Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

12/08.
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*squints* What the big blue oblong with some sort of connection opening in the side? Rainwater collector?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

As it happens, something relevant in this morning's Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...heatwave-climate-crisis-sweden-norway-finland
Moving towards the poles may not work, even where there is land suitable for farming.

Yes, my area was repeatedly called a “climate refuge” by national publications (looking at you, NYT!), and in fact, it was historically where the wealthy from coastal North and South Carolina and Georgia came to escape swampy summers with their associated yellow fever and typhoid. (Fun fact: much of the filming for Dirty Dancing, set in a summer resort in upper NY state, was done at Lake Lure NC, 30 miles from my house.)

Floridians have owned summer homes in Western NC for decades, coming up here in May, heading cautiously home in the fall. A number of our church members are climate refugees from California’s wildfires.

Then came Helene.

Global climate doesn’t pay attention to political boundaries.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

For those who aren’t familiar with the research on what the underlying causes of global atmospheric (and oceanic) warming might be, here’s an amazing graphic from NASA that breaks out all the influences.

Changes in solar output, Milankovitch cycles (changes in Earth’s orbit and axis), volcanoes, deforestation, aerosol pollution, greenhouse gases are all modeled against the changes in average temperature, singly and in combination.

Only one matches. Guess which one?

Watch quickly, before it too vanishes from the Internet, like so much awkward scientific data has already done :

There’s no spoken narration, so follow the print info in the top left. It helps to slow down the playback speed.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

I've read plenty on fermenting real foods. It's papers on the effects of fermenting of an already processed feed that I lack.

So much confusion arises from people not distinguishing clearly exactly what feed they are talking about; processed or unprocessed. I think that what you feed would be called 'scratch' by a lot of people on BYC, and regarded as a 'treat', OK for up to 10% of their diet, not more. I think that's nonsense, fwiw.

Still trying to figure this all out: I went to a old school feed store, not TSC. I asked for whole grain feed and the woman said "scratch"? She didn't recommend it because of the low protein content. She sold me a bag of 20 percent protein pellets. Not what I really wanted but I want to feed the prisoners the best I can. I supplement with what I call salad every day - rotating greens such as kale, romaine, mustard, turnip and or beet greens, almost always parsley or cilantro, always sprouts that I grew (broccoli or alfalfa), then for color I cut up beets, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber. Occasionally they get blueberries, strawberries, watermelon or grapes but not a lot. Once a week they get some mealworms, sardines (learned that here), or black oil sunflower seeds with corn. Sometimes frozen peas or pea and carrots mix.
Question: what can I do better? Ordering some e fence to get them out to forage.
Picture of yesterday's salad:

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I’ve yet to find commercial whole-grain feed in the 20% protein range that is available in my area and/or isn’t incredibly expensive. Even @Perris supplements with a rotating protein snack.

One good thing about the pellets, if your chickens like them, is that they’re great for a hanging feeder for always-available dry feed. No point in fermenting them - they’re already processed.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Question: what can I do better?

Don’t ask the feed store employees just kidding some of the old-timers know quite a bit. I would suggest finding a whole grain feed online that you want then finding a local seller of that feed. So kind of backwards. I have never discussed my feed choices with the place I buy it from currently but the stuff I use as scratch I decided on after my own research and much discussion with the owner of an old feed store. Sometimes a feed store will order in what you want. Don’t know if that helps answer your question or not

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Don’t ask the feed store employees just kidding some of the old-timers know quite a bit. I would suggest finding a whole grain feed online that you want then finding a local seller of that feed. So kind of backwards. I have never discussed my feed choices with the place I buy it from currently but the stuff I use as scratch I decided on after my own research and much discussion with the owner of an old feed store. Sometimes a feed store will order in what you want. Don’t know if that helps answer your question or not

It does thank you!

 

[Labsandchickens8]

I’ve yet to find commercial whole-grain feed in the 20% protein range that is available in my area and/or isn’t incredibly expensive. Even @Perris supplements with a rotating protein snack.

One good thing about the pellets, if your chickens like them, is that they’re great for a hanging feeder for always-available dry feed. No point in fermenting them - they’re already processed.

Yes, I do need to be able to leave them occasionally.
And yes the 20 percent was pretty pricey.

 

[BDutch]

Ofcourse this might be more exception than the rule. But I find it surprisingly easy taking care of mine. The main problem lies in you need to physically be there or have an automatic feeder to feed a specific amount twice a day. And they need a run where they can always eat plants to deal with their chronic hunger and keep them exercising. They do well as long as you don't lock them up.

Edited:

It surprises me that you have a good experience with rescues from factory farming. These little meat factories have no stimulans to walk around for food like you have been providing for yours. In general these commercial meat chickens (except organic) are kept in stables and do not go outside.

I only know about one CX I met 10 years ago. Other presumptions are from reading experiences of other people on forums.