4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Mollystar]

In years gone by, how did we get chickens to lay & be healthy without chick grit, growers pellets & layers? who decided that apple cider, spice & wormer was good for our girls? who sniffed out that garlic made the poo less stinky?

 

How on earth did people rear chickens?

 

Have we made it too complicated?

[cordelia]

i sometimes wonder the same....

 

when we were young, the farm where our cottage was had chickens...they had a dirty chiken shed....were thrown pellets (some type of food) and foraged the rest of the time, occasionally we owould help the farmers daughter collect the eggs....she had to do it everyday.....

 

and i dont think they got anything other than this...

[Egluntyne]

Chickens were expendable and not expected to lay eggs everyday. They picked up grit and food stuff as they foraged around. They probably also were loaded with worms, lice and mites.

 

One they became a commercial proposition I imagine research will have gone into how to maximise the farmers investment.

 

ACV has been used on farm animals for years.

[cordelia]

oh the farm I meniton wasnt a chicken farm..they were arable, sheep and some cows...with a bit of plant thrown in..

 

but they had a fair few free ranging chickens...and relied heavily upon the egg production, as they used them for cooking....

 

and the famers wife baked religiously (and very well)...absolutely masses of bread, cakes etc...each week....

 

the feed was probably medicated....as this was a time when sheep dip was used regualrly at the farm, as my brother used to help out...even getting in the stuff to help dip the more disgurntled animals under....

 

 

which i dont think happens anymore...as its dangerous stuff...

 

I'm pretty sure the feed would have included allsorts of nasties to eradicate worms etc in the birds..

 

(of course I was age 6 to about 14 at the time...and I'm no expert...)

 

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hmm, you're right, perhaps it's all a bit over the top nowadays.

 

You could say the same for children too . How did we survive in the past? (I'm sure there was a thread about this recently .)