Friday, May 25, 2012
Humans - the strangest of the animal species.
It is OK if we spend our lives on the twentieth floor of an apartment block with a view of the twentieth floor of the next apartment block. We need never leave our happy abode and can get food delivered daily, water is on tap and waste disposal is only a flush away.
Such a life is regarded as successful by many and often completely satisfying by those that live it. No need to partake in the daily grind of hunter gatherer. To spend your waking hours defending your right to survival from aggressive neighbors. Life is bliss - boringly blissful but definitely very popular compared to the alternative.
The humble chicken like the wolf that has been turned into a domestic pet must now take on the idiosyncrasies of the human species with our romantic ideas of chickens running around in fields of grass, laying eggs when the mood is upon them, cuddling up to their fluffy neighbors, pooping happily in the grass to fertilize next weeks growth of weeds and generally having a Disney good time.
Who said " Those who can't learn from the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them"? He must have been through the cycle himself to come up with such a profound observation. These few paragraphs of observations some personal and some borrowed from others are an expression of frustration at seeing a generation of city dwellers cut off from rural experiences determined to relearn the lessons of the last generation of poultry producers.
FOWL CHOLERA on the rise
Fowl cholera or Pasteurella multicida is a bacterial disease that thrives in unsanitary conditions and can survive in soil to reinfect avian species. It causes chronic pain and suffering in the chicken with possible death. Fowl cholera can be spread by rodents and possibly by feral cats and pigs.
Caged hens are relatively easy to keep clean and they don't have access to soil. Should a hen become infected then disease spread through the shed should be slow as each hen has limited access to the rest of the flock unlike a large free flock where there is the possibility for rapid spread of any bacterial infection.
New vaccinations are available that can provide some protection.
The best protection in my opinion is to keep the hens off the ground, clean out the shed between each batch and have a rodent control plan in place.
Caged hens are relatively easy to keep clean and they don't have access to soil. Should a hen become infected then disease spread through the shed should be slow as each hen has limited access to the rest of the flock unlike a large free flock where there is the possibility for rapid spread of any bacterial infection.
New vaccinations are available that can provide some protection.
The best protection in my opinion is to keep the hens off the ground, clean out the shed between each batch and have a rodent control plan in place.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Caged Hens and Bird Flu
Fortunately we in Australia are unlikely to suffer an outbreak of the dreaded H5N1 strain of the Asian Bird Flu. This is because the migrating flocks of water birds which can carry the virus from say Indonesia will probably not survive the flight over. Should a bird survive the trip it would need to infect the local populations which don't migrate and then the virus would need to be transferred to a commercial or backyard flock of chickens before we would have noticeable mortalities.
Its a sad fact that free range chickens are the most likely of the production systems to be the first to be infected. Water birds especially ducks can carry the virus and they are attracted to any standing pools of water in the free range exercise area. The duck poops in the water - the chicken drinks the water and the whole flock quickly becomes infected.
Another infection route is when egg or chicken meat producers draw water direct from a dam or river and supply it to their flocks without disinfecting it first. To obtain quality certification producers need to have an effective disinfection system in place and it must be maintained. These regulations don't apply to the neighbor who keeps a few chooks for eggs for himself and a few friends.
Its a sad fact that free range chickens are the most likely of the production systems to be the first to be infected. Water birds especially ducks can carry the virus and they are attracted to any standing pools of water in the free range exercise area. The duck poops in the water - the chicken drinks the water and the whole flock quickly becomes infected.
Another infection route is when egg or chicken meat producers draw water direct from a dam or river and supply it to their flocks without disinfecting it first. To obtain quality certification producers need to have an effective disinfection system in place and it must be maintained. These regulations don't apply to the neighbor who keeps a few chooks for eggs for himself and a few friends.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Cage Eggs and Stick Fast Fleas
Ah! The good old days.
The days of chickens in the backyard. The idyllic picture of a group of hens eating food scraps and rewarding us with a couple of eggs a day. Along comes the stick fast flea to bring us back to reality with a jolt. As a child we had the chooks which worked fine until we introduced an infected hen from a kind neighbor, got the stick fast, spent hours and hours trying to eradicate them, finally giving up and getting rid of the chooks. That was in the days before exotic chemicals came along as a "miracle cure". Now those exotic chemicals we used with gay abandon have been banned. The best recommended cure is concrete floors for night time perching to break the life cycle of night time laying of stick fast eggs onto soil and the larvae living in the soil until it's time to pupate, hatch out and start all over again.
Of course there is no guarantee with any cure in a backyard setting. One only needs to miss two live fleas or a few eggs and stick fasts lay thousands for the little beggars to come back to bite you.
The stick fast sucks the hens blood and can cause death in chickens. Keeping a hen in a modern cage system where the manure is removed at least weekly using belts ensures the hen never suffers from the irritation and loss of blood that stick fast fleas can inflict.
The days of chickens in the backyard. The idyllic picture of a group of hens eating food scraps and rewarding us with a couple of eggs a day. Along comes the stick fast flea to bring us back to reality with a jolt. As a child we had the chooks which worked fine until we introduced an infected hen from a kind neighbor, got the stick fast, spent hours and hours trying to eradicate them, finally giving up and getting rid of the chooks. That was in the days before exotic chemicals came along as a "miracle cure". Now those exotic chemicals we used with gay abandon have been banned. The best recommended cure is concrete floors for night time perching to break the life cycle of night time laying of stick fast eggs onto soil and the larvae living in the soil until it's time to pupate, hatch out and start all over again.
Of course there is no guarantee with any cure in a backyard setting. One only needs to miss two live fleas or a few eggs and stick fasts lay thousands for the little beggars to come back to bite you.
The stick fast sucks the hens blood and can cause death in chickens. Keeping a hen in a modern cage system where the manure is removed at least weekly using belts ensures the hen never suffers from the irritation and loss of blood that stick fast fleas can inflict.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Cage Eggs and Energy
I picked up this interesting piece of information. It comes from a 2007 research report.
Adrian Williams, senior research fellow at Cranfield University recently carried out a DEFRA-funded project that calculated the life cycle assessment (LCA) of different farming systems. The concept looks at the consumption of natural resources such as minerals and fossil fuel. "Poultry is the market winner in energy performance," said Dr Williams. "The sector should give itself a pat on its back." However, Dr Williams stressed that Global Warming Potential (GWP) varied depending on the different types of poultry farming methods. If the egg industry was to move towards all cage production, GWP would fall by 10% while going all free range would increase it by 10%. More significant is that going organic would result in a 40% increase in GWP. He explained the main reason was that organic chickens use more energy, having a lower feed conversion, so they eat more feed. Feed accounts for most of the energy required and is a key driving factor for poultry. With meat, organic also comes out worst because of the longer life-span of birds, again leading to a greater lifetime feed consumption.
Put in language I can understand it means " eat a cage egg and help save the world ". I guess it comes down to human population increase. If we continue at our present rate there will be standing room only for ourselves and the chooks.
Adrian Williams, senior research fellow at Cranfield University recently carried out a DEFRA-funded project that calculated the life cycle assessment (LCA) of different farming systems. The concept looks at the consumption of natural resources such as minerals and fossil fuel. "Poultry is the market winner in energy performance," said Dr Williams. "The sector should give itself a pat on its back." However, Dr Williams stressed that Global Warming Potential (GWP) varied depending on the different types of poultry farming methods. If the egg industry was to move towards all cage production, GWP would fall by 10% while going all free range would increase it by 10%. More significant is that going organic would result in a 40% increase in GWP. He explained the main reason was that organic chickens use more energy, having a lower feed conversion, so they eat more feed. Feed accounts for most of the energy required and is a key driving factor for poultry. With meat, organic also comes out worst because of the longer life-span of birds, again leading to a greater lifetime feed consumption.
Put in language I can understand it means " eat a cage egg and help save the world ". I guess it comes down to human population increase. If we continue at our present rate there will be standing room only for ourselves and the chooks.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
I Love Cage Eggs
I love cage eggs because I know they should be clean and fresh and laid by healthy happy hens. I always go for the cheapest cage eggs because they usually have the fastest turnover so most likely are the freshest on the shelf.
Gallus gallus ( the domestic fowl ) has been around a long time i.e. the domesticated variety. They have a similar range of varieties as the domestic dog except much more colorful. From the tiny bantam to the giant meat bird cockerel - all shapes and sizes.
Cage hens as a selected genetic variety has only been around since about 1960 or later. The farmer put his free ranging chickens in his new cages. He got more eggs and used less food but got a lot of new problems as well. The hens were nervous and didn't like to be too close so fighting broke out with vent pecking a problem.
The farmer wasn't going back to his old ways so he changed his stockmanship to adapt to the new method. Beak trimming was introduced to prevent vent pecking. Optimum stocking densities were worked out. Cooling systems to counteract heat waves and closing sheds to keep them warm was adopted.
The most important development in my opinion was the specific breeding of traits into the bird to help it adapt to life spent in a reduced area. Hens are now much more placid - they don't want to fight as much. Less energy is spent jumping around - no doubt the instinct to dust bath and flap their wings can be bred out as an unnecessary activity for a life spent free of parasites. The ability to change the hen by selective breeding to suit life in a cage is in no doubt - one only has to look at the pekinese breed of dog to realize the power of selective breeding - hard to believe its ancestor was a savage wolf.
Gallus gallus ( the domestic fowl ) has been around a long time i.e. the domesticated variety. They have a similar range of varieties as the domestic dog except much more colorful. From the tiny bantam to the giant meat bird cockerel - all shapes and sizes.
Cage hens as a selected genetic variety has only been around since about 1960 or later. The farmer put his free ranging chickens in his new cages. He got more eggs and used less food but got a lot of new problems as well. The hens were nervous and didn't like to be too close so fighting broke out with vent pecking a problem.
The farmer wasn't going back to his old ways so he changed his stockmanship to adapt to the new method. Beak trimming was introduced to prevent vent pecking. Optimum stocking densities were worked out. Cooling systems to counteract heat waves and closing sheds to keep them warm was adopted.
The most important development in my opinion was the specific breeding of traits into the bird to help it adapt to life spent in a reduced area. Hens are now much more placid - they don't want to fight as much. Less energy is spent jumping around - no doubt the instinct to dust bath and flap their wings can be bred out as an unnecessary activity for a life spent free of parasites. The ability to change the hen by selective breeding to suit life in a cage is in no doubt - one only has to look at the pekinese breed of dog to realize the power of selective breeding - hard to believe its ancestor was a savage wolf.
Cage Hens and internal parasites
Cage hens don't have access to their droppings so the cycle of parasitic worms is broken as the hen will need to consume the worm egg from it's own or another hens droppings for the parasitic worm to hatch in the gut and begin it's life cycle again. In nature a small group of jungle fowl range over a large area so worms are in low concentrations and tolerable.
Once confined for egg production the worm burden builds up and needs to be treated unless the hen is kept off the ground. Provided there is sufficient room to room around and socialize with their mates the hen seems to be happy and rewards the farmer with the highest egg laying rate of any production system.
Once confined for egg production the worm burden builds up and needs to be treated unless the hen is kept off the ground. Provided there is sufficient room to room around and socialize with their mates the hen seems to be happy and rewards the farmer with the highest egg laying rate of any production system.
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