Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

@Shadrach I would be very grateful if you could give us some health news ! It's been a while now and if you're not recovering, I will begin to worry you are in serious trouble .

A penny for my thoughts Manue.
And thanks for the worm explanation.

Learning about chickens for allmost 10 years now, every day or every week. This thread contributes in this for over a year now.

 

[Shadrach]

I was thinking that eggs from another location provided to a broody would carry the antibodies of the laying hen's location. It's hard to know whether her antibodies will be beneficial. I suppose if the eggs were sourced from a nearby flock, there could be a good fit.

I've got to step in here...
Firstly most keepers will not know if their birds have worms unless they have a fecal float carried out. One doesn't always see worm segments or live worms in the droppings. Just because one can't see any doesn't mean they haven't got worms.

Next, most ranging chickens carry some worm load. It's the worm count that's important, not the mere fact that a bird is carrying worms.

The Tribes got worms a lot. I used to drop off to Gloria the vet a droppings sample most months and get the worm count results by phone.
The interesting thing about Gloria is she would differentiate between a critical worm load, or just a few floating about that the chicken will cope with by eating whatever it is they eat when ranging.

There is a lot of evidence that certain herbs and plants contain chemicals that have some negative effect on certain parasites but one needs to look very very carefully at the quantities of the active chimicals for a give weight of the carrier. Not much use finding a plant that kills round worms if the bird has to eat 5 or 6 kilos of the plant to get an effective dose.
Most plants that have been studied can be said to have some beneficial chemicals in them but the quantities are often minute. It seems every week some food fad starts because of some reputed health benefits. Well that's what all those plants are for, barring the outright lethal ones. Eating them, as wide a selection as possible is how we and chickens are supposed to live. We used to forage just like chickens.

A further problem is the keeping model in such debates is assumed to be static.
However, I could sanitize an area of ground on day one and put parasite free chickens on it and a few weeks later find they have worms. The conditions of the ground, on top and underneath is constantly changing. With ranging chickens in large areas of mixed foliage the changes can be major. Wild birds and other creatures are constantly coming and going and they carry parasites and leave pathogens.

 

[Perris]

Great to see you back! How are you?

 

[Shadrach]

I'm still sick but better than I was. It's going to take some time to recover as much as I'm going to. Unfortunately the saying "whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger" isn't born out in reality.

As for Henry, Fret, Carbon, Dig and Mow.
I believe they are getting fed. C is doing it.
The arrangement for cleaning and feeding that was in place all went to shite due to unbelievable bits of drama. The eldest has been able to visit and tells me everyone is alive. Unfortunatley her and her husband are sick as are other people who may have been able to step up.

I've been told a few unpleasant facts about my current state of health and have been warned that I need to take time to make a decent recovery. I may get to the allotments later this week but I'm not in a fit state to do every day. I shall be talking to C at some point who despite not meeting an acceptable standard of care is the only one who is prepared to at least do something rather than flame other group members on What'sCrap.

 

[Perris]

Thanks for the update. Good to hear that you are on the mend, sufficiently so to visit the allotments. Please don't over do it when you get there, whatever you find, or you could set yourself back again. Just focus on the essentials, first of which is your own health.

 

[BDutch]

I'm still sick but better than I was. It's going to take some time to recover as much as I'm going to.

Happy to see your brains and typing skills still work as before, even if you post less frequent.
Is it two weeks ago now you got sick? You had Covid not so long ago, so I suspect this time it’s something else. Did you see a doctor or a hospital? Do you want to tell about what happened?

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

I'm still sick but better than I was. It's going to take some time to recover as much as I'm going to. Unfortunately the saying "whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger" isn't born out in reality.

As for Henry, Fret, Carbon, Dig and Mow.
I believe they are getting fed. C is doing it.
The arrangement for cleaning and feeding that was in place all went to shite due to unbelievable bits of drama. The eldest has been able to visit and tells me everyone is alive. Unfortunatley her and her husband are sick as are other people who may have been able to step up.

I've been told a few unpleasant facts about my current state of health and have been warned that I need to take time to make a decent recovery. I may get to the allotments later this week but I'm not in a fit state to do every day. I shall be talking to C at some point who despite not meeting an acceptable standard of care is the only one who is prepared to at least do something rather than flame other group members on What'sCrap.

Sometimes I despair of the human race!
Surely a moment’s thought would tell them that there must be something pretty serious going on if you are not turning up as before?
Also, why can they not put their petty squabbles to one side for a wee while to look after the chickens? Nation of animal lovers? Only as long as it suits their own selfish desires more like.
Getting off the soap box now

Glad to hear from you Shadrach and, as others have said, look after yourself, we need the voice of reason and experience!

 

[Perris]

Picking up the maternal antibodies (matAb) theme again, this paper https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0137
includes an interesting observation about hay fever in humans just before a concise statement of the hypothesis
"Additional support for the importance of exposure to matAb:antigen complexes early in life comes from studies on humans, where the incidence of hay fever in adults were lower in those living on a farm during the first year of life rather than years 1–5 and much lower than in those not living on a farm at all (Riedler et al. 2001). Hence, in the context of the ‘offspring immunity enhancement hypothesis’, matAb are proposed to function as ‘templates’ of antigens constituting the accumulated immunological experience of the mother, which could be passed on to the offspring and result in an education of the nascent immune system of the newborn."

Later it is stated that the chicken's immune system is developing until it's 6 months old.

 

[Shadrach]

Do you want to tell about what happened?

No.

 

[BDutch]

Picking up the maternal antibodies (matAb) theme again, this paper https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0137
includes an interesting observation about hay fever in humans just before a concise statement of the hypothesis
"Additional support for the importance of exposure to matAb:antigen complexes early in life comes from studies on humans, where the incidence of hay fever in adults were lower in those living on a farm during the first year of life rather than years 1–5 and much lower than in those not living on a farm at all (Riedler et al. 2001). Hence, in the context of the ‘offspring immunity enhancement hypothesis’, matAb are proposed to function as ‘templates’ of antigens constituting the accumulated immunological experience of the mother, which could be passed on to the offspring and result in an education of the nascent immune system of the newborn."

Later it is stated that the chicken's immune system is developing until it's 6 months old.

About hay fever and me.
I grew up on a farm and was exposed to lots of things floating in the air. So far so good. But later in life as an adult, I developed a hay fever for linden and horse chestnut. Linden an horse chestnut allergy are not very common types of hay fever. They have no tests for it. But my tears, painful eyes and snotty reactions every May and June were very clear.

There is a second theory that ultra fine dust from pollution attaches to pollens and this can develop hay fever if you get exposed to an overdose of the contaminated pollen. Exactly. A linden and three horse chestnuts stood at the other side of the road, the linden right opposite from my bedroom window. The horse chestnuts only 25 meters away.

The road had much traffic and was not far bedroom windows. The cars were not as clean as they are today and surely I was exposed to ultra fine dust and other chemical dust from traffic.

You understand that the allergy's I developed is a reason why I truly believe this second theory is correct. It also explains why many more people have allergies today than many decades ago.

Its another reason why I welcome the change to clean electricity from wind and solar panels. And of course the use of e-cars.
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