Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kattabelly]

you'll be singing the praises of haggis next...

Still annoyed that I moved hundreds of miles away from a particular occasional farm job before I had a chance to try making my own.

I'm going to try and get hold of a lamb or calf abomasum to try making my own rennet in the spring.

 

[Perris]

what a coincidence. I had an ancestor who made his own rennet, in the days when chemists made and sold it in their shop in little glass bottles.

 

[kattabelly]

Lots of folk still make their own cheese here. Someone taught me last year in their garage and the recipe I wrote down is pretty much identical to the one in F. Marian McNeill's The Scots Kitchen, which was published as a collection of old-time traditional recipes almost a century ago.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I think the idea that chickens will 'pick out the best bits first' is another example of oft-quoted-on-BYC nonsense, at least when applied to real recognizable food and not some ultra-processed slop.

I realize that multi-grain style chicken feed doesn’t align with your standards (which I have said that I admire but aren’t attainable for all), but they are hardly “ultra-processed slop.” And it is very common for chickens to leave behind parts of this “real, recognizable food”, unless it’s moistened or fermented and therefore hard to avoid.

Our ultra-processed slop:

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I could “Google it” but I’d prefer someone explain to me why a cake needs to be made months in advance and are you feeding it alcohol in the interim? Could one’s husband be classified as a Christmas cake?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Oldie but goodie:

 

[fuzzi]

My mother made applesauce fruitcakes every year, less fruit than the store-bought bricks. She'd bake them after Thanksgiving, then pat them with sherry daily until Christmas. It made them moist. And delicious.

 

[Perris]

I realize that multi-grain style chicken feed doesn’t align with your standards (which I have said that I admire but aren’t attainable for all), but they are hardly “ultra-processed slop.” And it is very common for chickens to leave behind parts of this “real, recognizable food”, unless it’s moistened or fermented and therefore hard to avoid.

Our ultra-processed slop:

View attachment 4250141

that is not ultra processed food, that is whole grains and legumes etc.. I do not understand why there is confusion over this.
edited to add, fwiw, your feed looks very similar in that photo at least to what I serve as the base mix. Why on earth do you think it is ultra processed? I do not understand.

 

[Perris]

it is very common for chickens to leave behind parts of this “real, recognizable food”,

because they have had enough of whatever it is they are leaving. Do you never leave perfectly good food on a plate when you've had enough? Do you not sometimes just not feel like eating something in particular? Don't you ever get not just a craving for something, but also the opposite of a craving for something? That's your appetites talking. Most obvious with salt.

 

[notabitail]

I'm sure I've had this conversation before at least twice in different places. Styrofoam is not toxic; it may be a choking hazard but is harmless otherwise. It is an aromatic plastic that can be digested by some microbes in the microbiome in some animals - notably mealworms, but why not chickens? - so can actually provide nutrients at second hand, like the fibre in our diets (which we do not digest, our microbes do, and then we digest their metabolites).

I've never heard that before.