- Jan 4, 2011
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I have read the archives here, and I'm still a bit confused. It seems like commercial poultry foods are generally designed to provide nutrition for the time it takes to raise a laying chicken or a fryer chicken. But what if you want pet chickens, and you don't want to force the issue of laying, and you have no intention of ever eating anybody? What if you want a flock of pet chickens who live for 13 years, and you don't give a hoot about eggs or using them as food?
All of the nutritional info I can find here and everywhere seems to be all about laying and production. Fair enough, really. But in the long term, these diets (and also, as far as I can tell, some standard husbandry practices) seem to limit survivability.
As far as I can tell, chickens fed diets high in soymeal and cornmeal (most commercial diets?) thrive for a number of years and don't seem to live beyond about 4 or 6 years. This worries me. Senior-chickenship should be about 10 to 13 years. It worries me that chickens die young and it's viewed as "normal". It may be common, but it's wrong. There is something off, somewhere.
Can anyone point me to independent nutritional data that's not tied to industry? Has anyone on BYC done a poll on lifespans, related to food? I've looked, and I can't find threads related to this (which doesn't mean they're not here).
How long did your oldest hen live? What's your advice? Please share.
Thanks.
Yvette.
All of the nutritional info I can find here and everywhere seems to be all about laying and production. Fair enough, really. But in the long term, these diets (and also, as far as I can tell, some standard husbandry practices) seem to limit survivability.
As far as I can tell, chickens fed diets high in soymeal and cornmeal (most commercial diets?) thrive for a number of years and don't seem to live beyond about 4 or 6 years. This worries me. Senior-chickenship should be about 10 to 13 years. It worries me that chickens die young and it's viewed as "normal". It may be common, but it's wrong. There is something off, somewhere.
Can anyone point me to independent nutritional data that's not tied to industry? Has anyone on BYC done a poll on lifespans, related to food? I've looked, and I can't find threads related to this (which doesn't mean they're not here).
How long did your oldest hen live? What's your advice? Please share.
Thanks.
Yvette.