Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Iluveggers]

I have some sad news. Lost my EE yesterday. I had earlier this year nursed her back after a few bouts of soft-shelled eggs. Once I realized she would eat only the veggie scraps I put out in the morning and ignore the oyster shell, I got her back on track & deliver scraps in the afternoon.

Yesterday hub & I went to run some errands and left the kids (teenage + ages) in charge at home. Well, somehow my EE flew over the gate (which she has never done). We have a second gate as a backup just in case anyone ever flew over. My kids let the dogs out with them to play in the yard. The chickens have a regular covered run, plus two huge fenced in areas to range. (The benefits of large property)…We only let them out of the fencing when the dogs are safely inside. When we got home the kids were on the front porch and I heard the chickens yelling. Turns out my poor hen flew over the first gate, and my dog got through the backup gate (which hadn’t been secured). The dog got to her. The only thing I am thankful for is there was no blood…I think her neck just broke. My kids feel terrible for not keeping a better eye out. Today hub & I are working on raising the 5 ft gate up to the 8 feet of the rest of the fence, even if it means a temporary flexible plastic enclosure over the top. Lesson learned the hard way by everyone.

I’ll pay some tax later when I get outside to work on the gate. We are down to 8 hens…so glad my chicks will be ready before the end of the month.

 

[fuentemoon]

Indeed. My partner and I have planted thousands of trees on deforested land (originally rainforest) here in Ecuador, and live completely off grid. We harvest rainwater, grow food, and have a very small solar system. Most of the trees we've planted are in agroforestry systems -- the trees also produce food, fertilizer, building materials, and crops for income. We don't have everything we want, but we have many things we need. At the end of the day, we've gotta understand that our choices and preferences and wants and desires are different from needs. And this world built on wants and preferences isn't going all that great. Yes, the big corporations are doing most of the actual damage, but also they are fulfilling consumer demand. It all starts there.

All of this seems off-topic, but what I'm saying here is quite related to what Shadrach is trying to show people about chickens. Chickens, like all natural creatures, and like the Earth's ecosystems, operate according to very complex and internally ordered systems that we humans don't really understand. To quote a popular novel, "Ecology is the understanding of consequences." Everything we have done to chickens in the name of production and utility (the logical outcome of wants and preferences) has consequences. Everything we have done to the earth for the same ends has consequences. Now we are seeing those consequences, but not seeing -- or unwilling to see -- the connection to our own wants and preferences.

Unfortunately, those exerting the most pressure on the Earth and the resources -- including the chickens -- are also in considerably more sheltered places from the consequences. They live in countries where governments will build walls to keep out climate refugees and use all sorts of World Economic Forum/Davos/IMF chicanery to keep the rest of the world as their colonies. The East India Company has simply been reincarnated into these institutions.

Only a dozen countries -- the US, Canada, Japan, most of Western Europe -- are responsible for 85% of all natural resource extraction every year. 58 countries (58!), all in the Global South, share zero responsibility for this overshoot. But it's the people in those places who will suffer the gravest consequences for the wants and preferences of those more comfortably couched in the first world.

Until it all goes to hell. Until then, I'm going to plant as many forests as I can.
View attachment 3537639
View attachment 3537644
^These are shots of our land in 2016

View attachment 3537643
View attachment 3537650
Here's some recent shots^

Amazing work, thank you for what you are doing!

Broody butts

 

[TropicalChickies]

I have some sad news. Lost my EE yesterday. I had earlier this year nursed her back after a few bouts of soft-shelled eggs. Once I realized she would eat only the veggie scraps I put out in the morning and ignore the oyster shell, I got her back on track & deliver scraps in the afternoon.

Yesterday hub & I went to run some errands and left the kids (teenage + ages) in charge at home. Well, somehow my EE flew over the gate (which she has never done). We have a second gate as a backup just in case anyone ever flew over. My kids let the dogs out with them to play in the yard. The chickens have a regular covered run, plus two huge fenced in areas to range. (The benefits of large property)…We only let them out of the fencing when the dogs are safely inside. When we got home the kids were on the front porch and I heard the chickens yelling. Turns out my poor hen flew over the first gate, and my dog got through the backup gate (which hadn’t been secured). The dog got to her. The only thing I am thankful for is there was no blood…I think her neck just broke. My kids feel terrible for not keeping a better eye out. Today hub & I are working on raising the 5 ft gate up to the 8 feet of the rest of the fence, even if it means a temporary flexible plastic enclosure over the top. Lesson learned the hard way by everyone.

I’ll pay some tax later when I get outside to work on the gate. We are down to 8 hens…so glad my chicks will be ready before the end of the month.

Sorry for your loss! That's tough to lose one animal you care about at the jaws of another. Im not sure how I got five dogs that coexist peacefully with chickens, but so far so good... Fingers crossed.

 

[Perris]

so sorry for you loss @Iluveggers

 

[MrsNorthie]

Indeed. My partner and I have planted thousands of trees on deforested land (originally rainforest) here in Ecuador, and live completely off grid. We harvest rainwater, grow food, and have a very small solar system. Most of the trees we've planted are in agroforestry systems -- the trees also produce food, fertilizer, building materials, and crops for income. We don't have everything we want, but we have many things we need. At the end of the day, we've gotta understand that our choices and preferences and wants and desires are different from needs. And this world built on wants and preferences isn't going all that great. Yes, the big corporations are doing most of the actual damage, but also they are fulfilling consumer demand. It all starts there.

All of this seems off-topic, but what I'm saying here is quite related to what Shadrach is trying to show people about chickens. Chickens, like all natural creatures, and like the Earth's ecosystems, operate according to very complex and internally ordered systems that we humans don't really understand. To quote a popular novel, "Ecology is the understanding of consequences." Everything we have done to chickens in the name of production and utility (the logical outcome of wants and preferences) has consequences. Everything we have done to the earth for the same ends has consequences. Now we are seeing those consequences, but not seeing -- or unwilling to see -- the connection to our own wants and preferences.

Unfortunately, those exerting the most pressure on the Earth and the resources -- including the chickens -- are also in considerably more sheltered places from the consequences. They live in countries where governments will build walls to keep out climate refugees and use all sorts of World Economic Forum/Davos/IMF chicanery to keep the rest of the world as their colonies. The East India Company has simply been reincarnated into these institutions.

Only a dozen countries -- the US, Canada, Japan, most of Western Europe -- are responsible for 85% of all natural resource extraction every year. 58 countries (58!), all in the Global South, share zero responsibility for this overshoot. But it's the people in those places who will suffer the gravest consequences for the wants and preferences of those more comfortably couched in the first world.

Until it all goes to hell. Until then, I'm going to plant as many forests as I can.
View attachment 3537639
View attachment 3537644
^These are shots of our land in 2016

View attachment 3537643
View attachment 3537650
Here's some recent shots^

That is amazing work. I would love to see more of the world allowed to go back to it's natural form and for people to learn to live with the natural world. We have to change our thinking, too many people in so-called civilized, modern countries lose sight of how their green initiatives are destroying the world. Such as the mining required to make the toxic batteries for cellphones and electric cars none of which can be recycled, so ends up in landfills poisoning the environment or the amount of natural habitat destroyed to grow things to then be manufactured into the vegan food-like products. Consumer demand for the easy button was cultivated, at least in the US, by big corporations using manipulation to create the demand, promises of a healthier, happier, easier life.

We are working toward self-sufficiency and doing things in a more natural way to avoid being part of the problem. We have allowed big patches of our small property to revert to nature, they remain un-mowed, have grown new trees (that are actually faster growing than all the ones we have planted...), blackberries are growing in abundance, so we have also seen an uptick in wildlife activity.

Any wood products that we use, end up recycled in one way or another, cutting bad bits off and using the good bits to build or repair something else and the rotted wood adds to our garden compost along with the chicken manure. I feel that doing things as naturally as possible is better for my chickens wellbeing. The more that we can grow what we consume, within the confines of our own property, the fewer trips we have to take into town, the less manufactured products we use and we hope to be almost completely off-grid by the time I retire.

 

[saysfaa]

Hi, nice to meet you here, thanks for your comments. I'm the crazy rainforest lady on the thread, btw. What you observe in your area is true for the most part. Temperate forests in the northern US and Europe are actually making a comeback. Many areas are actually thriving. But that's the result of being able to import food and raw materials from the Global South. But the comeback isn't enough to offset total forest loss overall because deforestation in the tropics -- mainly as a result of resource extraction from the Global North -- is so rampant and unchecked. I appreciate having your perspective to round out the discussion.

Hm. Interesting. I thought the comeback (in North America at least) was mostly about how long it takes the forests to grow. The lumber baron era lasted about 20 years - 1870 to 1890 in Michigan, 1890 to 1910 in Wisconsin, 1900 to 1920 in Minnesota. I know the lumber barons moved in because the previous lumbering areas (Maine and New York) were exhausted but I don't know how fast it happened there. I think slower because of the timing of the industrial revolution.

It takes 70+ years for trees to reach harvest as logs (the thinned trees can be harvested as pulpwood or firewood). More or less, depending on species - my brother planted half of his farm to walnut expecting it to take 80 years to reach harvest if all goes well. He says it will be his son's retirement.

In these three states, it was mostly clear cut. Michigan was 90% forest; 95% of it was cut during the lumber era. "...The original forests of Minnesota have been estimated at 38 million acres, or a little more than 70 per cent of the area of the State..." The map shows what was left in 1929.

It had devastating effects on soil fertility through erosion and such. It would be interesting to see if rainfall patterns over the last century and a half correlate somewhere in the world.

I started reading labels on fresh food about 25 years ago to choose local options. I long ago noticed the shift to food grown in other countries. I know some of the reasons for some of the foods. Usually, an element of the reasons is unintended consequences.

 

[saysfaa]

Tax

 

[Sequel]

I have some sad news. Lost my EE yesterday. I had earlier this year nursed her back after a few bouts of soft-shelled eggs. Once I realized she would eat only the veggie scraps I put out in the morning and ignore the oyster shell, I got her back on track & deliver scraps in the afternoon.

Yesterday hub & I went to run some errands and left the kids (teenage + ages) in charge at home. Well, somehow my EE flew over the gate (which she has never done). We have a second gate as a backup just in case anyone ever flew over. My kids let the dogs out with them to play in the yard. The chickens have a regular covered run, plus two huge fenced in areas to range. (The benefits of large property)…We only let them out of the fencing when the dogs are safely inside. When we got home the kids were on the front porch and I heard the chickens yelling. Turns out my poor hen flew over the first gate, and my dog got through the backup gate (which hadn’t been secured). The dog got to her. The only thing I am thankful for is there was no blood…I think her neck just broke. My kids feel terrible for not keeping a better eye out. Today hub & I are working on raising the 5 ft gate up to the 8 feet of the rest of the fence, even if it means a temporary flexible plastic enclosure over the top. Lesson learned the hard way by everyone.

I’ll pay some tax later when I get outside to work on the gate. We are down to 8 hens…so glad my chicks will be ready before the end of the month.

I’m so sorry for your loss!

 

[MrsNorthie]

Hm. Interesting. I thought the comeback (in North America at least) was mostly about how long it takes the forests to grow. The lumber baron era lasted about 20 years - 1870 to 1890 in Michigan, 1890 to 1910 in Wisconsin, 1900 to 1920 in Minnesota. I know the lumber barons moved in because the previous lumbering areas (Maine and New York) were exhausted but I don't know how fast it happened there. I think slower because of the timing of the industrial revolution.

It takes 70+ years for trees to reach harvest as logs (the thinned trees can be harvested as pulpwood or firewood). More or less, depending on species - my brother planted half of his farm to walnut expecting it to take 80 years to reach harvest if all goes well. He says it will be his son's retirement.

In these three states, it was mostly clear cut. Michigan was 90% forest; 95% of it was cut during the lumber era. "...The original forests of Minnesota have been estimated at 38 million acres, or a little more than 70 per cent of the area of the State..." The map shows what was left in 1929.

It had devastating effects on soil fertility through erosion and such. It would be interesting to see if rainfall patterns over the last century and a half correlate somewhere in the world.

I started reading labels on fresh food about 25 years ago to choose local options. I long ago noticed the shift to food grown in other countries. I know some of the reasons for some of the foods. Usually, an element of the reasons is unintended consequences.

The lumber industry has changed it's practices a lot, for the most part, in the US. Responsible forestry management has them planting trees specifically for harvest and they have new trees growing long before they are ready to harvest. Not all, obviously, but a lot. We have several around us, that use this practice. They are using more Pine as the pine trees grow much faster.

 

[no fly zone]

I have some sad news. Lost my EE yesterday. I had earlier this year nursed her back after a few bouts of soft-shelled eggs. Once I realized she would eat only the veggie scraps I put out in the morning and ignore the oyster shell, I got her back on track & deliver scraps in the afternoon.

Yesterday hub & I went to run some errands and left the kids (teenage + ages) in charge at home. Well, somehow my EE flew over the gate (which she has never done). We have a second gate as a backup just in case anyone ever flew over. My kids let the dogs out with them to play in the yard. The chickens have a regular covered run, plus two huge fenced in areas to range. (The benefits of large property)…We only let them out of the fencing when the dogs are safely inside. When we got home the kids were on the front porch and I heard the chickens yelling. Turns out my poor hen flew over the first gate, and my dog got through the backup gate (which hadn’t been secured). The dog got to her. The only thing I am thankful for is there was no blood…I think her neck just broke. My kids feel terrible for not keeping a better eye out. Today hub & I are working on raising the 5 ft gate up to the 8 feet of the rest of the fence, even if it means a temporary flexible plastic enclosure over the top. Lesson learned the hard way by everyone.

I’ll pay some tax later when I get outside to work on the gate. We are down to 8 hens…so glad my chicks will be ready before the end of the month.

poor chickie