Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

Still trying to figure this all out

It sounds as if you are close to being able to take the stabilizers off, to use a cycling analogy

She didn't recommend it because of the low protein content.

The base mix is not intended to be a complete feed; shop keepers are typically only thinking about complete feeds, and may be rightly cautious about speculating on the nutritional values (or effect) of anything you're going to add to it at home.

supplements with a rotating protein snack

Exactly. I do not rely on vegetable matter for the protein. Animal proteins are better for chickens but they are not normally in complete feeds because 1. they're relatively expensive 2. they complicate the manufacturing and storage processes and 3. in some places (like UK currently but being revised as we speak) they are banned from animal feeds as a blanket measure against the further spread of zoonotic diseases by irresponsible feed companies.

I supplement with what I call salad every day - rotating greens

That's great if they can't forage; some fresh greens are beneficial. My chickens prefer to find their own, and have never been much interested in fruit and veg trimmings.

Question: what can I do better? Ordering some e fence to get them out to forage.

That's the best thing you can do to improve their diet - let them find some of it. Unless you use herbicides and pesticides of course.

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

I've come to the same position.

finding a local seller of that feed

That's the trickiest bit.

Sometimes a feed store will order in what you want

That's great if they will, and warrants supporting same store when you can so that they are still in existence next time you need them.

I do need to be able to leave them occasionally

That's where a complete feed is convenient.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

That's the best thing you can do to improve their diet - let them find some of it. Unless you use herbicides and pesticides of course.

We don't, in the area they'll be in. But we think large quantities of fertilizer and who knows what else has blown over from the giant football and practice fields just built behind us. So . . . Is it safe for them?

 

[Labsandchickens8]

We don't, in the area they'll be in. But we think large quantities of fertilizer and who knows what else has blown over from the giant football and practice fields just built behind us. So . . . Is it safe for them?

Replying to myself: I'm letting them out as soon as I get the fence anyway. We're all probably getting poisoned all the time anyway

 

[Perris]

We don't, in the area they'll be in. But we think large quantities of fertilizer and who knows what else has blown over from the giant football and practice fields just built behind us. So . . . Is it safe for them?

You might remember from somewhere back in this thread I cited Blue Dasher Farm in SD, where someone called Lundgren is running an experiment trying to go regen in the middle of conventional prairie agriculture farms, complete with drifting sprays of pesticides and herbicides. It's in chapter 10 of What Your Food Ate by Montgomery and Bikle. Bees and dung beetles, for example, were struggling, but his free ranging chickens were said to be doing OK, though they typically only lived to 3, despite being kept till they died naturally.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

We don't, in the area they'll be in. But we think large quantities of fertilizer and who knows what else has blown over from the giant football and practice fields just built behind us. So . . . Is it safe for them?

Wow, good question. Not just blown through the air, but also carried by surface and ground water. Are you downhill from the fields? Is there a ditch or berm between you?

If you know who’s responsible for building and maintaining the fields, you could try to get a schedule of when - and WHAT - they’re applying. Also ask that the refrain from spraying when the wind is coming off the fields toward you. You’d think they would avoid poisoning their own kids, but you never know with sports-happy people…

In the end, you’re probably right - it’s everywhere. Chances are it won’t be too concentrated by the time it reaches you. You could consider planting a fast-growing evergreen windbreak like arborvitae (ugh, not my favorite, but it works well for this). Might help cut down on future noise as well.

 

[Perris]

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.

Interesting, but I don't expect NASA to misspell archive. What's going on there?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Interesting, but I don't expect NASA to misspell archive. What's going on there?

You’re talking about the same people who lost the original moon landing footage. Just sayin’