Stress free vs store bought?

[al6517]

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Very very well said, although I fear if the rest of the forum ever got wind of your post you would hung by your thumbs in a chicken wonderland untill you cry Foo-foo birds have feelings too at the top of your lungs.

To be perfectly honest these folks we speak of are also the most irresponsible chicken owners we know, by as you say confusing human feelings into what they think a chicken feels, sad but true I fear. By this I mean they are unable to properly care for birds when injured for fear of hurting it's feeling or not doing a proper life saving procedure because it's gross or sociably unacceptable. Just wanted to thank you for saying what really needs to be said more often on these types of forums just to keep folks based in reality.

AL

 

[Beekissed]

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If you know nothing but living in a small cramped cage, you expect nothing different; it is what you consider normal. The stress of a near hawk attack is probably significantly higher than that of living in cramped quarters. Yes, it is probably less enduring, but I hypothesize that if you could hook a flock of chickens up to monitors, the heart rate and other factors that are measured when considering stress increases far more significantly when under attack than with a steady "ration" of cramped quarters. Questions to answer would be how long after near attacks do the stress indicators remain high, and is there a significant different in a near attack when no bird was taken versus one in which the subject was not taken, but another flock member (or members) were?

I imagine you are thinking "emotional stress", whereas I was meaning physical stress. Physical stress is not necessarily caused by a bird's expectations or emotions about a situation but a physical stimulus that causes adrenaline and the resulting fight or flight reflex. A continual situation of pain caused by something plucking out a bird's feathers is not about emotion, it's about a pain stimulus. The joint stress and muscle spasms caused by not being able to walk about enough is also a pain stimulus. Fresh air and sunlight are important for proper lung function and Vit. D production, Vit. D is very important to immune health. If a bird feels physically sick it is a physical stressor.

Unless a bird is caught and eaten alive by a hawk or other predator, pain stimuli are just not much present in a free range situation. VERY infrequent in mine....I have some wonderful dogs that help prevent this.

It's apparent you know little about the effect of stress on the body and it's functions. Brief and infrequent stressors do not usually alter the cardiovascular system like the presence of continual physical stress that raises the heart rate and therefore also increases the blood pressure. A continual diet of even low level stress is much more damaging than infrequent, high stress situations. Over time it causes hardening of the walls of the blood vessels, resulting in more plaque formation in the lumens, resulting in even more stress and strain on the heart.

In effect, you have one very unhealthy chicken.


Once again, I am not advocating stuffed battery cages. I believe a good diet, access to grass and space are best for the birds, and undoubtedly make their eggs (and meat, although I do not eat chicken EVER) of significantly better quality.

 

[Organics North]

Oh you all are having too much fun..

OK IMO maybe....."stress" is a poor choice words..?.. Maybe, chickens in a "more natural environment" would be more appropriate wording...

Really is it not just semantics? We all know we are talking about chickens that have, plenty of space, diverse foods, sunshine, dust baths, quality range... You know the vast majority of BYC chickens!!!!!!!!

ON