Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

Yes you are right that humans who like to eat meat often close their eyes for all the bad that is happening in factory farming.

And we didn’t have a discussion on broilers, but comparing them to layers was meant to give another perspective. A hen that lays 360 eggs in a year is twice to 4 times the amount , thats normal for most heritage breeds. This amount of eggs are largely not the result of better feed and housing. It has to do with changes within their genes too.

There are more examples likes this; A modern pig with 14 nipples is genetically not exactly the same as a pig 50 years ago who had only 10. Its like survival of the fittest solemnly for the benefits in the farming industry. Only use the descendants of the superb producers. Minor mutations, breeding and selecting by mankind are the cause of these (genetic) changes.

With dogs, cats and even chickens there are many more examples of genetic changes. People have been breeding on characteristic looks. In the past it was often functional, But today it’s more because we can or to win prizes. And too often the breeders went beyond the health and welfare of the breeds. Example: Some dogs like, Cavalier king spaniël and Maltezer suffer from headaches because of extreme breeding programs just for the looks.

but this is still tinkering at the margins in genetic terms. "Visually, a Chihuahua is the chalk to a Great Dane’s cheese, yet they are still the same species, Canis lupus familiaris, and are direct descendants of the grey wolf. All domestic dog breeds are able to interbreed to give birth to reproductively viable offspring. This is because their genomes remain relatively unchanged, despite their physical characteristics appearing so different. This key evidence tells us that various dog breeds are not in the running to become a new species any time soon. It takes a long time for mutations, which cause inheritable changes to characteristics, to arise within populations." https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/are-any-dog-breeds-close-to-becoming-a-new-species

 

[TropicalChickies]

This is my thinking too.

My foundation stock are Swedish Flowers, which don't have a standard anyway and evolved on Swedish farms to look and behave as they do. A 6 yr old Swedish Flower (Venka) is mother to 3 pure SFH hens and 1 pure roo (Chirk being the daddy; he is also her son by Sven, which explains why the pullets are so like her - 75% of their genes came from her). The other prominent breed here are Penedesencas, bought in as hatching eggs.

The current dom (Killay) has no Swedish Flower blood at all; his mum was an Araucana (Maria) and his dad a Penedesenca who's since passed (Phoenix). Phoenix didn't live long, but he was a busy and popular chap , as he has 5 offspring in the current flock, including 2 daughters by that same Swedish Flower hen who produced the 4 young SFHs. There is one certain cross the other way, of a SFH cock (Chirk) over a Penedesenca hen (Polka), and that is Fez. It was hybrid hens' eggs that went into Janeka's clutch, with 1 of her own, so Phoenix's influence continues (probably) in an additional 3 grandkids now, and I'm guessing that the daddy to 3 if not all 4 of their newly hatched kids is the hybrid dom.

The other breeds here have been bit players in the reproduction stakes; Norfolk Grey, Welsummer, Barbezieux, Araucana have just 1 or no surviving offspring.

The upshot is that, after 6 years of existence for this flock, I think that all of the year olds are now related to one another as full, half or quarter siblings or cousins once or twice removed. That the inputs were very different 'breeds' (technically all chickens are the same breed, we're just dealing with standardised minor variations) I think and hope will continue to avoid genetic depression. It would also be nice if they don't all end up looking like a wall of brown .

Do you have a family tree mapped out? I'd love to see a pic of it if you do.

 

[TropicalChickies]

egg shells that do not get baked and given back to our chickens

Is the baking really necessary? I don't have an oven, well, I do, but it's a wood burning earthen oven and I don't use it very often. I've just been rinsing the egg shells well, pulverizing them, and letting the fragments dry in the sun.

 

[RoyalChick]

Is the baking really necessary? I don't have an oven, well, I do, but it's a wood burning earthen oven and I don't use it very often. I've just been rinsing the egg shells well, pulverizing them, and letting the fragments dry in the sun.

Baking is not necessary but it does make them easier to crush into pieces for the chickens to eat.
If I were you I would let dry in the sun before crushing. I think it will be easier.
I put mine in the oven whenever I use it and after I turn it off.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Ok, thanks. I'll dry them first and give it a try.

Baking is not necessary but it does make them easier to crush into pieces for the chickens to eat.
If I were you I would let dry in the sun before crushing. I think it will be easier.
I put mine in the oven whenever I use it and after I turn it off.,

 

[RoyalChick]

but this is still tinkering at the margins in genetic terms. "Visually, a Chihuahua is the chalk to a Great Dane’s cheese, yet they are still the same species, Canis lupus familiaris, and are direct descendants of the grey wolf. All domestic dog breeds are able to interbreed to give birth to reproductively viable offspring. This is because their genomes remain relatively unchanged, despite their physical characteristics appearing so different. This key evidence tells us that various dog breeds are not in the running to become a new species any time soon. It takes a long time for mutations, which cause inheritable changes to characteristics, to arise within populations." https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/are-any-dog-breeds-close-to-becoming-a-new-species

And for the cat people amongst us the cats genome has changed very little from African wildcat to domestic moggy. Even less than from wolf to man’s best friend.

https://www.inverse.com/science/cats-trick-manipulate-humans-evolutionary-biologist-explains-meow

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I can't help but to have a smile on my face every time I read the name "Princess Fluffy Butt". Do we have a good picture to justify the name?

As requested:

The little brown chick grew up to be Ginger Bonnet, the pullet who is sitting on eggs right now. Not the genetic daughter of Princess Fluffy Butt though.

 

[Little Tala Bug]

As requested:

View attachment 3613943

The little brown chick grew up to be Ginger Bonnet, the pullet who is sitting on eggs right now. Not the genetic daughter of Princess Fluffy Butt though.

Oh my lord that's the fluffiest butt I've ever seen!!! I love her so much

 

[Perris]

Do you have a family tree mapped out? I'd love to see a pic of it if you do.

only partially. It's difficult to produce anything clearer than a bowl of spaghetti

 

[lightm]

As requested:

View attachment 3613943

The little brown chick grew up to be Ginger Bonnet, the pullet who is sitting on eggs right now. Not the genetic daughter of Princess Fluffy Butt though.

Omg! I'm in love too!!!

She is so adorable. She looks like she can cover 20 eggs.

Thank you for humoring me.