Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sally PB]

With whole grains, I can stock up and if stored properly, they can be stored for a really long time and I have the luxury of space to store a lot and can keep it dry and air tight, for a really long time and with the right combination, we aren't compromising on nutrition. https://commongrains.com/how-long-can-you-store-whole-grains-or-flours-a-reference-chart/

6-months for brown rice; Indefinite for white rice. (Whole grain, not flour)
I'm assuming this is for optimal nutrition factors in the grain.

Everything else, even corn, is listed at a year or two, and various wheats at 6-8 years. Why so short for brown rice? Anyone know?

 

[RoyalChick]

6-months for brown rice; Indefinite for white rice. (Whole grain, not flour)
I'm assuming this is for optimal nutrition factors in the grain.

Everything else, even corn, is listed at a year or two, and various wheats at 6-8 years. Why so short for brown rice? Anyone know?

The parts that get taken away to create white rice contain oils that go rancid. Brown rice still has those oils, white rice doesn’t.

 

[Sally PB]

The parts that get taken away to create white rice contain oils that go rancid. Brown rice still has those oils, white rice doesn’t.

I understand that. But why is brown rice so much shorter than whole grain wheat or corn?

 

[RoyalChick]

I understand that. But why is brown rice so much shorter than whole grain wheat or corn?

Oh sorry. Misunderstood the question.
No idea!

 

[no fly zone]

did you keep records?

no, but she was laying eggs like it was going out of style. i had her on antibiotics once, and the vet said not to eat her eggs for 4 weeks. so i would just set hers to the side. in that 4 weeks (28 days), she laid 26 eggs. that's a pace for 316 eggs in 365 days.

 

[Perris]

So that's one, by extrapolation and assuming no moult or other pause in production.
And sadly, as usual for high production breeds, she passed young, much to your distress.

 

[fluffycrow]

So that's one, by extrapolation and assuming no moult or other pause in production.
And sadly, as usual for high production breeds, she passed young, much to your distress.

Without implying that this holds true for any other keeper with high production breeds, I will say that every ISA brown I've ever had (and they've all been with me since before their very first egg) didn't have a serious molt until after being done with laying, at 2-3 years old, and as such never truly stopped producing eggs up until that point

 

[Shadrach]

I have been reading about why some species manage to succeed and expand their range, even spread round the entire planet, like us - and the birds, and since some of them have colonised the water, birds go even further than us! Any species that has expanded beyond its place of origin has met and overcome the challenges of unfamiliar environments, weather and climate, pests and diseases etc.. And of course, with those changes, came new and different foods.

So what have been identified as the keys to success?

Group living. Because they learn from each other (there's lots of evidence on this for chickens). Group living offers better predator protection, faster food finding, quicker problem solving - because as we keepers know, birds are individuals. They don't all think or act or react alike. And more heads are better than one; there is a better chance that one will solve the problem and some of the rest will learn from them.

Risk taking. Individuals that take risks can reap big rewards. It can also cost them their lives. The group learns from the experience of the individual risk taker. Those that are most set in their ways are also the most likely to die out, because everything changes, and to survive even in the same place you have to adapt to it.

It seems there are trade-offs with any trait, like cleverness or caution, and lots of types exist within a population because different types do better in different years, as circumstances change. For the group, a mix is most likely to lead to the survival of some.
Thus they find new foods.

I've got a study somewhere that links some minor physical changes in a chickens brain with it's curiosity. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Shadrach]

are you implying I'm cherry-picking 'the science'?

First, I have not, I think, actually done that. Second, commercial feed provides adequate nutrition only under the terms of its aims, which is why the methodology of the studies should not be ignored. They aim to maximise output at minimal cost, and the 'science' is performed usually on birds that are not normal - they're either days old chicks, or birds that have had their caeca removed surgically before the 'trials' in order to simplify the results and their interpretation, and/or the feed trials are performed on Nth generation severely selected lab strains of birds that once upon a time were chickens of the sort that you and I look after.


This is an important caveat. It would be interesting to know many people reading this thread keep modern high production breeds. I know it started as a thread about ex- commercial birds aka rescues, but most people who post photos seem to have some or all heritage breeds or backyard mutts, both of which were capable of laying c. 150-200 eggs a year a hundred and fifty years ago, long before commercial feed appeared on the shelves of shops.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-many-eggs-were-laid-by-hens-150-years-ago.1593024/
At least, I haven't noticed anyone here posting about their hens laying 300+ eggs per annum, which is what modern layers feed is presumably designed for, if I've understood your point aright.

Some of the Ex Battery hens laid daily despite being on the spent list. I don't know how long it would have gone on for, not long I suspect. The strain of Golden Comet that was popular in the West Country was said to lay 300 eggs a year for three years. Most die before they reach four years old.

 

[no fly zone]

So that's one, by extrapolation and assuming no moult or other pause in production.
And sadly, as usual for high production breeds, she passed young, much to your distress.

She had her only major molt this past winter, when she wasn't laying anyway.