chicken feed / wheat _Totally!_ off topic

[Susan Kline]

At 03:50 PM 06/15/2000 -0400, Brian wrote:

>Many people think of the chicken as a very dumb, stupid, lazy, almost
>worthless animal.  But if you've ever been around wild or free range birds,
>you find that they're not so stupid as you might think.  It's fascinating to
>learn to hear their different 'calls' and vocal utterances and sometimes you
>can even learn what some of them mean.

My sister started raising chickens this year: lace-winged Wyandottes. She
built a movable cage for them, so they could get fresh range once they
have cleaned off a place. She said that as they grew and the rooster
started realizing what his role was, she started seeing interesting behaviors
emerging. They finally were big enough to leave out of the movable
arrangement during the daytime, and after just a couple of days, when it
was starting to get dark, the rooster would give a little call, and all
the hens would quietly troop back into their night quarters. Once all were
inside, he would hop in himself.


>There have been many large chicken operations that have actually recycled a
>percentage of their waste and fed it back to them in  fresh feed.  I believe
>some of them gave about 25% of total feed as recycled waste.  That's sad.
>In the natural world, it's a recipe for disease and sickness.  And
>unfortunately, some of the same thinking goes into other areas of
>'agriculture' and does indeed affect the food supply of our population.

This is a deplorable practice. Not bad enough that they are kept in
what I call "chicken concentration camps."  It's not only
a recipe for chicken sickness, either. The only way growers can get away
with it is to keep the chickens permanently on a subclinical dose of
antibiotics, which leads inevitably to antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
These "superbugs" can kill people. Cheap chicken is not worth it.
Luckily one can find eggs from decently treated chickens in health
food stores and Coops.

Completely piano-free thread! Wearing one of Conrad's latest flame suits!

Susan