So I've come to the conclusion that much of what people believe is fantasy-based, except for topics they are intimately familiar with, from direct personal experience. You can learn from others, indeed you would be a fool of you didnt. But what you have not done with your own hands, you do not truly know.
I certainly found this to be true of poultrykeeping. I've found much of the material written by non-farmers to be harmful, loaded with Pollyanna-esque assumptions.
For example, these armchair experts and even practitioners who should know better, will happily tell you that everything the mainstream poultry industry does is wrong. Conversely, they stand fast in their belief that anything the mainsteam industry DOESNT do is correct, and will work like a charm. In my experience, this is wildly inaccurate.
Because I had read a lot of such contemporary material before I moved back to the country, I had a lot of unlearning to do. It was a slow, painful process. I read in several places that there was something wrong with commercial White Leghorns and other modern hybrids, and that a "real" farm would use heritage breeds. I tried it, and all the heritage breeds were crummy layers, and many of them had nasty temperaments as well. On the other hand, commercial hybrid layers took to low-density free range like ducks to water. So the whole issue was pure superstition.
(Not that you shouldn't raise heritage breeds if you want to -- I always have a few -- but choose a breed with a reputation for being fun to have around, and don't expect to use them to make you any real money.)
So I've seen a lot of fads, superstitions, and wishful thinking in the poultry field.
Many people have lost their life's savings by believing this stuff, whether in a flashy way, such as pouring all their retirement savings into a busted emu farm in 1993, or more quietly, by moving to the country and trying to make a living according to the methods advocated by those who like to promote alternative lifestyles."
- - Bob Plamondon, August 19, 2007
Ditto, davaroo >> Much wisdom in the statement above.
