Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[TropicalChickies]

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.

This is also part of the history -- which is a very interesting one of your region. But I was talking about the big picture of temperate forests rebounding overall. The biggest reason forests can grow back in post industrial countries is because the land isn't being cleared for agriculture. And that's because the amount of food imported from countries where land is being cleared for agriculture makes up for it. The US and to a lesser extent Western Europe, while still having a wealth of arable land, actually produces very little of its own food.

The US is unique in being both the worlds largest food importer and the world largest food exporter! But most of the US exports as "food" is bulk soy and wheat or corn as ethanol. And what the US imports is mostly what people actually eat.

An easy way to visualize this is a typical grocery store, especially the produce section. At the very least, 40% of the food is from a tropical or subtropical region, or from a more temperate zone of a developing country. For example, the Ecuador is a big exporter of bananas and cacao (the base of chocolate) from the tropical zones. But Ecuador also exports a lot of broccoli and cauliflower to the US from it's temperate zones, which were semi arid forests but are now almost denuded. Just visualize it -- the pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes, avocados, strawberries, papaya, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, coffee, sugar, rice -- etc, etc. The vast majority are imported from once forested tropical regions. Demand for food is driving deforestation abroad because somewhere along the way, post industrial countries stopped feeding themselves.

 

[TropicalChickies]

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.

Thank you, and it sounds like you are doing your part as well! But actually what we doing isn't completely natural. Because the majority of trees we plant are selected for their use value (food, fiber, biomass, etc) in addition to their place in the ecosystem.

But this method, called agroforestry, or forest farming, is nothing new. This is how the indigenous people of rainforest regions successfully managed their landscapes -- and built societies much larger and more sophisticated than previously thought. Archaeology and ethnobotany are now confirming that forest farms supported populations well into the hundreds of thousands, and probably millions, in rainforests, without destroying the ecosystem.

Here's something explaining that fascinating history

https://www.sdvforest.com/agroforestry/the-fascinating-story-of-human-made-forests

 

[Iluveggers]

Here’s my tax for earlier. I have daffodils planted outside the coop & run, and the girls dug up all the leaves and weeds in that spot, but the daffodils haven’t been touched. Smart ladies.

 

[fuzzi]

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.

Green initiatives are mostly scams that are making a few people wealthier and most people poorer.

A wise old preacher I knew once said "If it don't make sense there's a buck in it" = the latest cause isn't about a cause, but making someone rich, somewhere.

 

[fuzzi]

Here's my tax:

 

[TropicalChickies]

More tax. This is Butchie, technically my eldest hen at just about 3 years old, but in no way equipped to fill Cleo's boss shoes. She developed an illness about a year ago and stopped laying. She was actually on deaths door for a few months but by strictly controlling her diet, she's improved a lot and still getting something out of being alive. She could have a hernia, or likely ovarian tumors, putting pressure on her digestive organs because she has a swollen belly (firm, not ascites) and can only eat little bits of food at a time, no commercial feed, and mostly protein and vegetables. She's on the keto diet! She's utterly useless but completely adorable and just waddles around the kitchen, making plaintive little hungry sounds, typing Shakespeare on my computer keypad with her beak, keeping the dogs company and pecking at the few flax seeds I scatter for her on the floor. Not exactly leadership material, but she enjoys chasing the little chicks out when they brazenly think they can come inside.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Pretty feathers and colors!

Here's my tax:
View attachment 3537852

 

[Molpet]

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

 

[notabitail]

No it won't. I've got one so I know it's not a chicken!

I know you have one. It was in the photo of Tap dancing on Bob's thread.

 

[fuzzi]

More tax. This is Butchie, technically my eldest hen at just about 3 years old, but in no way equipped to fill Cleo's boss shoes. She developed an illness about a year ago and stopped laying. She was actually on deaths door for a few months but by strictly controlling her diet, she's improved a lot and still getting something out of being alive. She could have a hernia, or likely ovarian tumors, putting pressure on her digestive organs because she has a swollen belly (firm, not ascites) and can only eat little bits of food at a time, no commercial feed, and mostly protein and vegetables. She's on the keto diet! She's utterly useless but completely adorable and just waddles around the kitchen, making plaintive little hungry sounds, typing Shakespeare on my computer keypad with her beak, keeping the dogs company and pecking at the few flax seeds I scatter for her on the floor. Not exactly leadership material, but she enjoys chasing the little chicks out when they brazenly think they can come inside.

View attachment 3537849

View attachment 3537853

Made me think of "Fleck", aka "Purple". He loves to photobomb, will run up to my phone as I try to take a picture.

He's third roo right now, out of three, so low man on the totem pole. I thought about sending him to the auction yesterday, but he has some really nice feather patterns that meet the standard, so I am keeping him for now.

Since six of his fellows were shipped out yesterday he appears to be feeling his "oats". I was bent over in the run, cleaning out the waterer cups, when Mister Fleck flew up on top of my chair, rustled his feathers, fluffed his hackles, and tried to give me the stink eye.

I casually looked at him, then turned my head away and continued to clean the waterer. I disregarded his display and pretended he wasn't there. I don't think my reaction was what he was expecting, and he hopped off the chair within a few seconds.

Note: I was VERY much aware of how close he was to my face. If he'd tried anything he would be pushing up the daisies.