Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Four years ago today Skeksis laid her first egg. I can still remember the look of pure joy on my wife's face. At the time I thought it was a blessing, but now I view it as more of a curse, since my sweet girl's early demise was brought about by the whole process. She simply was a star that shined just a little too bright. I will always love my funny looking little bird.

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She was such a special girl

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[MrsNorthie]

it is designed to be addictive, like human junk food, so they eat more than they otherwise would. There's a reason people assume there's something wrong with the feed when their birds get non-communicable diseases and issues, and I haven't yet worked out how the feed industry has managed to distract attention from their product, which forms the bulk if not the entirety of the feed in many such cases, to any putative 'treats' the poor birds might also have been given by their loving owners.

Thank you! That is interesting. Just like I have learned that the so called "Healthy Foods" as laid out by the "Food Pyramid" is designed to keep people reliant on big pharma, I guess the commercial feed industry has found a way to keep more people reliant on them. It is amazing how everything that we thought we knew and trusted is being proved to be a big lie.

to any putative 'treats' the poor birds might also have been given by their loving owners.

I would like to believe that most people have good intentions, but are just victims to marketing and trusting of the government and the so-called "Industry Experts". I know, that with some, that is not the case and there are people that just want maximum production from their animals, with little to no concern over the health implications.

I have seen an improvement in natural activity and energy levels in our 7 month old babies, since we started feeding the whole grains and providing fish a couple of times a week. The younger pullets have had the benefit of starting out on good feed and they are thriving. Just like, since cutting all processed foods, and 98% of carbs from my diet has greatly improved my health.

Hopefully, more people have access to information like yours and other legitimate sources for how to provide the best care for health and happiness of their birds. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I am confounded by nature’s wisdom and my own stupidity.

Nature is beautiful. I don't think we are stupid, I think that all of the modern conveniences of the modern life, has overridden our understanding and harmony with nature. I believe, with desire and effort, we are able to regain our natural instincts and skills.

 

[lightm]

Yay for Fret! And the flock, you @Shadrach and the entire allotment .

In regards to inbreeding, I don't worry much about it, because I have almost entirely mixed breeds. The parents all started as 'purebreeds' (which means an entirely different thing in poultry than it does with mammals, as I learned).

I have one hen (Droplet) who is the daughter of my rooster (Kowalski). She has a daughter (Red Hen), so Red Hen is the granddaughter of Kowalski, but Red Hen has a different father (Wendell). They are all different breeds. I figure that fact alone makes the genetic diversity so much more diverse than two 'unrelated' individuals of the same breed that I don't have any concerns about it.
The cockerels I will be allowing to stay (for now) are Kowalski's sons. They are related only to their genetic mother (Princess Fluffy Butt), their half sibling Droplet, and their niece Red Hen. Again, all started as different breeds, the cockerels being a mix of barred rock and orpington.
I think if you have varied breeds, and breed mixes, inbreeding is even less of a concern. I bring in 'new blood' by buying hatching eggs. Last season I got lucky by having every chick sired by Wendell (very obvious as all of Kowalski's chicks are barred, and all of Wendell's chicks were partridge, black or white). I'm not entirely sure what that says about Kowalski's motivation... or his future as flock father! I fully expect all of the later seasons chicks to be fathered by the cockerels, if they ever get a move on in that department.

I can't help but to have a smile on my face every time I read the name "Princess Fluffy Butt". Do we have a good picture to justify the name?

 

[MrsNorthie]

But I still don’t grasp what you try yo tell? What is the meaning of your statement?

I just mean that, if fighting to prolong the life of anyone, animal or human, leads to suffering and a lack of quality of life, we are not really doing them any favour. Sometimes we have to trust that nature knows best.

Some of the loudest voices expressing outrage over the perceived lack of humanity are those who are most guilty of lacking basic human decency.

 

[MrsNorthie]

You ask Perris, and I do hope he knows or finds info to give you a good answer.

I want to reply on this matter too. I know (researched in NL) that our abundant milk giving cows are genetically changed so much, that the need the high protein feed to stay healthy. Maybe the research was not independent. If I recall right a farmers organisation paid for the research because the government wanted to change the feed in order to reduce air pollution.

With chickens its probably about the same. The laying hybrids are not natural anymore. Therefore they probably need the high levels of protein and calcium in their feed. For me another reason to ‘not want’ to have laying hybrids.
The heritage breeds and barnyard/back yard mixes don’t need the amount of proteins and calcium that’s in the commercial feed made for factory farming. The not commercial chickens are probably more fit for free ranging and living on scratch and left overs than the laying hybrids.

I think you are right, many production animals have been genetically modified to increase production. I think this is another modern problem. I know that here in the US, they have all but wiped out the small family farm, so instead of local communities producing food, they are reliant on large corporate farms and manufacturing plants that thrive on mass production of food and food like products, which have all been manipulated to be less than optimal for health.

The modern disease is convincing people, over multiple generations, that:

1. You must seek success as judged by your peers.
2. That success means conformity and modernization.

People then move away from a natural lifestyle, and live in cities, work in offices, become busy and stressed, then become addicted to those prepared foods, and then become reliant on the system. It keeps the governments and big pharma in control.

Since almost all chickens in the US originally come from hatcheries, it is very difficult to trust what they are calling heritage breeds, I chose Buff Orpingtons, because they were advertised as a heritage breed with the reputation for being docile, so I hoped to not have a lot of injuries caused by fighting to establish pecking order. So other than cockerel puberty (which has greatly improved too), I have a very peaceful tribe. I am thinking that, in order to make sure that the future generations are as healthy as possible, I will have to find a way to breed our way back to a more natural tribe. (if it is even possible.) I don't know, yet, if that means finding some chickens that are barnyard mixes, multiple generations removed from their hatchery parents and letting them mix with our current chickens, or can we get back to a more natural chicken through generations of breeding with in our current tribe? These are the things that keep me awake at night.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Four years ago today Skeksis laid her first egg. I can still remember the look of pure joy on my wife's face. At the time I thought it was a blessing, but now I view it as more of a curse, since my sweet girl's early demise was brought about by the whole process. She simply was a star that shined just a little too bright. I will always love my funny looking little bird.

View attachment 3613477

She was a beauty.

 

[fluffycrow]

We've encountered a rather...interesting problem. Lady Gaga and Ursula meet ups have been going on as usual, but there's something rather weird going on that I wonder if any of you with mix breed flocks have encountered. So Ursula is a silkie mix, and as such, she has the silkied feathers. Well, her tail and wing feathers seem very tasty to Lady Gaga, because he eats them like he would a piece of grass

 

[Perris]

I am thinking that, in order to make sure that the future generations are as healthy as possible, I will have to find a way to breed our way back to a more natural tribe.

I don't know if it would work for you, but some people on BYC who live in or near Amish country look to them for naturally strong stock, old fashioned barnyard mixes.