MJ's little flock

[BY Bob]

Thank you Loz.

It was an hour ago. Lorna tagged along for her injection. Her confidence in the car is growing.

View attachment 3350904

Mark examined Christa and said there was a big egg in her. He looked at the photos of the gut she expelled yesterday (about 6.5cm came out of her). Then he decided on images before going further. So she has been admitted and they'll call me later with an update. I said I'd be ok with a hysterectomy.

In case anyone wants to see the yukky photo of the gut she expelled, here it is.

Spoiler: Think twice before looking

View attachment 3350907

Don't forget to add on the little piece to the right.

Poor thing.

 

[BY Bob]

How would that work when people's pet dogs and cats need surgery? No antibiotics? There'll be a lot of gangrenous pets around.

Any absolute is dangerous. What a foolish concept. Put rules around usage but to say their lives are patently less valuable than a humans is the height of conceit.

 

[BY Bob]

Believing that by buying heritage breeds one is reducing the abuse of the chicken is not born out by the facts. The majority of heritage breeds would not exist if people didn't buy them. They are not used in the food chain and worse still the very qualities that should make them a healthier and longer lived creature have been erroded by the hatchery and breeder systems. It is common to read here on BYC of heritage breeds dying from similar ailments to the high production breeds; five years old being an average age it seems. That's only one year more than the average battery hen life expectancy.

If the alternative is extinction then let's buy heritage breeds and keep them in existence. Perhaps future generations can fix this but if they disappear they are gone forever. Extinction is permanent.

 

[LozzyR]

Believing that by buying heritage breeds one is reducing the abuse of the chicken is not born out by the facts. The majority of heritage breeds would not exist if people didn't buy them. They are not used in the food chain and worse still the very qualities that should make them a healthier and longer lived creature have been erroded by the hatchery and breeder systems. It is common to read here on BYC of heritage breeds dying from similar ailments to the high production breeds; five years old being an average age it seems. That's only one year more than the average battery hen life expectancy.

Yep, I am no longer going for heritage breeds and I’m only looking for bitzas. Give me a genetically-diverse barnyard mix any day.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

 

[Grammy60]

Good evening MJ and everyone

 

[MaryJanet]

Yep, I am no longer going for heritage breeds and I’m only looking for bitzas. Give me a genetically-diverse barnyard mix any day.

I like bitsas too. They're not always available.

 

[MaryJanet]

Same with me. I was really against it for a while. Now I'm not so sure. This summer I came upon a vet's PhD dissertation on increasing animal welfare for the process of culling battery hens. This concerned the situation in France and most of it was about the stress the hens underwent during handling , transportations and waiting to be culled (lasting for as long as three days, packed and starving). So it's a terrible ending after a life of pain. Rescues in France represent about 1% of all ex-batt's. I saw that BWHT claims to put 50 000 rescues for adoption each year, I'm not sure how much that represents. Anyway I thought rescue was in a way supporting the system but with numbers so low, I'm not so sure.

For now the proposal has been rejected, but there is a huge concern toward antibioresistance developing and whereas the use of antibiotics for livestock is declining in European countries it is really increasing for domestic animals.
A list of antibiotics have been dedicated for human use, and others are on a watchlist where the vet has to declare any prescription.

I know we don't have alternatives to treat pets, but if the antibiotics stop working we will have the same problem.
E. coli is one of the most concerning bacteria for antibioresistance and one that affect chickens often.
I don't think a complete ban for vet use would pass, but I do believe restrictions will get more and more drastic. Same for antimicrobials.

From what Mark tells me, such a system is already in place in Australia. His software automatically updates a central register of antibiotic prescription for veterinary purposes. If he overprescribes, he has to justify himself.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don't think pet antibiotic use will ever be as big an issue as livestock use was because it is truly only for sick pets, whereas they were used wholesale as growth promoters in livestock - ie given to all cattle in a herd regardless of health status.

That's a good point. I had forgotten about that.

 

[MaryJanet]

Believing that by buying heritage breeds one is reducing the abuse of the chicken is not born out by the facts. The majority of heritage breeds would not exist if people didn't buy them. They are not used in the food chain and worse still the very qualities that should make them a healthier and longer lived creature have been erroded by the hatchery and breeder systems. It is common to read here on BYC of heritage breeds dying from similar ailments to the high production breeds; five years old being an average age it seems. That's only one year more than the average battery hen life expectancy.

Is that what people are trying to do when they choose heritage chickens? Most of what I see reveals people are interested in pretty birds, and reducing the suffering of the species doesn't factor in.

I recently shared a news article that all egg producing hens in Australia would be free range from 2036. So that's one element of suffering eradicated in Australia.

Influencing the breeding of production chickens in order to reduce suffering is beyond the capabilities of any one person, and well beyond the reach of one person's influence.

On hatcheries, in Australia the only hatcheries are secure facilities producing human food. There are no hatcheries selling birds to the public.