Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[micstrachan]

I know I've said this before [though possibly not everyone here has heard it] but I never wanted lap chickens. I am happy to have my chickens be chickens doing chickeny things. I have had a couple of chickens who didn't get that memo, the most notable being Olivia. She thinks she's people. She's in the house any chance she gets. She's the first to come running if I step outside. She hops up on me & considers me the best roost around. I think she's crazy but she is a very endearing little hen.

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Oh my frick Olivia is adorable.

 

[micstrachan]

I like the lengthy, informative posts, for the most part. As well as the wordy, thoughtful ones. And the great pics! Loving the tax idea, we should do it more often!

I enjoy the lengthy, informative posts, as well. I just can’t find the time to read all the links and respond properly. Unfortunately, by the time I retire and become a proper chicken servant, many of you might not still be chatting on BYC. But one can hope!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I know I've said this before [though possibly not everyone here has heard it] but I never wanted lap chickens. I am happy to have my chickens be chickens doing chickeny things. I have had a couple of chickens who didn't get that memo, the most notable being Olivia. She thinks she's people. She's in the house any chance she gets. She's the first to come running if I step outside. She hops up on me & considers me the best roost around. I think she's crazy but she is a very endearing little hen.

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Well whattaya expect when you name a chicken, essentially, "Ah luv ya"? (Olivia, indeed!)

 

[micstrachan]

I'm really enjoying your expertise Windrider!

Me, too!

 

[micstrachan]

Well, it takes about an acre of decent forage rich land to fully support a pair of jungle fowl. I think one would need to know a bit more about what they mean by free ranging and what the ground they free range on was like.
I often read people writing about free ranging as letting their chickens out for an hour in their back yards.
I would expect that some people report an increase in feed consumption in the winter because as you mention forage becomes harder to find. To read that their chickens eat more commercial feed when they free range than they do when confined is surprising to say the least.

Unless the area they are free ranging in doesn’t provide much, in which case they’d be getting more exercise, but not more nutrition.

 

[micstrachan]

But it wouldn't really help. Millions are killed each year. The solution to the problem isn't adopting a few. It's a complicated issue that needs something other than a knee jerk emotional response.
It's not that I don't appreciate the offers and there have been others. I have the money to keep them fed and treated for essential health issues. Despite how it may seem from the pictures these Ex Batts and Rescues have had a bit of a touch through the most unlikely circumstances. They've met someone who actually cares about them being chickens who has the time and commitment to make a small impprovement to what little life they have left.
If on the other hand people stopped buying chicken based food for their pets, ate less eggs, were prepared for even a 5 X increase in the price of eggs, etc etc then we might be talking. This isn't a Tesco advertisment where every little helps. In fact in this case I suspect that every liittle is possibly just making things worse.

I think she meant it would help in the survival of THESE rescue birds. I agree it doesn’t immediately help the big picture. However, it might raise awareness. More people might come to this thread and learn that being a real chicken means being a healthier chicken. And that chickens are sentient, intelligent, social creatures.

I have to agree that people need to eat fewer eggs, pay more for eggs, stop feeding chicken to their pets (and themselves) to move the needle even a little bit. However, it makes me smile proudly that my parents will now only buy pasture raised eggs. It’s a tiny start to making a difference.

I can’t help but feel nothing will change on a large scale unless and until people are more aware of chicken intelligence. Same with pigs and cows.

Honestly, I feel a bit hopeless about the whole thing. How on earth can we get terribly selfish beings (humans) to stop exploiting others??? I just don’t know how to turn around the entitled arrogance.

 

[micstrachan]

Tax.
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This photo is so perfect, it’s like a painting!

 

[micstrachan]

I must owe some tax by now. So I offer Dorothy +1. She didn't get the memo about RIR's being non-broody
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Amazing photo!

 

[micstrachan]

regarding the 'proper chickens' question, this is alarming: "Muir et al. (2008) were the first to assess the genetic diversity of several inbred lines of chicken (n = 2580) using a commercial SNP genotyping array. They showed that more than 50% of the ancestral genetic diversity was lost in the commercial lines compared to the experimental lines and standard breeds. " https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/age.13091

I have to read this later. PCR based SNP genotyping was my area of expertise. It is used to look for very specific mutations; SNP stands for single nucleotide polymorphism. It’s a TINY (single nucleotide) genetic mutation (but can have a huge impact, depending on where the mutation is). I don’t see how SNP genotyping can be used to determine that a certain percentage of genetic diversity has been lost. Maybe with whole genome sequencing, but SNP genotyping??? My assays were PCR-based, not array based, and it’s been over 18 years, so I'm excited to read and learn. I have to get back to this article, but need to go to bed soon.

 

[micstrachan]

Why?
We don't save lives. What we may do is prolong a life.
At some point one has to make a value judgement on whether prolonging a life is the right thing to do. One criteria must surely be the quality of life the saved is going to have.

Yep. As you know, I learned this the hard way with Ruby. Swore I wouldn’t drag things on if she was suffering, but tricked myself into believing she wasn’t. Still kicking myself for that.