The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Rachel'sFlock]

After days and days of driving rain and hurricane force winds, the air stilled and the sun peeked out!
Nice for the chooks to be able to forage without having to hang on for dear life!

 

[mrsamplias]

I know I keep saying this but THANK YOU. Thank you everyone for posting and teaching and being patient. I just cannot get over the wealth of information happily provided here. I just hope that I'll be able to contribute one day to some newbie

x2

 

[delisha]

I have only two guessers? Both of you have a very good eye for differences from what most consider the *norm*. Good job!

This hen, believe it or not was 7 years old and still laying.
The liver had the start of possible little cancers growing. Nothing bad for her age. In a younger bird it would have caused serious problems. She could have lived another year and continued to lay, but she would have been in some pain from her liver. She had what is called *old* fat. It is not the right color of a young butcher, yet it is a good amount for her age. Not to much. It is hard to control fat in old hens. The little organs were her lungs. Nice and pink and a good texture. I butchered her out at a good time.I did not let any lung growth to get beyond a *normal*. Her intestines were good. Not a worm in sight. No extra liquids inside.

 

[kian]

I didn't hazard a guess because I've only seen packaged gizzards and livers. I don't even feel qualified to guess! Is cancer something fairly common to find in older birds?

 

[delisha]

Hi all! I'm poking my head in hoping to learn more

. We free range during the day (weather permitting) and ferment feed. I have ducks and chickens (quail in the bator). And we feed a middle of the road all flock...I have yet to find an organic all flock locally. I reuse our egg shells instead of buying oyster shell (simply dry and pulverize). My gals usually get a treat or 2 a day consisting of organic veggie/fruit scraps as well as the occasional hunk of day old bread, oatmeal or yogurt. They seem happy and healthy (oh and btw my pullets are growing so much better on FF! Plus I have been getting an egg every single day from my layers!!)

Nice to hear from you, welcome to the thread.

 

[WillowChick]

I didn't hazard a guess because I've only seen packaged gizzards and livers. I don't even feel qualified to guess! Is cancer something fairly common to find in older birds?

The naked mole rat is the only known species which, if not killed by other disease, predators, etc. will NOT eventually die of cancer. Isn't that wild? If something lives long enough, it will develop cancer. No getting out of it.

The naked mole rat also has no life expectancy because, after discovering them 35 years ago... none have died from illness. They are still trying to figure out how long they live.

We got to visit a colony when we went to florida this month. They were amazing!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole_rat

 

[delisha]

I didn't hazard a guess because I've only seen packaged gizzards and livers. I don't even feel qualified to guess! Is cancer something fairly common to find in older birds?

I call it cancer because it is a growth, and yes, older birds have unusual formations just like humans do when they are advanced in years. Usually the reproductive organs are getting little hard nodules on them at this age too. The liver and fats are different colors as they get older.

 

[delisha]

When you butcher out your first birds, take your time. Do some careful dissection and really look at what all your hard work is doing. The inner workings of your birds will tell you so much information. Look for excessive fluids, off odors, little hard growths, the way bones are fixed, the muscle system. Each time you do it you will learn more. It is better to know than not know. Sometimes you can completely make a flock decision about a certain hen from dissection.

 

[Lacy Blues]

From what I've heard, keeping wild turkeys in the US is against the law. Here it is not. Wild turkeys are usually in flight pens as they are typically well... wild. Not Betty.

Keeping turkeys FROM the wild is illegal here but you can order wild "strains" of turkeys from gamebird catalogs and/or breeders. You just can't take them from the wild.

You can blow this up to help learn where every thing is suppost to be in the chicken

what internal digestive tract should look like and how they are connected

difference in colors of livers with different type of feeding

Diseased liver

enlarged pancreas
diseased

OK..this should give you a wide variety of healthy and diseased
I am going to post normal healthy that look a little off
Tell me what you think is the problem with this hen

Not one person has a guess on what is wrong with the last few pictures of my chicken? I will not be offended. It is all for learning.

Hi Delisha, I was going to hazard a guess. Thank you for the healthy organ pics. I will definitely be using those. I copied the whole thing and put it on a word document so I could enlarge the pictures and get a good look at them. I think my vision is failing.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Very interesting read, thank you!