Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Interesting Blog Posts on Chickens

In case you don't read these 2 blogs, both had posts worth reading on chickens and eggs today.

Homegrown: or A Tale of Two Chickens

Chickens Are NOT Vegetarians!

2 comments:

  1. The first is precisely why I grow my own birds and supplement what they get, so the meat and eggs are the healthiest I can grow.

    Certified Organic prohibits animal by-products. As I feed ocean fish daily, and the waste from our butchering, I'll never be certified organic.

    But the feeding (or not) of animal by-products to poultry stopped in the mid 90's with the onset of Mad Cow. The regulations regarding adding animal by-products to poultry feed became prohibitively expensive for mill owners. I believe they had to have separate facilities for it. (This might be incorrect, as I've not found a firm reference for it, but was told by a mill owner.)

    Because chickens have limited ability to make needed amino acids/proteins, and because some of these amino acids/proteins are not available in grains, it means most poultry is being fed poor grade feed.

    I found that once I fed GOOD organic feed (yup, there's poor stuff out there) and daily sufficient protein, a lot of the problems I'd been dealing with just stopped.

    I now educate as many chicken owners as I can about nutrition and the feeding of animal protein.

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  2. Just catching up! I make a point of feeding my chickens meat regularly - especially during the winter when they can't get as much of their own. I actually watch for good meat and especially liver for the "b" vitamins and feed it 3-4 times a week.

    I also soak or ferment all of their feed that has grain to reduce the phytic acid content so they have a chance to digest more of the nutrients. Sprouting whole grains. I almost NEVER feed dry grains that haven't been soaked, fermented or sprouted.

    (I guess my chickos are lucky...and so are we when we have their meat and eggs!)

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