Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

I love you respond and explanation. Great thoughts. Except for the above.

Crop that is meant for animals can contain lots of poisons. It’s even in their shit.
And please dont forget the harm thats being done in the countries where the GMO soy and corn is coming from. And even if thats not in the feed you ferment or give to your chickens, there is a lot of poison used in agriculture. So your chickens poop at least a little poison too.

In commercial chicken farming its a lots worse. Apart from the toxics the farmers use on the land on purpose they spread even more with chicken poo from non organic chickens. The manure that is spread on the land does also goes deep in the ground, into our drinking water sources and in our surface water.

In the Netherlands it even gets worse. Some farmers dump their manure illegally in a ditch or in the forest. Because of the regulations we have on when and how much the farmers can spread on the land.
If the farmer is caught he gets a huge fine for deliberate pollution. But the chance to get caught is very small. So they keep on doing this.

Old tax for talking too much about the environment.
View attachment 3694562
Janice almost a year old and 3 chickens I lost 2 years ago.

The Earth can deal with most poisons given some time. The problems you metion are still a stocking density problem apart from perhaps gmo but the reason we have invested in gmo products is a stocking density problem because there are more mouths to feed than none intensive production methods can manage and make a profit.

 

[Molpet]

Ropa Poultry Complete 100 ml

I have used this, oregano oil is why. supposed to be good for lots of things

The fermented feed cuts way down on my flocks water usage. In the summer it's half. 6 gallons instead of 12. This time of year they drink less than that. But only 3 are laying.

 

[Perris]

High production hens need more of everything. Concentrated feeds is one way of ensuring they get more. Looking at feed rather than breed is like looking at the problem with the wrong lens.

I think you're wrong on this. The nutrient profile you're aiming at is not well grounded. See e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579121006854 (about vitamins specifically, but the points have wider applicability, to amino acids for example.
E.g. from the abstract of that article "The impact of excessive supplementation of vitamins on the microbiota is not well understood in any species. In the context of poultry nutrition, in which substantial dietary excesses of most vitamins are provided, this represents a knowledge gap. Given the paucity of studies investigating the vitamin requirements of modern, high-producing poultry, the limited understanding of vitamin nutrition (supply and utilization) by the microbiome, and the potential impacts on the microbiome of the move away from dietary growth-promoting antibiotic use, more research in this area is required."

 

[Perris]

Or this one, about broilers
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579121006945
opening line: "Poultry nutritionists continually strive for more “precision” nutritional programs that provide the exact balance of nutrients that maximize broiler growth performance without economically and environmentally costly excesses"

 

[Perris]

I'm trying to produce a feed to a profile using high quality,locally grown, mostly organically certified ingredients that they will readily eat in their natural form.

Meat, fish or dairy solve the problem much more easily and readily than any purely plant based diet. There is no need to copy commercial practice.

 

[MrsNorthie]

But I don’t understand the explanation you gave.

I don't like to take the phone down when I am going to be mucking out coops and the run areas, too much of a chance for dropping it and with the limited daylight hours, when I go down my time is spent cleaning, feeding refilling waterers, and checking feet and bellies, making sure there are no issues.

They are also spending more time in the coop, again, because of the limited daylight hours, which means more poop, which means more cleaning. I don't like to leave them to wallow in a dirty environment. The egg thief will clean the poop boards, when he goes down to nick the eggs, but the bulk cleaning is down the bucket lady. It was just a simple way of saying things are really busy right now and less daylight hours to do luxury things.

 

[Shadrach]

I think you're wrong on this. The nutrient profile you're aiming at is not well grounded. See e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579121006854 (about vitamins specifically, but the points have wider applicability, to amino acids for example.
E.g. from the abstract of that article "The impact of excessive supplementation of vitamins on the microbiota is not well understood in any species. In the context of poultry nutrition, in which substantial dietary excesses of most vitamins are provided, this represents a knowledge gap. Given the paucity of studies investigating the vitamin requirements of modern, high-producing poultry, the limited understanding of vitamin nutrition (supply and utilization) by the microbiome, and the potential impacts on the microbiome of the move away from dietary growth-promoting antibiotic use, more research in this area is required."

It rather depends on which profile one aims for, there are lots to choose from. Like it or not, what little we know about nutrition in general has been researched by large commercial enterprises.

 

[Shadrach]

Meat, fish or dairy solve the problem much more easily and readily than any purely plant based diet. There is no need to copy commercial practice.

Dairy produce is a definite no. There is no way a chicken would encounter it in natural keeping conditions. It may work if as many of the old school chicken keepers did, supply whole unpasteurized milk from cows they kept but it certainly isn't on the list of natural food for chickens. Meat yes. Fish maybe. Mostly chickens eat seeds, grains, bugs and vegetation.

 

[Perris]

Dairy produce is a definite no. There is no way a chicken would encounter it in natural keeping conditions. It may work if as many of the old school chicken keepers did, supply whole unpasteurized milk from cows they kept but it certainly isn't on the list of natural food for chickens. Meat yes. Fish maybe. Mostly chickens eat seeds, grains, bugs and vegetation.

you think fish maybe?

 

[Perris]

Why restrict to what you think they might come across in the wild? As long as it's a natural local food it's OK with me. Don't see them eating oyster shell in the wild.