Re: Chicken Lice?

Keith Kent wrote:

Hi Jill,
if the powder kills mites do we have to worry about the eggs as they
will hatch and die with the treatment completing the cycle?

That depends on what mites they are - they all have different hatching
cycles.
And some can be long lived



I don`t know about ALL do and what is [parents]?

Merely a throwaway comment on the state of parenting in view of various news
items recently
There are good and bad in all fields

The people you refer to above are not the ones we need to worry about

Where does this all come from?

You said
<quote> I think there will be lots of people out there with bugs affecting
there birds and don`t know it/never will. <unquote>

I disagreed with you - most poultry keepers are very conscientious
Of all scales - large and small.


,it is farmers who neglect there birds for profit on a massive scale
ie battery hens which should be outlawed.

Most intensive poultry keepers look after their birds extremely well. If
they don't they lose money very quickly
It is a very precarious business reliant on smooth and fast turnover. Any
glitches are VERY expensive and have an immediate effect on viability of a
business.
Birds get sick very easily, therefore anyone who whats to sustain a business
and even make a profit in the intensive world works extremely hard to keep
the birds as well as they can
That is why the industry spends millions each year on ventilation systems;
on vaccinations; on breeding docility; on breeding out many of the bugs that
affect free range birds on a daily basis and which had brought our egg
production industry to its knees in the 1950's

But after all it is only a
chicken in two/three years they are of no use to the farmer.

And a lamb is slaughtered before its a year old. That is food production
The population want eggs as cheap as they can get them
If everyone went into their supermarket and left the battery eggs on the
shelf there would be only free range eggs available within 6 months -
however they would mostly be imported from countries where the welfare
conditions are beyond your worst imagination but thats alright isn't it?

.On the other
hand organic/free range means they think they have the right to rip
you off.

You obviously do not understand the costs and economics of the agricultural
industry

Until organic food is comparible in price nothing will
change,

The only way that happens is when its all imported from countries who are
rapidly increasing their organic production except there are very few
controls or regulations

The only way anything is going to change is when the population of this
country faces up to the fact that they have to start PAYING for their food
again. Like they do in France and other countries where they support their
agricultural industry.

In the 1950's we spent around 35% of our income on food
Now we spend less than 10% but we demand more and more and more for less and
less money

This cruelty
is most unlikely to happen for someone keepimg back yard chickens
,most will be living a life of luxury compared to the other short
life they could have.

Many backyard chickens can have far more 'stress' than intensive ones -
most clearly illustrated by the fact that no outdoor bird will lay as much
as one inside.
- they have to cope with constantly changing weather and insufficient
shelter
- they have to cope with high volume, low nutrition food
- they have to cope with overflying birds [which instinctively might be
predators]
- they have to cope with humans in their face all teh time
- they have to cope with constant disease challenges from other wild birds
- they have to cope with the ever changing politics of a flock which can be
downright evil and canabalistic at times. [there are good reasons for the
terms hen-pecked and pecking order]
- they have to cope with being poorly bred for their conditions
- they have to cope with being rarely treated properly for their ailments
[while most people will happily spend hundreds of pounds on their cat which
they got given; they will not spend ten pounds on taking a bird that they
have actually paid good money for to a professional.]
- they have to cope with often dying of painful conditions ["HenyPeny who we
wescued went all quiet last week then she died in her sleep, And she had
been laying too" : = Properly translates as a bird that should have been
humane culled at the end of her last lay had an egg crack inside her,
causing a fatal peritonitis to develop which killed her. ]

The intensive bird has been bred to be very subdued and meek to reduce
aggression
A well run unit will have constant light patterns; constantly regulated
environmental controls, constant high value feed; low noise; disease
prevention measures;
A stressed bird stops laying.
A chicken is hatched with the number of eggs she can produce already inside
her. Modern breeding aims to get as many of these made and out in the first
2 years.
One of the consequences of breeding for high production has been a weakness
of the shell in each subsequent lay. This results in eggs cracking inside
and death by peritonitis. This as well as their general weakness and much
reduced productivity in the years after their 2nd year of lay is the reason
for them being slaughtered at this time.

There are 40 million chickens in production in the UK and we import a
significant percentage of eggs. This is not a situation that can be resolved
with simplistic theories.

Don't get me wrong -- I love keeping birds and working to improve the
breeding of the birds we have and to do our best to keep them as happy and
healthy as possible.
But I have done a great deal of homework and I am VERY realistic about all
facets of the poultry keeping world [and the food industry]

I know that in our climate and location and social structure we cannot
provide perfect conditions for chickens indoors or out.

Really the best places for that are the dry scrubby areas of the world, not
too hot, not too wet, not too windy. Plenty of shelter from the rain when it
comes; and the heat of the day. Lots of spare land to give birds plenty of
freedom. Lots of cheap labour to tend to them night and day; -- parts of
India and Africa would be far better suited than any of us in the Northern
Hemisphere <grin>

--

regards
Jill Bowis

Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk


.

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