Re: Poopless chickens

0tterbot wrote:
"Jill" <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:469dc48e$0$1596$ed2619ec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
0tterbot wrote:
Kylie's intimation that N and P are not pollutants is simply
false,
but seems to be common in places where space is not at a premium
and ecological complacency is the norm.

despite qualifying that statement carefully i note you didn't take
that on board.

I did - you were wrong.

no i wasn't. the article (which is extremely short anyway & does not
actually explore any of the issues in an intelligent way) reports
that 1: n & p are aquatic and terrestrial pollutants. to this i would
say, indeed yes, run-off from applications of fertiliser

It is run off from applications of poultry litter that are the problem being
addressed. And its not in "inappropriate" locations. Its on ground that
needs it. But its hard to justify either financially or ecologically a lot
of pre processing in many places.
Using poultry litter on the ground is the main way it is disposed of and it
causes pollution.
If there were less of it there would be less to get rid of. Financially and
ecologically this has merit.
While I am sure you can handle composting the product of your few chooks it
might be useful to you sometimes to think of the bigger picture with some
realism. Its easy to oversimplify and have no imagination about the real
world - its harder to come up with real time and real life solutions.


[other possibilities are burning it for electricity but then there is the
ecological / financial cost of getting such a massive amount of litter to a
central furnace which is scuppering that at teh moment]



at this point, i won't comment on small areas with lots of poultry &
the problems that could or would cause, because that would be an
example of bad management (intensivity, monoculture).

No it is not -- it is the real world.

now, this part
of it might be your sole motivating factor in your comments (the u.k.
has "too many" birds)

It is the same the world around. There are places in the US which are
predominatly poultry farming.
Are you seriously suggesting that they uses thousands of gallons of diesil
to move millions of tonnes of litter all across the country ?

in which case you'd need to reflect on your own
involvement with that,

I have no involvement in the poultry industry. My direct involvement is
entirely in the domestic poultry and waterfowl keeping world.

as i am sticking to the one idea - good
management of chicken poo & litter equals big benefit to soil (and
hence all living things on & in it), not big pollution.

Which is unrealistic and blinkered about the real world. and not what the
topic that initiated the thread was about.
I am interested in what happens in the bigger world as well as the domestic
world.



i know fertisiler pollution is a problem. that's not the exact
question though.

It is the EXACT question that started this thread and to which you
responded..

If you do not want to think about it that is fine, but it is exactly what
the thread is about.

Sometimes its interesting to look at, and discuss, topics that are not just
about 4 hens in a garden. It is possible to do it in an adult and balanced
way.
After all this newsgroup should be about poultry agriculture, not just pets.


--

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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