Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

I am just reading about how there is a correlation between how long a bird spends as apprentice to its parents and brain size

And that correlation is?
The mums in Catalonia stopped mothering from 5 weeks to 8 weeks. Fret is still going at three months! Does this mean Mow and Dig are as dumb as a box of rocks?

 

[Perris]

Fret is still going at three months! Does this mean Mow and Dig are as dumb as a box of rocks?

on the contrary! It means Fret has a lot to teach them, and they recognize they have a lot to learn. About foraging and about social relations, mainly - at least, they seem to be the favorite explanations among the avian brain specialists.

And that correlation is?

the longer they spend together, the larger the brain. Intelligent animals have long childhoods.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I used to double dig my vegetable garden to add nutrients, compost, etc. I stopped vegetable gardening when it became too difficult to dig (arthritis).

BUT I got back into vegetable gardening after investing in a 4'x8'x14" raised bed kit. I can handle loosening the soil and digging in humus, and I hurt only slightly afterwards. If I could only have an in-ground garden...I wouldn't have one at all.

I don't use plastic as mulch. If I want to discourage weeds I use cardboard or carpet.

Double digging is so hard on the body, I agree. I would never do it again. I eventually found a happy medium between digging some and piling up. And it really helps to have a good tool that allows a person to work in a position that doesn't hurt the body too much.

There's a great book called "The Resilient Gardener" and the author has a good section on finding and using the right tools for different bodies.

https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-resilient-gardener/

 

[Shadrach]

on the contrary! It means Fret has a lot to teach them, and they recognize they have a lot to learn. About foraging and about social relations, mainly - at least, they seem to be the favorite explanations among the avian brain specialists.

the longer they spend together, the larger the brain. Intelligent animals have long childhoods.

I thought this brain size equates to intelligence stuff had been thoroughly proven wrong.

 

[TropicalChickies]

What I do know without ever having to lift a fork or spade is dig depth should be governed by ground conditions.

Good point. I had a really heavy clay base in the mid Atlantic US, but not too many stones. Instead of double digging -- once I signed off on doing so much hard work -- I would dig to one spade length, take out the soil, and gently open the clay base with the tines of a pitchfork, rocking it with my body weight to loosen it up a bit. Then I'd layer in the soil I took out with compost, aged horse manure, a bit of broken up lime mortar from an old outdoor fireplace -- I was more of a forager than a shopper when it came to finding garden amendments. My idea of productivity is "How much is this producing relative to how much effort/$/time I put into it?" I wasn't relying on selling the output, so as long as I had something fresh to eat every day, I would sacrifice a bit of productivity to be satisfied with less work and just using free stuff.

 

[Perris]

I thought this brain size equates to intelligence stuff had been thoroughly proven wrong.

I'm guessing you're thinking of mammals, so though elephant brains are bigger than ours on all obvious measures, we're smarter, but this is based on counting neurons and on the avian brain, and about where exactly they are and what they do. And it is about brain size relative to body size, where birds vary a lot (even within a species!), but the New Calendonian crow has a brain:body ratio similar to marmosets or tamarins (which have about the same sized body as such a crow).

 

[TropicalChickies]

This is what I found on a Dutch site:
Don't give your chickens too many high-fat snacks

Chickens love food, especially corn and other high-fat grains and seeds are their favourite. They are full of important vitamins and should certainly not be missing in their diet. But a surplus of fats is bad for their health and inhibits egg production.

In addition to dry mixed grains and seeds, you can also ferment this as a snack. This ensures that they are full faster and it stimulates optimal health, because then there are even more vitamins in it.

Source: https://kippenpakket.nl/wat-hebben-kippen-dagelijks-nodig/amp/

There are more interesting explanations on that webpage. Like this one :
When chickens get a surplus of protein, they can suffer from a protein poisoning. One of the first signs of this is that they get a blue comb, this is especially common in roosters.

I read the linked article. I'm leery of articles like this one that link to specific products -- they read more like advertisements for the brands sponsoring the site...

 

[TropicalChickies]

"Feed-grade fat may come from many different sources. Grease from restaurants, the rendering of animal carcasses, and the refuse from vegetable oil refining are major sources. These sources represent several types and categories, and each is defined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (1984)."

Quality vs. quantity. Common sense just tells me that a "high fat snack" like shelled sunflower seeds or nuts is better for me -- and chickens -- than a low fat feed where the fat comes from the burned hydrogenated vegetable oil tossed out of Burger King's potato fryers. But really, I'm not an expert

 

[Shadrach]

I'm guessing you're thinking of mammals, so though elephant brains are bigger than ours on all obvious measures, we're smarter, but this is based on counting neurons and on the avian brain, and about where exactly they are and what they do. And it is about brain size relative to body size, where birds vary a lot (even within a species!), but the New Calendonian crow has a brain:body ratio similar to marmosets or tamarins (which have about the same sized body as such a crow).

Hmmm, I was thinking about avian brains and the neuron paths and speed. There is also the problem of defining intelligence. No matter, it's the tribes in Catalonia who were as thick as bricks in that case even though they would have needed more learning time due to a much larger range of experiences. Im calling bullshit on this one, or poor science.

 

[TropicalChickies]

This is normal when the hens are not laying in my experience. It's a case of find your own food. It all changes back to "after you dear" once eggs are involved

Definitely notice this pattern with Lucio. His generosity with food and treats is one of his better qualities -- with hens laying eggs that it. Broodies, mums with chicks, and hens off lay are temporarily banished from the "inner circle" that get first dibs. He's like, "Hey, until you start making more potential mini Lucios, get outta here!"

Lucio hustling his hens Rusty and Patucha off to digest breakfast. Junior Tobias looks to see if maybe he can grab Patucha from behind with Lucio looking the other way ...