements and predators.

In 2006 I moved back to the United States to a farm out in the West Texas. In 2007 I bought some random chickens and started my own flock. Having raised chickens free range chickens in the Amazon for 20 years I felt it would be no problem doing so here as well. Every attempt I have made to raise chickens naturally like I did in the Amazon here in West Texas has resulted only in the complete annihilation of all of my chicken flock. I have tried the hardiest most strongest breeds known to the world and they cannot survive naturally here where I am at. In order to maintain any kind of healthy flock at all I have been forced to pen them up and feed them man made balanced diets in order to keep them alive and healthy.

Those are the cold hard facts. You can take that to the bank.

 

[noahsmom]

After reading through this thread, I think most posters here fall into one of two camps; 1. Man's interference the process of natural selction is evil. 2. Man should use his knowledge and intelligence to help the natural process. I am not going to try to make an intellectual argument for either camp. I am simply going to relate the unarguable facts of my personal experience and let you draw your own cunclusion. Her goes.

I live in the Amazon jungle for almost 20 years. I live in work with Native Amazon people that lived a very natural primitive lifestyle. There is no more natural and organic way to live then the way to these people live. I also had a large flock of chickens during this entire time. I raised my chickens in the most natural possible way. I would have to say they were 99 percent wild. They lived on their own, ate on their own, raise their young on their own, roosted in the trees, and everything else they did on their own. The only thing that I did, was to feed them a daily ration of whole kernel corn. I did that is not because they needed it but because I wanted to train them to stay around the house and so I could catch them if I need them. My chickens have to contend with all elements of nature on her own. They had to contend with the elements, the scenes, and predators. Not only did my chickens thrive in this environment, they out produced all the losses do to disease, the elements and predators.

In 2006 I moved back to the United States to a farm out in the West Texas. In 2007 I bought some random chickens and started my own flock. Having raised chickens free range chickens in the Amazon for 20 years I felt it would be no problem doing so here as well. Every attempt I have made to raise chickens naturally like I did in the Amazon here in West Texas has resulted only in the complete annihilation of all of my chicken flock. I have tried the hardiest most strongest breeds known to the world and they cannot survive naturally here where I am at. In order to maintain any kind of healthy flock at all I have been forced to pen them up and feed them man made balanced diets in order to keep them alive and healthy.

Those are the cold hard facts. You can take that to the bank.

Like with anything person or creature how we maintain our bodies and what goes in them can affect those generations there after. I truly believe that, I had an example of this with a Great Dane bought from a reputable breeder. He couldn't handle normal non grain free food at all, nor could his brother whos owner I kept in touch with. They had been bred by a breeder who had been in the biz for years and ONLY fed grain free or RAW.
America is about all about free, cheap and easy....sadly, and we will pay for this.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Like with anything person or creature how we maintain our bodies and what goes in them can affect those generations there after. I truly believe that, I had an example of this with a Great Dane bought from a reputable breeder. He couldn't handle normal non grain free food at all, nor could his brother whos owner I kept in touch with. They had been bred by a breeder who had been in the biz for years and ONLY fed grain free or RAW.
America is about all about free, cheap and easy....sadly, and we will pay for this.

I belive the difference is the environment and not the breeding of the chickens
I have no doubt that if I brought the chickens from my flock in the Amazon to my farm here in Texas, they would need as much care to survive as the birds I have now. The area I live in is in extreme drought contisitions and even the wild game animals like quail and turkey are on the decline according to State wildlife management sources. Bobwhite quail are on 30% annual decline and we have experience above 90% die off of whitetail deer fawns over the last two years in my area. If wild animals cannot make it in the current environmmental conditions, I can say with certainty the no chicken will make it no matter how it was rised. These are just the facts.

 

[pastryman]

In Denmark all use of medication in poultry feed stopped in 1998. Commercial and on small farms/backyards. Everybody expected short term negative effects. But there where non. No less growth. And no more deaths. The long run effect is likely to be positive. Too bad I only have documentation in danish.

Keep your chickens in a healthy environment (or dont keep them at all), and they will be fine.

 

[jyurina]

I think it can be done. The eggs we got from my sister who's chickens are all backyard blends raised in a semi-rural AZ desert hatched out super hardy chicks that feathered early. I got 4 sex links from the local feed store who are now one the same page as the older ones. But they feathered later, took longer to acclimate , and required more active care-ie. probiotics, were much more touchy about change in feed etc. Now they all free range in my backyard and rarely eat store bought food at all. My sisters chickens free range in desert conditions and aside from the occasional coyote hot they thrive, make lots of babies and provide them with a plethora of eggs.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

I believe that whether are not human help and intelligence is needed, is totally dependent on the environmental conditions. In the Amazon my birds do fine with no help whatsoever, but here in my region of Texas, chickens are incapable of surviving without human help. In the last year I have lost over 100 free range (non-penned) birds to the environmental conditions in my area (i.e. weather, disease & predators). I have 10 acres of land for them to roam on, of which 6 acres I have developed to plant grains for my flock to free forage upon (Wheat, Milo & Oats). None of the birds (over 100) that were free ranging are alive today. Here is a picture of one my last little free range flock under a deer feeder that is about 300 yards from my house by a stock tank. This flock was so wild that I almost never saw them except on my game camera photos. Every single one of these birds were killed by hawks in February along with many others that are not in this picture (about 30 birds in all).




Here are some close ups of these birds taken with my 300mm lens.
















The bottom line is, sometime nature needs man's help, sometimes it does not. Anyone who argue against this has ideological reasons for what they believe and no amount of facts will change their opinion.

 

[lahowardjr]

I must say that these birds are exceptional in appearance and their colors are brilliant. Too bad you lost them. I cannot free range my birds in Oklahoma w/o close supervision. They are penned up and I allow them to range just in the afternoons. They return to roost in the coop at night. Owls at dusk, red tail hawks and coyotes during the day are always a concern. My chickens are not game and probably more content in a coop.