Farm fresh All Natural CHICKEN. No Hormones or antibiotics. Raised cage free on vegetarian whole grain diet. Dressed weight average 5-8 pounds. Can deliver for orders of five or more birds. $2.50 pound Susan 801-573-1322

(Posted by Dave Webb for an aquaintance)

Many cities allow residents to have chickens in their backyards. It is pretty easy to care for them during the warm months, but what do you do with them during winter?

There are so many chickens in Utah cities, KSL TV did this report to help people learn to take care of them during the cold months. Below are exceprts.

Chickens can actually suffer frostbite — particularly those breeds with large single combs on their heads like leghorns or barred rocks. These breeds are popular with commercial growers because of their excellent egg production.

Breeds with rose combs like wyandottes, or pea combs like ameraucanas or brahmas are less likely to experience frostbite. Some sources say that coating combs with petroleum jelly during cold weather can help protect against frostbite.

The most important consideration in keeping chickens warm and healthy in cold weather is adequate shelter. The shelter need not be heated or insulated, but it should be dry and have adequate circulation. An airtight shelter can become too humid, which can lead to frostbite. Dry bedding like straw, hay or wood shavings can help insulate chickens from the cold, but it must be replaced regularly with clean bedding.

Chickens that forage for much of their food during warmer months need additional supplemental food during the winter.

Read the complete KSL report.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article by Geoffrey A. Fowler on heritage breed turkeys. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy defines heritage breed turkeys as follows:

Heritage turkeys are defined by the historic, range-based production system in which they are raised. Turkeys must meet all of the following criteria to qualify as a Heritage turkey:

1. Naturally mating: the Heritage Turkey must be reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating, with expected fertility rates of 70-80%.

2. Long productive lifespan: the Heritage Turkey must have a long productive lifespan. Breeding hens are commonly productive for 5-7 years and breeding toms for 3-5 years.

Slow growth rate: the Heritage Turkey must have a slow to moderate rate of growth. Today’s heritage turkeys reach a marketable weight in 26 – 28 weeks, giving the birds time to develop a strong skeletal structure and healthy organs prior to building muscle mass. This growth rate is identical to that of the commercial varieties of the first half of the 20th century.

The article (available here) references the latest turkey census numbers gathered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The census shows a nearly 700% increase between 1997 and 2006 in the number of heritage turkeys raised for breeding in the U.S. The growing popularity of heritage turkeys is a great example of the interest in local, sustainably produced food.

The article briefly touches on the economics of heritage turkeys and includes these excerpts:

“Heritage turkeys, which include eight breeds certified by the American Poultry Association, take about twice as long to grow as commercial turkeys and cost about three times as much to raise.”

At retail, a 14-pound heritage bird can cost $100 or more.? Says Mr. Reese: “It is the difference between feeding an athlete and feeding a couch potato."

Some diners are turned off by the heritage turkey's slightly gamy flavor. But most sing its praises. Sam Perryman, a 26-year-old health-care administrator in Oakland, Calif., is a vegetarian for environmental reasons, but last year made an exception for a heritage turkey. "Thanksgiving is an important holiday for us, and we wanted to maintain the traditional approach" for nonvegetarian family, he says.?

After doing some research, he settled on a 23-pound Bourbon Red raised nearby that cost nearly $200. The grocer "knew everything about this bird—they probably even knew when its birthday was," he says.?

It’s exciting to see individuals and local companies find success in providing local, sustainable food products people want. Unfortunately a common misperception is that locally grown food is limited to niche products that are more expensive than food grown on industrial farms and sold at big box retail stores. I don’t begrudge anyone their success but a $200 thanksgiving turkey is out of reach for most people and feeds that misperception.

People are attracted to sensational stories and news providers give us what we want. The local food movement has a lot of work to do to overcome misperceptions about the cost of locally produced food. Here’s a link to a study by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Iowa State University taking this issue head-on.

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/pubs-and-papers/2009-12-local-food-more-expensice-consumer-price-perspective-local-and-non-local-foods-purchased-iowa.pdf

Do you buy locally grown food? If so, why? And if not, why not?

Sam from Nebraska writes:

Caught a coyote sneaking up on my chickens and turkeys last night. A friend of mine had loaned me a 243 with a green laser light. I ran down to the barn, opened the back door turned the light on the coyote -- lit him up like a Christmas tree -- and shot him in the head (lucky shot). He couldn't see the green light at all and acted like no one could see him. Bad mistake.

No more dead turkeys and chickens.

Alan from Ohio responded:

Not to go all crunchy on you, but ...

Predators are very important.  They manage the ecosystem.  We don't.  Just look at Yellowstone.  When they put the wolves back, the streams came back.  The wolves manage the populations, partly by culling the weak, but mostly by changing how they move.  The movement lets the riparian zones recover from over grazing.  If you have top predators in your area, your management job is protecting your flock, not killing off the predators.  Our long term survival depends on sustainable systems, and we have ZERO skills as systems managers.

Sam responds:

You are right to a point. Problem is, we are being over-run by coyotes and they are completely out of balance. I'm always in favor of a nice balanced system, but they don't exist any more, especially around here. I saw a picture of a pack with 24 coyotes in it a week or so ago -- taken just a few miles from my house.

They call out and kill your dogs, kill and eat newborn calves, spread rabies and other diseases and generally cause lots of problems. I help keep the balance by killing a few but we still need to kill more -- way too many for a good balance.

Around here we killed off all the dumb coyotes years ago and have selected for big, smart song dogs. The only ones left are extremely smart, completely nocturnal and determined to eat my chickens. I have a great chicken coop with doors and I will still try to kill any coyote that comes close. Which, by the way is extremely difficult -- hence the green laser light.

I had a pack of coyotes chasing one of my new born calves a few weeks ago -- at 3:00 in the morning. Had I not stepped in I would have lost a $1000 heifer. Going back to a supposed "balanced" system would mean that I have to give some of my calves to the coyotes each year and that ain't goin'a happen.

Coyotes and gophers -- kill as many as possible and there will still be too many of them.

The only good coyote is a dead one.

That's my rant,

Glen from Utah responds:

Rants are good.  You make very good points.  Based on Sam's description it is pretty clear he only shoots the dumb coyotes that would starve to death anyway.  With all due respect to Sam... he'd never get a shot at a smart one!

Alan responds:

OH I love a good rant!!!

Been where you are.  Shot lots of preds.  Changed calving season so it coincided with all the deer and elk.  That one thing mostly eliminated the calf predation problem. 

Here's what I learned.  A population will grow to the limit of it's food supply.  If it's growing, we must be doing something that increases its food supply.  That's where you fix the problem.  You can't shoot your way out of it.  Found this true with 2000 head cow calf operation on 80000 acres in Wyoming wilderness and with beans on the edge of a corn field in Ohio. 

Love to bash this one around more.

Sam responds:

In the panhandle of Nebraska there is no public land and every inch is used as farmland or pasture and has been for over 100 years. I can't change calving season to coincide with deer or elk as we essentially have no deer or elk. Everything here is artificially managed and has been forever.

Any balance or imbalance we have -- we have created. So what you are saying is to control coyote populations I should go kill rabbits, mice and gophers. I'm in favor of that as the rabbits eat the bark off my trees. Or, I could go shoot the neighbor's cows as the coyotes have been getting some of them.

Rabbit population around here naturally cycles and the cycle has to do with weather, disease, etc. and has almost nothing to do with what the ranchers or farmers are doing. Coyote populations tend to follow the rabbit populations.

Problem is, our coyotes love to eat chickens and calves more than they love to eat rabbits and even when we have lots of rabbits (like this year) the coyotes still go after the calves and chickens and dogs.

I completely agree that you can't shoot your way out of the problem. My goal is to move the coyotes to my neighbors place. The more I shoot -- the fewer coyotes I have on my property and the more coyotes my neighbor has.

I call it survival of the loudest. I keep the coyotes away, more than anything, by shooting on a regular basis, especially at 10 or 12 o-clock at night -- even when I don't see any coyotes. Killing a few also sends a strong message.

There is no such thing as "wild" or "natural"  in America, just what we create and then pretend to be wild or natural. In today's world we manage everything -- from the number of elk in Yellowstone to the number of gophers on my property.

Wild and/or natural will never exist again and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Alan responds:

Of course, you are right.  But understanding the dynamic makes it possible to manage in a different direction.  It isn't fast, easy, or maybe even "cost effective", yet if we don't move our practices to a more naturally balanced system, we will never survive.  I manage my cows and goats in a totally UNnatural way except for the fact that they move pasture every couple of days, and I control health by controling mineral balance and diet.  I manage my beans the same way, I fixed the mexican bean beatle problem by changing the mineral balance in the soil.  Suddenly the neighbors toxic soy beans were better than my green beans.  It's a long road, and we will have to shoot our way through part of it.  But if we don't have a balanced, sustainable system out there somewhere as an ideal, we will go broke shooting the next pest.

Sam responds:

Amen!