Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

another example of cecectomy as routine procedure in poultry feed research:
"In studies regarding the efficiency and digestibility of feeds, cecectomy technique that was first described by Durant (1929) is usually used. It makes possible to perform the digestibility tests in short time and at less cost as compared to conventional growth trials (Pupaet al., 1998). It eradicates the interference factor of the cecum; thus, each group or individual bird can present a specific bacterial microbiota and cause interference in the digestibility studies (Pan and Yu, 2014)." That's a paper from 2019. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119306960

A natural digestive organ and its function is not 'interference' for the chicken whose organ that is. Rather, its elimination makes the work cheaper and easier for the researchers. Recent work on the microbiome has shown that what goes on in the caeca is the extraction of more nutrients for the chicken, either directly, or via the trillions of microbes that live in them.

 

[ManueB]

Without implying that this holds true for any other keeper with high production breeds, I will say that every ISA brown I've ever had (and they've all been with me since before their very first egg) didn't have a serious molt until after being done with laying, at 2-3 years old, and as such never truly stopped producing eggs up until that point

My ex-batts also started really molting on their third winter here. Unlike yours, some were still laying, others were not. Obviously, molting would be a problem for birds in a battery, and I wonder if it is a trait that has been bred out of them.
On the other hand, I read a swiss article meant for organic operations that explained how to use artificially induced molting to lengthen the laying career of production birds, therefore allowing to keep them for a few more months alive.

It's called Treacle here.
View attachment 3697550

It's a very rare product in my country. One can only find molasses in organic or health food store and I have no clue which type it is. I bought some once, it was very dark and tasted of licorice.

 

[Perris]

and lest I be thought to be misleadingly selective in my citations, here's a paper on cecectomized laying hens, rather than cocks, from 2017

"Twelve cecectomized laying hens (strain LSL-Classic)... At the onset of the experiment, the animals were 45 wk old and the trial lasted 19 wk.... Ceca were surgically removed at the Animal Clinic of the University of Hohenheim when the hens were 20 to 28 wk old".

And even without their caeca, the functioning of the birds' digestive systems created so much variability that "In conclusion, AA digestibility of triticale grain is high overall in laying hens but varies significantly between crop genotypes. This variation could not be well explained by physical and chemical characteristics of the grain."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119317948

 

[Shadrach]

and lest I be thought to be misleadingly selective in my citations, here's a paper on cecectomized laying hens, rather than cocks, from 2017

"Twelve cecectomized laying hens (strain LSL-Classic)... At the onset of the experiment, the animals were 45 wk old and the trial lasted 19 wk.... Ceca were surgically removed at the Animal Clinic of the University of Hohenheim when the hens were 20 to 28 wk old".

And even without their caeca, the functioning of the birds' digestive systems created so much variability that "In conclusion, AA digestibility of triticale grain is high overall in laying hens but varies significantly between crop genotypes. This variation could not be well explained by physical and chemical characteristics of the grain."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119317948

As you point out these studies and unfortunately many others have little relevance to what I will loosely describe as natural chickens kept in backyard conditions.

 

[Shadrach]

while dads are where, doing what?

I get the impression that many are single mothers.

 

[BDutch]

https://www.dhampurgreen.com/blogs/...ence-between-molasses-and-blackstrap-molasses
View attachment 3697407

So molasses and treacle is a byproduct in extracting the sugar and made with a kind of refinery. Is it made from sugarcane only or also from sugarbeet and ahorn?
Anyway, all these products are not available in the supermarket in the Netherlands. But google says it is used in the food industry to make products like soy sauce. Some reform shops seem to sell it because of the health claim. But its not even available in the webshops of the reform shops in my town.
People in the Netherlands that have a problem with constipation often eat high fiber bread and fruits like plums (dried plums welded before eating).
Of course we do have our own syrups. Like apple syrup and sugar syrup (very sweet). We say stroop. And our famous most yummy stroopwafels are made honey syrup. A few examples with stroop:

Btw: Ini mini is fine.

 

[Perris]

I get the impression that many are single mothers.

the children have dads, unless you're suggesting these were virgin births.
Where are they? Why aren't they raising their kids? Why are they out of mind and apparently free of any responsibility for their offspring and their upbringing?

 

[Perris]

As you point out these studies and unfortunately many others have little relevance to what I will loosely describe as natural chickens kept in backyard conditions.

but they are what underpins the 'precision nutrition', 'balanced complete feed', '10% treat rule', and similar bullsh!t phrases that are regularly trotted out online as advice for backyard keepers with normal chickens by well meaning but ill informed contributors.

Anyway, on that note I'm signing off the topic. The more I read of it the more disgusted I get with it.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I read a swiss article meant for organic operations that explained how to use artificially induced molting to lengthen the laying career of production birds, therefore allowing to keep them for a few more months alive.

I have noticed that my moulting girls had slowed or stopped laying for a bit during the moulting process, so maybe the induced moulting is intended to give them a break from laying and allowing their reproductive tract to enjoy some recovery time.

 

[RoyalChick]

It's called Treacle here.
View attachment 3697550

Which confusingly is not what is normally used to make treacle tart.