Oregon

[Mickey Lou 04]

Ooh I didn't even think about the skunks, possums, and birds of prey! We have those too.

 

[Suzierd]

And snakes.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I came across this quote from Unilever today. Unilever is the owner of such brands as Hellmann's and Ben & Jerry's ...

"We are committed to providing financial support to research and market introduction of in-ovo gender identification (sexing) of eggs, a new technology that has the potential to eliminate the hatching and culling of male chicks in the poultry-breeding industry. We are arranging meetings with animal-welfare experts, egg industry organizations, suppliers, and other stakeholders to develop a multi-stakeholder dialogue and tangible steps to address this important issue and explore alternative options. While our approach is to work in support of technologies that would eliminate the culling of male chicks in the industry, we are also exploring ways to further meet consumer needs for products with different nutrition profiles and preferences for plant-based protein sources through the use of egg-replacement ingredients in some product categories."

Link to Unilever's full statement here (warning, it contains some dead links) ...

http://www.unileverusa.com/resource/Animal-Welfarepolicy.aspx

If I'm understanding this right, it means Unilever will invest in research to find a way to sex a chick when it is still in the egg so egg farmers don't have to euthanize male chicks.

Unilever will also invest in "egg substitutes."

Hmmmm. I'm more into Dual Purpose breeds and real food than the solutions Unilever is pursuing.

 

[BearDrummer]

The coop is DONE!!! I Think it turned out very nice, especially when considering it is made from 2*4s and demolished shed parts. I took a few pictures of the building process and the final result (some with the chicks in the pics), http://imgur.com/a/ZaHpC#0

Here is the final result...



please ignore the mess. I was excited and took the pictures before cleaning up.

 

[iwiw60]

The coop is DONE!!! I Think it turned out very nice, especially when considering it is made from 2*4s and demolished shed parts. I took a few pictures of the building process and the final result (some with the chicks in the pics), http://imgur.com/a/ZaHpC#0

Here is the final result...



please ignore the mess. I was excited and took the pictures before cleaning up.

Nice job for sure! My understanding after looking at all your pictures is that they enter up into the coop through a "stairway" setup through the floor (?). That's fine, but you need more ventilation! The only ventilation I can see is that which will come up through the opening in the floor...correct?

 

[hundleychickens]

our new addition to our flock thanks to coastal farm and ranch who is having a buy one get one sale on all week old chicks. I went in to price check them with wilco today and they were more expensive then wilco by at least 50 cents. Yay for BOGOs!
(This was coastal in Hillsboro)

 

[pmcatnip]

I came across this quote from Unilever today. Unilever is the owner of such brands as Hellmann's and Ben & Jerry's ...

"We are committed to providing financial support to research and market introduction of in-ovo gender identification (sexing) of eggs, a new technology that has the potential to eliminate the hatching and culling of male chicks in the poultry-breeding industry. We are arranging meetings with animal-welfare experts, egg industry organizations, suppliers, and other stakeholders to develop a multi-stakeholder dialogue and tangible steps to address this important issue and explore alternative options. While our approach is to work in support of technologies that would eliminate the culling of male chicks in the industry, we are also exploring ways to further meet consumer needs for products with different nutrition profiles and preferences for plant-based protein sources through the use of egg-replacement ingredients in some product categories."

Link to Unilever's full statement here (warning, it contains some dead links) ...

http://www.unileverusa.com/resource/Animal-Welfarepolicy.aspx

If I'm understanding this right, it means Unilever will invest in research to find a way to sex a chick when it is still in the egg so egg farmers don't have to euthanize male chicks.

Unilever will also invest in "egg substitutes."

Hmmmm. I'm more into Dual Purpose breeds and real food than the solutions Unilever is pursuing.

Thanks for sharing this. I find it very interesting. I agree with you about dual purpose birds on a homesteading scale (surplus roos for dinner, FTW!). But on a commercial scale dual purpose birds will never lay as efficiently as the high-egg producing breeds. I doubt that the males are simply killed and thrown away. I bet they're turned into pet food or something, just like the male dairy calves. So ovo-sexing probably won't make much difference to the "waste" stream. It is certainly a very strong PR move though. It potentially removes one of the ethical issues that people have against commercial laying operations, and people can feel better eating their Ben & Jerry's knowing that they are helping save the lives of baby chicks. Or so the public is supposed to think. (Not that I think they will do anything to improve the lives of the hens, unfortunately.)

What would probably be more effective, and I'm sure is the subject of much research, would be some kind of feminizing treatment on the developing embryos so that none of them develop into males in the first place.

 

[Howlet]

Dang

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

Dang

It's not as scary as it sounds, as long as your animals have proper housing. Every body may lose a bird every now and then but (knock on wood) I have had chickens and rabbits for 4 or 5 years and I haven't lost any to predators. But I do live on the edge of town. But there are woods and mountains right across the street.

 

[KMSonthecoast]

our new addition to our flock thanks to coastal farm and ranch who is having a buy one get one sale on all week old chicks. I went in to price check them with wilco today and they were more expensive then wilco by at least 50 cents. Yay for BOGOs!
(This was coastal in Hillsboro)