Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Very interesting. Fipronil is still very much used here for cats and dogs. There was a Fipronil contaminated egg scandal a few years ago which concerned many European countries...in France, the main problem laying hens commercial structures have is bioresistance to permethrin, since it was one of the only authorized product for laying hens. Bioresistance is an unavoidable evolution at some point if only one molecule is used; it is the ability of living organisms to adapt to stay alive.

I do use it on my dog because of ticks.

Article on sulfur in commercial poultry house
http://entomologytoday.org/2016/07/18/battling-chicken-mites-with-bags-of-brimstone/

 

[Perris]

I thought it tasted a bit like potatoes on a pie crust

Glad you gave it a go; you need more cheese and onion and garlic and white sauce then

 

[Perris]

Article on sulfur in commercial poultry house
http://entomologytoday.org/2016/07/18/battling-chicken-mites-with-bags-of-brimstone/

ah yes I've seen that; someone here on BYC linked to it on some thread sometime past but I'd since forgotten its existence; thanks for the reminder and the link!

 

[Perris]

Thanks to reading this thread, I just discovered we are supposed to declare our poultry too in France since 2006

I can just imagine the look of the people at the town hall if I would show up with the required form - I'm sure no one here has the slightest clue about it !

here there is something called the implementation problem, referring to the fact that legislators blithely make rules but don't seem much interested in and certainly don't facilitate or properly resource the implementation and enforcement of said rules. Sounds like you have something similar there

'Words not action' seems to be the motto of today.

 

[Shadrach]

here there is something called the implementation problem, referring to the fact that legislators blithely make rules but don't seem much interested in and certainly don't facilitate or properly resource the implementation and enforcement of said rules. Sounds like you have something similar there

'Words not action' seems to be the motto of today.

A point often overlooked. Legislating and observing are relatively easy; enforcing is another matter.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I work from home, so I don't dress up either, I only wear shoes because of fire ants and chickens and of course when I have to go to the store once or twice a month..lol . Comfort rules now.

Is there anything besides comfort?

 

[Perris]

sorry, can't resist, since this clearly no longer applies to those of us who remember it

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Tea is ready.

Temperature is in the 60s and cloudy.

Have a great day!

 

[RoyalChick]

Sheldrake has some remarkable facts and figures (and photos) on that topic. I think you might enjoy it.
https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/science-book-prize/books/2021/entangled-life/
(edited to add, if you do get it, get the illustrated edition; several commentators have said that they didn't understand this or that until they saw a picture illustrating it)

Thanks - I will look to see if I can source a copy of the illustrated version.

On the subject of fungi, I have a question for you, Shad, and the other experienced chicken tenders on this thread concerning mold (a type of fungus).

I live in a clearing in the woods and pile the many, many, leaves that fall into a huge mountain not far from my Chicken Palace (my chickens have a large covered run and also range within an electric fence perimeter, but do not truly free range).

Periodically I go to the leaf mountain and fill a couple of lawn bags with leaves in various states of decay and tip them into the covered run. This is a very popular event and it seems many happy hours can be spent digging through the pile looking for interesting things to eat. At the bottom of the leaf pile are lots of worms, but higher up there are endless small insects that thought the leaf pile would be a safe home.

Here on BYC I have read that what I do is inadvisable because of the risk of toxic molds. So far, I have ignored this advice reasoning that chickens were originally forest floor birds and so leaf mold must have been an everyday part of life for their ancestors, but I admit to feeling a bit anxious every time I give them a bag.

I imagine truly free range chickens must get into leaf piles and that doesn't even cover compost heaps which are really just moldy kitchen scraps placed outside!

Any thoughts or words of reassurance for me?

 

[Perris]

My thoughts are that it is possible but unlikely that your chickens would eat a toxic mould while foraging in dead and decaying leaves, even were one there.

Animals use smell as their primary sense when deciding whether or not to eat something. If a given mould needs to be eaten in order to disperse its spores via the eater's faeces (as do truffles), then it smells agreeable/delectable to the intended consumer, and is not normally toxic to it (because that would be selected against in normal circumstances; fascinating exception with the zombie fungi). If it needs not to be eaten in order to reproduce, then selection favours those that smell disagreeable. Assuming your chickens' olfactory equipment is in good working order, I would leave the decision to them. My birds are rummaging around in leaves in varying states of decomposition all day long all year long, and I don't think any of them have been inadvertently poisoned by it. Though I have seen one or two stagger occasionally, and they might have found some psilocybin