Woah. Okay, I still need to go back and pick up the posts that my reply disappeared on, and I have more I wanted to respond to now, too,
but...
I thought I would make a brave showing for the other end of the spectrum a moment.
And I am even going to start with a disclaimer and hope it reduces the damage. (
Please don't hate me?)
***The following message has been brought to you by... er, *ehem*, I mean, what I am about to say is how I feel personally, what works for me, my family, and our lifestyle. It is not meant as criticism directed toward any of you kind people personally. We all make our own decisions based on our own lives, and our own hearts. We do the best we can with what we know, and try to make sure we
do know, for ourselves, our families, and the animals in our lives. I am not a judgmental kind of person, though I may be a bit unfairly pessimistic, skeptical, and suspicious.***
Okay, now I am going to speak my mind about those experts, and I will also note that I am not making any comment on what kind of human beings they are, just on what I think of their theories.
That is
crazy! And I absolutely wonder where the money comes from. Always wonder where the money is. Vaccinations are
BIG business, and
BIG money, and factory "farms" / huge commercial "farms" are right up there, too. And they don't want to make things easy for us. I have done a whole goat load of vaccine research, and while I am always open to learning more, it would take some really good sh..tuff... to convince me it's better for the average backyard chicken to be pumped full of disgusting chemicals than to lead a natural life. I think so many other lifestyle factors are far more important in disease prevention and raising healthy birds. (No, I don't vaccinate my children, either.
)
I also think a lot of their info probably comes from, and more closely pertains to, commercial "farming", where chickens are going to be far more susceptible to illness based on their lifestyle, environment, and population.
I don't understand, either, where the idea of keeping all new chickens completely separate comes from, and I would be very interested to hear the reasoning behind that, thank you Chicken Grandma for asking for us.
Everyone I know integrates younger chickens into their "old" flock. As noted by someone else, this also means either you never get new chickens, or it is not possible to free range, which is of considerable importance to me.
As to temps, I do think it is nice for chickens to be a little warmer in the Winter, though I think of it as more of a bit of pampering rather than a necessity if you're staying below 0 for long periods of time. Birds do not experience, or deal with, heat and cold the same way humans do. I question what the "ideal" and stable temperatures are actually supposed to be "ideal"
for, and I suspect it has a great deal more to do with egg production ($$$) than it does the actual birds. They are real live animals, for pete's sake, not some sort of laboratory test tube chemical compound that's going to all go wahooey and put a great big hole in the ceiling if the temps drop by 10 degrees.
It's okay, yo can come back out, I'm done now.
I congratulate anyone who read all the way through that rant! Now it is late, maybe tomorrow I will get to make my other random comments on much less controversial topics.
