Topic of the Week - "Off-grid" Feeding - Homemade feeds, etc.

[perchie.girl]

There is also the risk of prion diseases. But according to my reasearch there is no known chicken prion disease.

Prions in mammals only from what I have read. https://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.htmlhttps://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.html

And Yes there are human versions of prion disease that have nothing to do with consumption of meat.

For what its worth during times of famine normally Herbivores will in fact eat meat.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Agreed, and IMO, that is b/c chickens were created with the need to "keep the nest clean" and also to elminiate the weaker members from the flock. But, again, I digress, though this subject is related to "feeding the flock" in the absence of "bagged feed". This falls into a "what may be right for me may not be right for you", and is not worthy of argument" category.

excellent.... most excellent

 

[AllenK RGV]

Since a prion is simply a misfolded protein, it is pretty hard to diagnose in non economically valuable livestock. My bet is it is more widespread than we are aware, because we don't care so much about bass or other chordates vs hunters and their deer, or ranchers and their cattle.

edit-- or a the Sates lost hunting revenue.

 

[perchie.girl]

I will have to do some research into that

But they are known to cannibalize... during famine.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Comfrey's a good plant to have around. Very high in protein and chickens like it. Someday when I have enough I want to dry it for the winter.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Prions in mammals only from what I have read. https://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.htmlhttps://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.html

And Yes there are human versions of prion disease that have nothing to do with consumption of meat.

For what its worth during times of famine normally Herbivores will in fact eat meat.

deb

I would just be willing to go on record as saying there is so little we truly understand regarding prion related disease processes. The common thinking was cannibalism. But you see them spreading in the wild as wasting disease in my local deer population. Deer and cannibalism just aren't all that common and commercial feeds also aren't common to them. Heck, we can't even classify a prion as an organism as of my last read up on them. I wish I knew how to communicate my "limited" understanding of them better.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Agreed, and it seems that prion diseases are hard to spot until they become very bad and widespread in a population. So it is reasonable to avoid.

We don’t feed chicken to our chickens simply because our daughter thinks it is gross. But in a SHTF scenario I would do it if needed. I don’t think I would feed them any dead zombies though!

If you use chicken feed, you are feeding chickens to chickens. Everything that isn't used for chicken meat (feathers, bone, blood, guts, along with polymers used to extract these things from slaughterhouse wastewater) is turned into chicken feed.

As far as prion "diseases" go, the likely culprit is magnesium poisoning. Mark Purdy, an organic dairy farmer, pioneered some compelling research after he noticed that his cows weren't getting Mad Cow Disease, but his neighbors' cows that had Phosmet, an organo-phosphate insecticide that was applied along their spines to kill Warble flies, were.

Oops update: Manganese poisoning, not magnesium. Sorry about that, Chief.

 

[AllenK RGV]

If you use chicken feed, you are feeding chickens to chickens. Everything that isn't used for chicken meat (feathers, bone, blood, guts) is turned into chicken feed.

As far as prion "diseases" go, the likely culprit is magnesium poisoning. Mark Purdy, an organic dairy farmer, pioneered some compelling research after he noticed that his cows weren't getting Mad Cow Disease, but his neighbors' cows who had Phosmet, an organo-phosphate insecticide that was applied along their spines to kill Warble flies, were.

Please for my sake don't mention Monsanto, that makes me crazier than I already am!

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I would just be willing to go on record as saying there is so little we truly understand regarding prion related disease processes. The common thinking was cannibalism. But you see them spreading in the wild as wasting disease in my local deer population. Deer and cannibalism just aren't all that common and commercial feeds also aren't common to them. Heck, we can't even classify a prion as an organism as of my last read up on them. I wish I knew how to communicate my "limited" understanding of them better.

When I was into it I read about the deer (maybe elk, can't remember) population in a certain part of Colorado that suffered wasting disease. The soil in that locale is high in manganese. Might be worth checking out in your area.

 

[Folly's place]

Here in southern Michigan, deer imported from out west for those 'deer ranches' brought it in. Ugh!
Mary