gunDriller
22nd February 2013, 09:52 AM
I was wondering if anybody has an image of 5 to 20 chickens in really bad shape in a medium size chicken coop.
Yesterday I was visiting a friend's neighbor, who raises chickens for reasons that are not clear to me. I visited the friend's house to pick up an extra ski helmet. He was giving me a tour of his mini-vineyard, which led to a tour of the neighbor's chicken coop.
I was shocked. I have never seen 10 to 12 more abused poultry type animals in my life. They peck at each other's backsides. They are confined to a coop that measures about 6 by 16 feet. The guy's wife doesn't like the chickens to free range, because they crap all over the place.
I understand that, but I don't understand why they pay more in feed, than they would for eggs, to raise chickens that are probably suicidal. They look like the monkeys at the zoo, their butts are all pink because they are missing all their feathers.
To top it off, the guy also takes the time to de-beak them. I guess he must have a deep-seated desire to give "farm raised eggs" to his family or something. From experience I know about how much he is paying for feed.
I would love to get a picture of his coop, but I'm not sure I can manage that. Not to turn him in or anything like that. I have been writing about extreme money-saving, including for small farming. I think I could help them cut their feed costs by about half, and save the time of de-beaking them. I would basically be using this guy's operation as an example of what not to do.
Not quite sure how to sell that, if I go over there to ask if I can take a picture.
So I thought I would ask you guys for a picture !
I tried a web-search, looked for about a half hour. Nothing that resembles his coop & birds.
The solution I would suggest is 2-fold -
* give them a larger area about 20 feet square, with a fence high enough to corral the birds. This would involve keeping costs down - a fence like that could easily cost $1000. Or it could be done for $5, if you have a spool of steel wire and some conveniently placed trees. Plus it would need a door.
* give the chickens something to occupy them besides pecking at each other. From experience I know that this would be a large vermiculture pile, i.e. a compost pile tailored to attract redworms.
Yesterday I was visiting a friend's neighbor, who raises chickens for reasons that are not clear to me. I visited the friend's house to pick up an extra ski helmet. He was giving me a tour of his mini-vineyard, which led to a tour of the neighbor's chicken coop.
I was shocked. I have never seen 10 to 12 more abused poultry type animals in my life. They peck at each other's backsides. They are confined to a coop that measures about 6 by 16 feet. The guy's wife doesn't like the chickens to free range, because they crap all over the place.
I understand that, but I don't understand why they pay more in feed, than they would for eggs, to raise chickens that are probably suicidal. They look like the monkeys at the zoo, their butts are all pink because they are missing all their feathers.
To top it off, the guy also takes the time to de-beak them. I guess he must have a deep-seated desire to give "farm raised eggs" to his family or something. From experience I know about how much he is paying for feed.
I would love to get a picture of his coop, but I'm not sure I can manage that. Not to turn him in or anything like that. I have been writing about extreme money-saving, including for small farming. I think I could help them cut their feed costs by about half, and save the time of de-beaking them. I would basically be using this guy's operation as an example of what not to do.
Not quite sure how to sell that, if I go over there to ask if I can take a picture.
So I thought I would ask you guys for a picture !
I tried a web-search, looked for about a half hour. Nothing that resembles his coop & birds.
The solution I would suggest is 2-fold -
* give them a larger area about 20 feet square, with a fence high enough to corral the birds. This would involve keeping costs down - a fence like that could easily cost $1000. Or it could be done for $5, if you have a spool of steel wire and some conveniently placed trees. Plus it would need a door.
* give the chickens something to occupy them besides pecking at each other. From experience I know that this would be a large vermiculture pile, i.e. a compost pile tailored to attract redworms.