Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

I recommend sardines, not just any old tinned fish.

Sardines are forage fish - caught from the wild, not farmed. A lot of the fish in the supermarket these days is farmed, which is problematic in all sorts of ways, just like industrial chicken or beef production. The lower down the food chain a fish is, the more likely it is to be healthy. The smaller it is, the more likely it is to be wild and caught in open water. Sardines satisfy both categories. They contain a good amount of protein, all the electrolyte minerals (calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus) plus some iron, zinc and manganese, plus B vitamins, and the whole suite of essential amino acids.

And besides all that, tinned sardines are available even in small corner shops, and are one of the cheapest fish to buy anywhere, because they are plentiful in the sea. I do not understand why anyone chooses any other type of fish.

Well one issue with sardines is over-fishing. After the collapse of the Portuguese sardine population they are rebuilding, but still very few sardine fisheries are certified as sustainable (though admittedly the certification process leaves much to be desired).

And for tax, here are some chickens choosing to go to town on my pumpkin.

 

[Perris]

Well one issue with sardines is over-fishing

thanks for alerting me to that; I was unaware of it.
Overfishing small wild fish to feed Scottish salmon farms is a live issue here.

 

[RoyalChick]

thanks for alerting me to that; I was unaware of it.
Overfishing small wild fish to feed Scottish salmon farms is a live issue here.

Yes, I have read about the salmon farm issue.
Responsible fish consumption is complicated, and requires a nerdy level of research and label reading.
Cornwall apparently has sustainably fished sardines and I do believe Portugal (by far the biggest source) have been working on it.
Pacific sardines are still a no-go which is why I stopped eating sardines when I came to the US.

And more tax - my pumpkin an hour after the first picture.

 

[Perris]

They are enjoying that! I'm mean and only give mine the innards and skin, keeping the flesh to make curried roasted pumpkin soup (yesterday) or pumpkin achar (a month ago).
I went to find some tax and found these three loafing in the border

 

[Shadrach]

Yes it is confusing, but it is important not to overgeneralize and throw out the baby with the bathwater. Sugar is the fuel for every cell in your body; you need it. So do your chickens.

Digestion converts carbohydrates into sugar (monosaccarides, e.g. glucose, fructose (fruit sugar)), in which form it is absorbed by the gut and travels in the bloodstream to all parts. Glucose is the main product of photosynthesis, and is the main fuel for all lifeforms. So sugar per se is not a bad thing.

High-fructose corn syrup is a sucrose substitute widely used in processed foods and drinks, and the finger is pointing in its direction as the smoking gun of the obesity epidemic.

Yes, I know all this. What isn't so clear is a solution to the problems.

 

[RoyalChick]

They are enjoying that! I'm mean and only give mine the innards and skin, keeping the flesh to make curried roasted pumpkin soup (yesterday) or pumpkin achar (a month ago).
I went to find some tax and found these three loafing in the border
View attachment 3972403

Usually I do the same (roasted curried pumpkin soup sounds yummy), but I got a butternut squash for me instead.
I think next season I will grow some pumpkins and then the chickens and I can share.

 

[Perris]

Yes, I know all this. What isn't so clear is a solution to the problems.

I go with the old adage: eat things that your grandmother would recognise as food, mostly plants, not too much.

 

[Perris]

roasted curried pumpkin soup sounds yummy

it is. Here's the recipe
http://nwedible.com/curried-hubbard-squash-soup/

 

[Shadrach]

24/10.
A couple of hours. The chickens are still cautious about how far from cover they venture I assume due to the attack on the geese. They seem to be following the activity patterns I observed watching the tribes in Catalonia more closely the more freedom they get. The first couple of hours in the morning and the last couple of hours in the evening are peak foraging times. At times of predator activty the usual is to stay under cover particulalry in the late afternoon and forage quickly for their late evening feed.

 

[Shadrach]

I'll go with don't read to many studies about nutrition and eat what is available. My grandparents had a far from ideal diet as did many of that ime due to lack of choice. In my grandparents time rickets was still an issue as was not enough protein, various vitamin deficiencies and a tendency to drink too much alcohol.