The number is 1.3 times the human population maintained as a food source throughout the world. Grow some, eat some. Its one of those amazing statistics someone gathers for whatever reason. Its also amazing in that chickens compete for human food sources of grains in captivity. On free range they are vegatarian based, with bugs and seeds as secondary food.
Ever wonder about chickens used for egg production? Prolly not. They live in little cages for about 18 months, then they are processed into some meat nuggets, soup stocks, and about 50% of their body weight is used for fertilizer, bonemeal, and additives to stock feeds. They are too tough and bone brittle for normal processing. I dunno what they do with the feathers, I cant seem to nail that down. Always curious.
Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
Moderator: Harold_V
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steamin10
- Posts: 6712
- Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:52 pm
- Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip
Re: Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
Re: Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
There's one of those egg factories about 3 miles from my house...about 20,000 cluckers...they have finally got a compost program working that keeps the stink down to a somewhat tolerable level... 
Wasn't that way when they first opened up...constant complaints from the neighbors.
They do soak up a lot of grain in a year though-
The manager told a friend of mine that the old hens go to Arkansas & become Campbell's soup when they're done laying...one hen makes 56 cans of chicken-noodle soup, according to him...yummy!
Wasn't that way when they first opened up...constant complaints from the neighbors.
They do soak up a lot of grain in a year though-
The manager told a friend of mine that the old hens go to Arkansas & become Campbell's soup when they're done laying...one hen makes 56 cans of chicken-noodle soup, according to him...yummy!
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steamin10
- Posts: 6712
- Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:52 pm
- Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip
Re: Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
The ritual is to process the chicken poo with sand, swamp loam, clay, and dry it to small pellets, that are added as a high nitrogen base for common fertilizers for crops or lawns. Unfortunately it is more expensive than using natural gas to generate chemical nitrate fertilizer, so the process is a give away. When they let the concentrate sour, it is quite odiferous, and against Farming laws and EPA standards. My flocks are isolated and small, so we fall under the radar, and we dont have stink, as we move the coopage and spread the residue. We commonly use straw for winter bedding, and the girls gleam grains and play endlessly in the stuff, and when cleanout time comes, it gets commited to garden space. Chicken poo is rather too rich and burns veggies unless diluted, I could not live near the stench of commercial chicken operations, because they are too cheap to handle the waste correctly. You have my empathy on that part, stupid human tricks. Being green is just that, working nature to advantage, not waging war on her limits. 
It looks like we are hi-jacking the thread, so apologies are in order.
There was a hen that like a comelean, layed eggs the color of the environment she was in. Green grass, green eggs, Brown dirt, brown eggs. One day a shirt blew off the clothesline, and she nested in it. It was a paisly print, and she stripped her gears...
It looks like we are hi-jacking the thread, so apologies are in order.
There was a hen that like a comelean, layed eggs the color of the environment she was in. Green grass, green eggs, Brown dirt, brown eggs. One day a shirt blew off the clothesline, and she nested in it. It was a paisly print, and she stripped her gears...
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
Re: Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
Yeah right, Dave! good one...Fortunately, the chicken house is downwind from me, most of the time...occasionally, the wind reverses in the evening, & we get a whiff...not pleasant...I suspect if they hadn't got their act together w/the composting, they would have been run out of the county by now.
I ate lunch at a local place with an old cowboy once...the waitress told him the special that day was something with chicken-he said "Oh hell no...last time I ate chicken I woke up the next morning, jumped up on the bedpost & crowed...scared the hell out of the ol' lady!" She was totally flummoxed-had no answer for that one...
Yep, we have hijacked this one-but after all, it WAS about a bug with gears!
Re: Cool: The first mechanical gear in a living creature
Going back to the original post... very interesting article. Thanks for sharing