Life with chicks, chickens, roosters - and weeds

I love chickens, I especially the chickens in the garden - and now the babies, what a treat to see. Our natural world is beautiful and while life on earth has its challenges, pains and will always come to an end, I believe and hold true that given enough consciousness, no one and nothing needs to be abused and exploited and that we can live in harmony. I don't appreciate the government spying on facebook and google - including blogger - and am moving, for now and a little sad hearted, all my chicken blogs to my currently available website chicks and weeds. It is a wordpress format, which I don't prefer, but we'll see. Please join me there and have a blessed day.

Hello Mama - this is Mama Pencil, a buff minorca

Beauty Break with - Miyoko Shida Rigolo

Free range and cage free, that is good enough for you?

Your idea of "free range" was different?

Cage free and free range it says on   your organic egg carton - oh, yes, and you do in fact care. Here is the price of your eggs in images: we all pay for the commercial poultry industry and their waste products with our taxes, polluted environment and its clean-up, antibiotic resistance - and the loss of our soul allowing and supporting the suffering of these sentient creatures.
This image spares you the pecked ones, the dead ones, the sick ones, the transport and the cruel deaths.  ....

When are we going to be done supporting it?

All you need to officially be allowed to say 'free range' is a door that opens to the outside with a specific sized grass area. It's a loophole. Few chickens ever go out that gate, they are too scared - and too many. But since they have the 'option' -> it's called free range ...that sells much better to the unsuspecting customer who has not delved into the mass animal keeping realities too much, who still trusts what "they" tell you.

Healthy foods - money, comfort & convenience & addiction to junk

Yesterday I asked someone - who is eating eggs in their household - if they would be interested in soy free organic free range fresh garden eggs ...offered for the same community price we pay but cheaper than in the store for those kinds of eggs. The answer was ...I don't want to pay that for eggs .....

Sad ....

Not a bad person, quite the opposite, one on a long time spiritual path,  not a poor household, but it has to be the cheap eggs from abused hens ...when another $ 2/week/dozen eggs  would pay for the  best eggs you can get from chickens as happy as they can be.

Just a chicken ....

Maybe I AM missing a point - about the general condition of the planet and the humans on it - maybe it really IS going down and 600 plus years of dark ages await us, all new age awakenings not withstanding - and it really is too late to do anything about it. The humans who run the show do so because they are genetically missing some empathy genes .....

Maybe real awakening permits this to be because it just IS ....

So you know about the tortured suffering animals, you know about the health hazard of eating conventional & precessed  foods - and yet, despite your intentions and conviction, you still eat them? Ya, I know ...lets see:

no time to shop, the kids gotta go to practice, there is nothing else in the house, it is more expensive - and oh, it tastes so good ...the junk .... no time to get the good stuff, no time to cook ....

Taste ...pleasure - comfort foods, feel good foods & bad eating habit.... and habits are hard to break.

In my mind's eye I can see the stalls of the calves taken from their mothers at birth - so we can have the milk - dairy cows are some of the most abused mothers on this planet, and yet, at times, I too dring milk, I still eat butter - I have not managed yet to go to see the farm where I may be getting milk in the future....but mostly I HAVE switched to tea - and that goes without milk.

As far as your food is concerned, living in integrity with your highest knowing IS inconvenient and costs more money, even though it should not.....
Our comfort, laziness and habits keep us on track of doing something not compatible with our highest knowing. ....
And according to a new recommendation from Harvard - milk is NOT on the recommended good and healthy food list ...that was all from the industry for money. It was all a lie.

We don't want to pay that much for eggs .... sad, unaware, unhealthy - especially if you can afford it.

The general population really is unaware of the animal suffering in industrial farming. ...and in fact, it does not matter to them. And even if they "know", there are the realities of daily life and human weakness - there is comfort and convenience and habit and perceived lack of money - and we give in - only the image with the calf or his mother is haunting .... but that means, you have to LOOK at it.

I am writing about milk because - I am guilty too - I know better - and still have some dairy products .....maybe not for long - but I do not know. There is the reality of daily life and what is available. But I will keep at it - and one of these days soon I will get out to the farm ..... and maybe I'll just switch to tea .....

One of these days there is standing strong, yet soft, clear flowing right action and words  and embodied compassion.


What are soy free, organic, free range kept chicken eggs worth?
To answer the question: priceless once you know all that it takes - Like with many things, you can't actually pay for those eggs, the price just covers the hard costs ....

The other answer: whatever the customer is willing to pay for them ...

I would like to find people on this path to whom animal welfare does matter enough to no longer support large commercial animal keeping - but who, for some reason or another - are not vegan ...... I would like to keep chickens for them too.

Loosing another chicken - what is the lesson?

He was a sweet big guy - the most trusting of the buffs

This blog is not about predators threatening the free range flock or some disease or other that takes them from us - it is about  - loosing a chicken - as in: it is no longer part of your flock, you will never see it again - whether it is dead or went to live somewhere else - it is OUT OF YOUR life.

In the last couple of years I have lost 2 dogs and in the last few months - it was chickens.The first losses were young roos lost to predators, then there was culling, and shipping to new homes, someone coming to pick one of them up and sending more of them off for culling, then there was sweet Runti last week.
This morning,  a predator got one of the 2 remaining buff boys. I could see from the feathers in several spots that he tried to get away. Of the buff boys, he was the sweetest and most trusting. ...and again - I wonder, as I did with the others: did he suffer? - hoping he didn't, recalling the state I was in when I had a car accident - and if it is anything like that - then there is no suffering. Certainly - it would be less scary than having to travel in a crate and be put into a cone? --- but, and here is the thing - when I found what was left of him - he was already dead - he was gone. WHATEVER suffering may or may not have gone on was no more. It was done. Where did he go? Whether he went back to God or dissolved into the premordial Being - he'd be fine in either case. In fact - he would have vanished without a trace of individuality. And if he has an eternal soul - he would carry the love and his earth time with him. Either way, he'd be okay. And if he was just some mechanical scripted sentient machine - he was now kaput to the degree that he was no more in the sense that the life, the spirit that moves through all things, no longer moved through him and the body was in the process for disintegrating.

So I observed my reaction, what I did with his body, and was put back into the space-time when ancient homo sapiens walked the earth and their magical thinking about death, ancestors and even why cannibals eat humans, why eating the heart of an animal was magical etc.

There is a mystery.

...but back to this one: he is gone, they will all go sooner or later and all I ever can think of is: may they have a good life. This is their only life. ....and that is true for humans too: as this particular human - no matter how much we are all the same - and how similar it all is: it is none the less it's only life ever....ever .... and while they are alive - they are sentient.

And after the chickens are gone, they are so totally gone ...there is this realization that all they had was the moment of their life ..and all I could ever do to them was right then in their life - and only then did it make a difference to the totality of BEING itself - only in that 1 moment of the NOW can you ever do any good or harm. Now he is no more. Grief is literally pointless, even though sentient beings seem to go through it in stages.

Okay, it seems I didn't do a real good job explaining. There is always only the now.

If this sweet roo ceased to exist as an individual roo, having melted back into the light, it may not matter now that I love him simply because he is no more ... it only mattered in the moment - that I gave him an extra treat that day ...in that moment it mattered, not before or afterwards. He no longer suffers now, like Runti.

So I catch myself thinking about him, going back over things and realizing: there is no point. Holding on is pointless because he is gone, forever - and all I  ever had, all anyone ever has -  is NOW - this very moment.

Having connected with him eye to eye - what is it that connected?

More and more this here is realized as truth (for the moment): I had nothing but myself with which to make the world.

It is somehow comforting to imagine that they - animals as well as humans - have a soul and that the love stays with them, or,  that karma will catch up with them one way or the other, but really, if they do not then - get this ....it is only in the moment that anything matters, that the love added to the totality of Being .........

okay fine - I can't explain it....but these repeated losses  have been driving something home ...about impermanence, uniqueness as well as non-separation of everything and the only difference we can ever make is NOW - and this feeling realization is slowly changing me.

Oh well, enough - there are many more aspects to this. Some say it does get easier with the chickens - but I wonder ..... because each one is unique ....and it'll likely be the same. ..... and all I can hope to do is love them, give them the opportunity to let them be who they are and do my best so they don't suffer.

Then there is that whole issue about consciousness and life forms .... including plants - but that is a whole other story as well as: it is all energy and vibration ....hm ....

So the lesson - can't be described.

The words sound maybe something like this: Your responsibility is NOW. Your life and their life is only NOW.

Re-sharing this one, made in 2002 - it is only part 1 - I chose it because of what the teacher says: they only have this one life .... but it really is quite a remarkable teacher and class and I recommend you watch all 5 parts.

How Chickens changed my Life

It was suggested to me a short time after getting my first chickens to write about: How Chickens changed my life. At the time, I was thinking: hm ...they have not really changed it, but I started writing some posts on another site anyway. I do know however that those words were not "just" said for no reason ....so I kept an open mind and heart - and - I am in the midst of that change .... or rather  A change ..... the learning about earth realities that involve suffering of sentient beings of all kinds has hit home in ways I "sort of knew" in my head before .... but now it is a different way of feeling and seeing .... and it is causing great tourmoil  - and change. Not sure of what or how ....one can't always tell in the facing another act boss monster event what is gonna happen and where you will find yourself afterwards. I am keeping track of some of all this in writing about the chicken adventure, but it really is affecting my in other ways .....

There is this (part of a quote I read somewhere): learn to carry the weight of the Universe or be crushed by it

and

....you feel it (the pain) more and it bothers you less - It is time to access the: "bother me less" part. Urthgame ...

Funny how what I am realizing myself, in the vein of personal experience personally experienced - I recognize saints and sages having said it all along, some of them thousands of years ago.

In this here video, the teacher says one thing: ...this is the only life they will have ....

Paleo or vegan - what will it be?

Paleo or vegan? Those choices seem to totally contradict each other - the meat based hunter-gather vs the grain-grower we can't ever hurt an animal purely non animal, non animal product eaters....each claiming their way is categorically the only or best healthy one ....hahahaha...

Both have drawbacks in terms of high cost to the environment, and yes, nutritionally, carbohydrates have been detrimental to human health, but that is because taken in excess. Meat ...yes, can be the healthiest thing to eat ...as long as you don't get a dose of mixed antibiotics with them and hormones ...as well as the substances released by the abject fear and horror of the now dead sentient being you are eating. For your soul, how well can it be to eat a tortured sentient being .... Confined industrial animal keeping is destructive all the way around. Lean is best for longevity, meaning - loose weight, eat consciously. Realize that the soul of G-D, the Absolute, Being ...is looking at you through the eyes of all animals you dare to look in the eyes. It might offer itself for your nourishment, for transformation, for transmutation - but does it? In any case - first: DO NO HARM. Do not cause it suffering in life or death. Compassion is meant for ALL sentient beings. And who knows what will be revealed about the consciousness of plants some day. "I had nothing buy myself with which to make this world" G-D.

Learn to kill it yourself.

What you can't kill, don't eat.

Do not be controlled by money making brainwashing schemes...which do not have your health at heart. Think about it: the rich USA has one of the most unhealthy populations on the planet,  and - you don't need meat or milk or coconut oil... and the processed foods that are poisoning you and the children - slowly, and the environment: rapidly.

You do need certain proteins and oils/fats as well as other micro-nutrients.

And for those plant eaters: get off your high horse, especially if you are promoting GMO crops....that is INSANE. They and the resulting increased use opf herbicides and pesticides will kill the planet's life. Destroying life forms is not leading to sustainable living. Are your vegan crop plots round-up treated? If so ...you don't care about those soil animals killed, you know ...the little invertebrates? Or for that matter, GMO or not, do you know about the highly social intelligent field rodents killed by the thousands at harvest of the "vegan" foods, or the destruction of the rain forests in Asia for palm oil etc??

Ultimately ... go local ...not a single pretty lawn anywhere, not a vacant city pot anywhere. Investigate truly sustainable ways to eat for more than a few homesteaders ...and yes, this may include fish in the aquaponic systems, which incidentally means a mostly plant based diet. In any case, for this one here ... don't champion any method unless it can be done by all, give life and dignity to all involved and stuarts the earth and environment into health and long term sustainability. With enough love - awareness, compassion - it can be done....please see video below.

Besides - the powers at work are working on population control you won't get to vote on .... so it all may become a more or less mute point and in the end - it is your life and conscience - and what you have done to the least of the creatures, you have done to yourself. The religions may have gotten a lot wrong in their institutionalized power hungry structures - but the message still is: relief of suffering of sentient beings - loving-kindness as a practice.

Maybe some folks do not have a soul - maybe some do ...and maybe some are governed by evil entities - those you have to watch out for.

To answer the question in the title: NEITHER - it needs to be sustainable, kind and health promoting  ...grow your own or know your grower. Take the extra steps it takes ....

And watch this: - amazing

"I don't build gardens with fences - ----   You have to engage the community"

c.

Pretty pictures and the other truth

A lot of people love the pretty pictures - hardly anyone sees or comments on the other stuff ...like this one

Wake the hell up and vote with your money .... take the time, get out of your comfort zone if you care anything about your children or grandchildren - ..... if not life on this beautiful earth.

Natural chicken eggs - truth in chicken keeping

In May of 2012, I got my first chickens - 1 day old chicks, a straight run - and it has been an amazing journey. I LOVE my chickens, I LOVE birds in general.

So, this post is about the eggs of my sweet girls, or rather, the egg laying. Some would call this a rant - but actually, it is the truth about what humans have done to chickens.
It has been 10 months and in the last few days, somethink else happened: I see those hens, the little ones and the big ones and notice: there are times - when they have yolks to fertilize inside - that they attract roosters more than others - and every day, all year - leading to wear and tear of their poor backs...but more importantly - I see them laying eggs: sometimes patiently, sometimes agitated and restless before, sometimes literally screaming when the

egg passes, and very often panting as if in labor - which they are.  Some will sit for a few minutes on the nest with remnants of their "nest-fixing" behavior, only to leave the nest. Broodiness has been bred out of  egg layers.

They are working hard - every day, and  attention from roosters every afternoon all year long - no break - so no wonder we have to cut the number of roosters..

THE WHOLE THING IS UNNATURAL. The entire: "lay an egg a day thing" is actually abusive. It is not quite like GMO chickens, but still, abnormal chickens. I feel bad for them ....

....  having to lay an egg a day and the resources that must consume in their bodies - they can't even forage enough food to sustain it. 

A first egg

Every day all year going through labor ....sweet little girls ...they don't seem to care much, and they don't know better - but it is NOT NATURAL....it IS using them and all the proud: OH she laid an egg a day all year  - is really being proud of having succeeded in perfect abuse. And the hens are spent spent spent after a couple of years as the number of yolks is limited.

It would be more "natural" to get meat from them, come to think of it, to let them be, let them be broody once a year after maybe stealing a few eggs for yourself and let them raise a clutch of chicks, and, unless you have a balanced predator control on your property, you are gonna have to cull - and get meat - not eggs. In the end, if you are not willing to cull, you can't keep chickens the natural way - and one option is to keep a few rescue hens, which will allow you to enjoy the birds, and maybe an occasional egg.

One of the reasons  we have Easter eggs is: there were no available eggs in Winter, otherwise we'd have had Christmas eggs.

So - I enjoy eggs - and I see that my girls have been bred to be living abnormal lives - abused by being forced to lay an egg almost every  day. At the very least, I owe them a decent chicken life.
I suppose you call it "progress" for humans, not being so dependent on the seasonal fluctuations of food supply ....the "problem" is: we are using breathing living beings for this, beings who feel - and who only have this one life to live on earth.

Once my current flock has lived out its days, all I can ever keep is rescue chickens. At least, I won;t be getting any more chicken from a hatchery. IF I were able to cull appropriately - I'd breed them back to normalcy....for truly natural chicken breeds....and I bet ya that you would be able to keep many more roosters to the hens.

Knowing what it takes to get eggs, and seeing the relative indifference with which people treat those precious perfect creations seals the deal: my answer to more chickens for eggs is NO.... unless they are rescue hens....don't ask me what I will do if one of the hens goes broody, I got a non-broody breed for a reason ... it made sense at the time.

Paleo to vegan via omni - locavores - parallel world insanity - and gratitude

This post is - not for anyone who does not care about the status of this world and what humans are doing. If you are on a course towards waking up, awareness, integrity or clear conscience - maybe this is an area to wake up in for you -  and act - in this case starting to nourish yourself the most humane way you are able to  - with full awareness of where your food actually does come from and what type of transformational work you can do while eating it. If you want to know about a couple of things you can do TODAY, without changing any other thing you do - skip right to the end of the post.

Yes, I am the extra rooster - and yes - there is LOVE

 IT IS TOTALLY INSANE - all the various factions of how we feed ourselves - and - if you are the militant kind, you will be so no matter what the point of view you are defending or promoting.

WHY  this .... blog????

Because I paid a high price for what I learned and received, because it is painful, because maybe you can take something away from this that helps you and them - the animals - something that helps you to stop supporting the treatment of sentient beings as inanimate objects. ..I am not saying to never eat meat or fish - but don't cause it suffering - because I feel an obligation to help you wake up to this section of the Universe.

So before we just even scratch the surface of the planetary insanity of the ways we feed ourselves, here is just a little section  on how I got "involved":


Where I live there is a garden, and the folks who were primarily working it were getting too old plus there was not enough time. The soil is hard to work, none of that good "Mutterboden" - that dark fertile mother soil here.
So I thought: ok, I can try to work some of it, use some of the existing garden structures and have some chickens to help with the fertilizing and tilling and I'll have some eggs too and I got permission to do the project.
By this time I have raised 32 roosters and 21 pullets of 2 straight runs from a reputable hatchery that will not sex their chicks.  These are chickens for a garden project, free range, organically fed and very  loved.

I asked around, did my homework,  read Harvey Ussery's Book and yes, as an animal lover, straight runs was it for me. (no brutal killing of the males as is customary in the industry). Since the property is AG zoned with no limit, I was not expecting any trouble from the noise complaint department. Not eating animals myself at this time and others preferring to buy their chickens in the store, what was I gonna do with the roosters?. Luckily, a friend of ours raises birds the best way you can imagine and they use kosher ways in the most peaceful location to "harvest" the birds. He is eating meat raised like this for medical reasons. ...and yes, he was gonna take the extra males.

The chickens came - I started to "see" them as who they are, fell in love - and - I got stuck with the roosters.

I learned a few things:

Chickens are AMAZING. They are smart, sweet, clever, and they talk ...they have a language, memory and a social life. Roosters are beautiful and amazing. They don't all fight, some breeds get along together better than others. They are very protective of the flock, they go a little "nuts" when the hormones first kick in. Given enough space and females - there would never be a problem. Alas, I did have to split some of the 17 roos from the first run to be in a separate part of the garden and in the back part of the coop. The 9 pullets did not appreciate THAT much attention. I learned that afternoons and evenings are the most "mating-active" times of the day.

And I found out roosters are difficult to re-home. The local Sanctuaries were full, in any case were not gonna take any, I did not want them to go straight to someone's axe to be butchered, as seems to be the case through craigs list. The most helpful was backyardchickens.com in terms of finding anyone to take roosters. My facebook account does not have anywhere near enough "likers" to find anyone.

The problem of extra roosters is conveniently not discussed by most of the pet chicken lovers - and the homesteaders see no problem in killing them.

At some point I had to help cull 2 golden polish cockerels, beautiful birds, but too unruly and I had no further way to separate them. Maybe I will write about all that some other time. I rehomed 5, at very expensive shipping costs and lost 4 roosters to predators - very hard too. ... and I began comprehending the magnitude of male killing in the commercial feed industry - as well as the backyard chicken supply hatcheries....as far back at 100 years ago in the United States.

BILLIONS of male chicks, the brothers of all the egg layers, get thrown alive into the dumpster to suffocate, or tied up in plastic bags or fall from the belt into the chopper machines - billions every year.  They are deemed unworthy as no one can make money from them. Year after year.... and yes, I am reading "The Chicken Book" from 30 years ago - it IS being done for money and over the past 100 years, the fate of chickens has gotten worse and worse - till now?

Do you really want to continue supporting that, being sucked in by that? Or maybe you can feel a little stirring that says: no, I don't want to be the cause of suffering ...wait a minute ...what are you saying here ...

Enough of the male chicks get used as "packing material" for those who have ordered just female chickens, ending up in people's homes who did not ask for them - or are not allowed to keep roosters - like in the City. Many get sexed wrong and end up in homes that never asked for one ...and rooster dumping is something that now seems to be a last resort for many.

So I am looking at the price of my eggs, and eggs in general, and I was considering becoming vegan.

and I started looking into that, reading reports and articles and visiting vegan facebook pages  ..... and found out some things.

Ways we feed ourselves

This is not going into the investigation of things like food additives, high fructose corn syrup and the like. Anyone investigating will come to the conclusion that the western diet is making people literally sick. This is more as it relates to eating animals and their products....and not even discussing any view on domestication of any animals and whether or not animals actually benefited from it.
I am just gonna use some bullet points of what I remember from various investigations, I know it is incomplete and I am not even giving you the references.:

• General: world hunger is manageable - if wealth and food  were appropriately re-distributed and meat consumption were dramatically reduced, truly alternative ways to obtain proteins were used in production, if there would not longer be wastefulness. Western packaged foods literally make you sick, and have an incredibly high environmental as well as medical price tag. GMO foods are a threat to genetic heritage and health of the planet....let alone individuals.

• Vegan: that is a fully plant based diet, no animals or animal products are consumed. Animal rights and welfare are top priority, in fact, animal keeping itself is not ok. This includes using them for ANY purpose, including pets of all kinds. What I have not yet seen/found on a "vegan" site is a discussion of how they are gonna prevent the reduction of field populations of animals by 50-80% during harvest. What I have not seen is how fats are to be obtained where nuts don't grow. How they can live with the deforestation to get palm oil and other vegan products.  If you eat commercially grown food - animals WILL die, even if you only eat plants.  So is it not time to come clean with that moral superiority thing I encounter often in vegan arguments, even as many points are well taken and I agree with? Also - a lot of their claims of "unhealth" of animal products are not correct. (unless from factory farmed animals). Those folks who are going vegan for the sake of the animals, they do FEEL though - their hearts are open were many others are afraid to go - and no - it is NOT all sentimental. There is a real evolutionary step here, or rather - a daring to allow empathy. ...and confront your conditioning and comfort zone.

• Paleo: back to the stone age hunter-gatherer diet, because that is what we are meant for genetically:meat and animal fats, and other foraged or dug out items, healthy, good for your teeth and gut and pankreas.  Most of the population on the planet would starve and the remainder of natural habitat totally destroyed if everyone would be on a paleo diet. And if you eat meats from commercial animals (which they are not supposed to eat): they are toxic on many levels - not to speak of the unspeakable pain and violation to the animals you caused. Lucky few who can afford to raise their own - I wonder how they kill them .....

• Omnivore: eats everything, general population not really aware how their food gets produced - the problem here is the commercial barbaric ways in which animals are kept for your eating pleasure. BARBARIC and not deserving the name human - unless you agree that humans are basically barbaric creatures. Also the widespread use of pesticides and GMO is fundamentally destructive. ALAS, money rules here too....just wait till the bees are gone. There is a growing section of "organic" produce - alas, for animals, that does NOT equate animal welfare, and it IS more expensive as well as unsupported by the government.

• Locavore: eats like an omnivore but locally produced foods only - like within a radius of 100 miles obtainable foods - in season. Not sure what that would look like if everyone in big cities were to drive into the country several times a week to get local foods. Can't imagine, not that there would be enough farmer's markets to provide supplies. Would be interesting though to see shelves with canned local foods in the store. I guess we'd have huge canning factories......and not a single lawn anywhere - it would all be gardens and chickens and rabbits in the cities. Growing up with rooster noise would make crowing complaints obsolete after 1 generation.

Just a word on Homesteaders and Backyard animal keepers: few vegans there, mostly locavores and omnivores, most way better on animal welfare and healthy organic produce: yet most of the animals raised for sale will die the same horrific death in slaughterhouses in the end. A price many are willing to pay - and maybe even the animals for a chance to be on earth and loved and well cared for. I have seen barbaric treatment of animals by "backyard" animal keepers. I suppose if you are barbaric, it does not matter if you are in a slaughterhouse or backyard. I will save you the horrible images.

So - There is no easy answer. There is no answer without a worldwide sweeping change in perception of how we use animals, how we distribute wealth, how we treat our earth, how we invest in new and truly friendly, non-toxic energy sources and sustainable ways of living.

This change is gonna have to come from somewhere - be sweeping and soon. A quantum effect of some kind. 

And that is assuming that there can be change - rather than an actual switch into a parallel Universe.
But in a way, is that not a cop out? How does transformation happen, how does relief of suffering happen.

 But let us say - it can't be changed - then the question for you is: WILL YOU CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE EXPLOITATION AND CRUEL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS by continueing to give the producers your money to be able to ingest such tortured beings?

There are environmental and transport factors, wild animal habitat preservation, the notion that absolutely, some animals WOULD agree to work with humans, even if it meant for some of them to serve as food. ...and  - not addressed by ANYONE - the unmitigated exponential human population explosion. The right to reproduce ad infinitum? REALLY, the right to abuse every species in the animal kingdom, destruction of the earth - really??? The problem is - there are some people, a lot of people,  millions of people that would say: of course.

Humanity needs to grow up. The rich and powerful have always done what they wanted to get more ...only now the planet is being destroyed as greed escalates and humans multiply and multiply.

You really think the powers won't unleash a very deadly virus some day ...They already tried (2012 contaminated flu vaccine in Europe, or find some other way to get rid of large portions of the populpation if their own very life on the planet gets threatened?

Back to the local garden and the chickens I tend to:
Breathe girl, even as you are beginning to understand the conspiracy folks ....

Here - the neighbors complained anonymously to animal control, who came by 3 times,   and even though it is all legal with the roosters, and animal control is now satisfied that this is agricultural and not coming again - I am told to get rid of the roosters, all of them if need be. NVM any plans I might have had to have more chickens to provide a renewable food source....but then, maybe I was not meant to do that - as it would have involved killing?

Open to the universe telling me that getting deeper into animal keeping is not necessary, needed or wanted - or is it another lesson in letting go - like letting go of that sweetest rooster I will know in this lifetime?

And I am in the process of doing that - with the roosters who will have to go. I am able to re-home 2 of them, the others are going to a  place to be culled - a better way I can't imagine. It feels so peaceful there that when I went there I thought to myself - this is what I'd want when I die - such serenity....but - their life will be over.

I have cried so much, read so much - and  if I ever were to kill a roosters or chicken myself, not just carry it, put it head first into the cone, or put it in a box to be taken, it would have to be out of real necessity. And if I ever will breed chickens, I would act as mother nature: cull the weak and sick and the ones I can't support, looking out for the health of the flock. The place of death would have to be a space that is peaceful, without fear, and they would go with prayer - for I would be taking a sacred life. One thing for sure: all my chickens were and are loved - and that is more than many humans can say to have had experienced in their time on earth. Love remains - it stays with them forever....as it is, I have the chickens I got - not knowing where it would lead me and the doors of perception it would open - into the worlds of the paleos, vegans and locavores, opening my eyes and heart even more to the unimaginable suffering caused to animals at the hands of humans. .... and who knows what is still in store on this journey.

I don't want to get into the whole - "all phenomena is illusion" or "they will be in heaven" or this is all  like a giant video game. Because no matter how to look at it - the feeling of pain, suffering is real, even in the dream.
Changing into a parallel world is not gonna relieve suffering in this one ...

are you getting a sense of the never ending ordeal this is - .....????

In the end, there is a simply rule: be kind to all of the creatures, all of god's creatures and creation - no matter where you find yourself. For those who claim to be spiritual: feel the oneness you talk about - and then tell me how you can eat your dinner at your favorite place - made with a commercial chicken....embodied unitive consciousness - how can you eat other sentient beings who have suffered - how can you pay with your money supporting such barbarism and sleep well?

Do yourself a favor: investigate ... the reports and images and videos are out there. There really is no excuse other than  .......fill in yours .....

I have been running Karma wash orbs for my roosters. ...and lately for people too. ....because - it is the humans who need the most help. Has it helped the roosters - yes. Has it helped me - yes.

Running orbs is like praying, only better.


And I cannot deny how well some of my roosters have done.

Here is another way: The healing waters amulet. What I like here is that you incur an obligation for some action, which could in fact be to run orbs every day. It can be the same orb every day. http://www.beaconwork.org/amulets/all/healing-waters/

There IS a way to eat consciously, no matter where your food comes from. At the very least - the attitude of gratitude is important in this. The good old saying grace/thank you - in any way you feel is appropriate for you - is a step in the right direction. No matter if plant or animal - someone gave their life for you so you can eat. If you are able to - you can learn to trans-substantiate the food you eat.

Vegan is not the answer

OK, in my exploration and adventure with chickens I discovered that I am unwilling to do the necessary killing to maintain acceptable flock size and health. In addition, the so called organic dairy products do not come from animals that have been kept humanly and environmentally sound. No, I don't provide references, just take a little time and check it out for yourself.

So that leaves vegan ... which is where I seem to be headed?

So the investigation begins and then I read about all the animals (rodents mostly) that get killed during the harvesting of the grains planted for the vegan diet (decimated 50 -80 % during harvest) and things like the rain forest deforestation and extermination of the Orang Utan for palm oil. So the recommended fat in one of the recommended vegan recipes of the local Animal Sanctuary, required vegan to volunteer, contains palm fruit ...and they get that differently from palm oil? Gimme a break.

So I am slowly coming to: if foods have to be transported many many miles and cross continent and to be raised as mono-cultures so veganism is an option: that is NOT environmentally sane, sustainable or humane for a LOT of the animals.

It appears that in the end, the best way is to grow my own - and get what is locally available. And coconuts just are not around here, and there is no source for palm oil close by. Almonds are, and walnuts - and a few other things. In order to grow locally - animals on the land can be extremely beneficial and may prove to be NECESSARY in the long term for soil fertility and pest control, and that leads to: working with animals - which necessarily, at some point or another, will lead to management  - ie culling, which is the elimination from a flock, usually understood by killing, of an animal, which will then be used for food.

Given the need of human bodies for fats and oils - and the non availability of certain oils (fish and the nut tree oils locally) - this will mean animal fats most likely, either from hunting or from farming.

And so, if there is true and real necessity - I might agree to manage the flock by killing and even consume meat/animal fats.

Until such time, I won't be killing the birds - in fact, my heart hurts each time I have to pick some of the buff catalana cockerels to be culled - too much crowing for the neighbors and no place to go (I think they need to move into a retirement community - not stay in a fully agricultural zoning area). The place of the rooster's death is one of the most peaceful I have sensed, they will be prayed for, and the process is as humane as it can be - and still, it is the taking of a beautiful life - and I cry. They are just starting to trust me.

I will grow things, use some grains, eat the local nuts for oils and for the moment, I already have the hens for some eggs. Maybe it can be done small scale .... but what are those in cities to do? I really think ALL lawns need to be converted. Nut trees ought to be planted in public places and city parks everywhere. Coconuts are to be eaten whole too, where they grow. Killing and eating of animals for showing off or culinary pleasure is something that needs to be left behind in the evolution of humans  towards the next step of compassion and ethical beingness. Killing and eating animals is only ever acceptable if there is true necessity for health of the land and our bodies. (see video at the end - very interesting to say the least) There is pain on this planet - does it have to be so bad for so many? There is suffering, and then there is unnecessary suffering - and its relief for all sentient beings everywhere.

And then there is technology: the making of actual muscle meat produced from stem cells and even meat products from human waste. Given the human the population growth and demand for meat - that may be where we are headed. They are working on it.

"Meat consumption is going to double in the next 40 years or so, so we need to come up with alternatives to solve the land issue," Post said.

"Dutch scientists have used stem cells to create strips of muscle tissue with the aim of producing the first lab-grown hamburger later this year.

The aim of the research is to develop a more efficient way of producing meat than rearing animals.

At a major science meeting in Canada, Prof Mark Post said synthetic meat could reduce the environmental footprint of meat by up to 60%.

"We would gain a tremendous amount in terms of resources," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17104501

And have you heard about the guy who lives on the energy of the sun, harvested thorough the eyes only at a very specific time of day?
That is far out and most people will never get there - it does illustrate however that what we think we need to stay alive need to be up fro rediscovery.

There will need to be a shift in perception of what is truly needed for healthy living.

We'll see how that goes. For me, today - I am not willing to kill innocent animals who want to live and express their beingness, who feel pain and contentment, hunger and pleasure, who can learn and show affection, who have rich social lives. For me to kill them, there needs to be another level of necessity. So I am a bad flock keeper.

This might mean being headed in the vegan direction for now - knowing, that long term, it is not the answer for this planet - just a good direction to go for the next step. Here is a VERY interesting video: How to combat the desertification of the planet - wow

Natural Chicken Keeping and the Rooster dilemma

Random thoughts on "Natural" chicken keeping, rooster dilemma  and the natural health of the flock.

Natural chicken keeping has at it's heart a way of keeping chickens that is as natural to them as possible.

This usually means plenty of space and access to free foraging most of the day, pesticide and GMO free foods, no antibiotics or immunisations. Given good nutrition and being allowed to do what they need to do - chickens tend to be very healthy.

So then I got chickens as a straight run - keeping them all "natural" as per above and they have been VERY healthy so far. However,  out of 53 chickens, 32 were male ....the first run being 17 males and 9 females - that is not 50/50 ....and the person who said they would take my males backed out - and I needed to do some managing of that situation - and learned a lot about roosters.

It certainly is more natural to have roosters in your flock than not. This is simply an observation - about how well they get along in general and they contentment.
I found out when trying to re-home roosters, that there are unwanted roosters everywhere.
I also did some research because I wondered - what the heck to chickens do "in the wild" surely there are as many males as females - and there is no such a thing as 1 rooster for every 8-10 females. And sure enough, they arrange themselves in pairs or small groups, sometimes a few roos stay together, some are solo.

When they all grow up together - given enough space and at least and even number of males and females - you can have as many roosters as you want. Does breed matter - yet it does - but it basically translates into: some need more space than others.

And they all, roosters and hens, are very content together - unless the hens are totally overrun by roos. The guys keep each other in check and off the females - on the other hand, sometimes they stand in line for mating. Again - you need the space.

Natural does not mean: kill 90 % of the males - most suffocating as baby chicks - others eaten for meat. 
Talking about natural chicken keeping after you killed most of the males is - closing your eyes to a part of it....but since this is in part another "rant"  -> it is hypocritical.
Calling yourself a chicken lover after you killed the males for your convenience - is equally hypocritical.
"Oh I love chickens"  (nvn those that got sacrificed so I can have the ones I love.....)

Not saying it is good or bad or that not everyone is doing the best they can - but it IS hypocritical.

So let's face it: it is all relative and you are keeping chickens for your own purposes, be it eggs, meat, business or pleasure. Being a truly "natural" chicken keeper is in a way an oxymoron, because there are no safe coops in the wild, no predator protection. Of course, without those, our chickens would not really make it it many part of the country at all. Natural and Keeping is the oxymoron. The only truly natural way is: in nature - not kept at all.

So, that being out of the way, we can keep chickens as natural as possible. .... except for the roosters part. Who wants to feed them? Who wants to take care of them? Their noise can be a problem even where there is no limit in agricultural areas. They are not economical, they can fight - but that includes fighting predators. They are quite watchful.
Of course because of inbreeding and breeding for fighting, there appears to be a lot of rooster to rooster aggression - and they will fight and will kill each other.....though in my research on the original chickens ...death seemed to hardly ever occur.

Of course, many breeds have had their broodiness bred out of them ...so we can have eggs all year, in fact, how natural is THAT?  And, how natural is it to take away the babies of those birds - so I guess the egg laying backyard flocks are by themselves a step removed from natural.

And what about those pet chickens in your flock? In a healthy natural flock - nature takes care of the small and weak and deformed and those who can't keep up. A lot of the more sentimental chicken keepers tend to those especially. I see it in myself: there is this runt in my second straight run...half the size of anyone else ...bottom of the pecking order and sometimes i think one day they are gonna kill her - and I try to give her the best and most nutritious tit-bits - how healthy and natural is THAT for the flock as a whole? - Pet chicken keeping is not natural chicken keeping.

Culling in nature, whether by predators or from their own kind always leads to the best and healthiest flock as a whole. Culling is a necessity of truly natural chicken keeping.


In conclusion:

The backyard chickens we have are no longer natural.
Natural chicken keeping does NOT require to kill most of the roosters. Monitoring rooster numbers  is only necessary if you keep too many birds for the space you have.
Culling of the weak and sick is part of good natural chicken keeping (unless you have predators doing it for you), given the same healthy living condition for all members of the flock.

No matter how I look at it though -  don't want to do the killing - not for space, sex, meat or to pacify some neighbors - and not because some chick is a runt.

So I am unfit to be a chicken keeper - natural or otherwise. I might be able to grow into  a chicken rescuer - but the vet requirements will probably prohibit that.

In "natural chicken keeping", and in  contrast to the abominations happening in the commercial  poultry industry, we strive to be as close as possible to allow the chickens we DO in fact keep around our house and yard their natural expressions and foods, ....but as a whole, natural - is is not.

Quan Yin Gardens - and Chicks and Weeds

Why did I start this blog? Because today I discovered something that I really did not like - I was naive or possibly downright stupid when choosing the name chicksandweeds for sharing my chicken-gardening adventure on blogspot, facebook and chicksandweeds website. There were so many weeds and grasses here in the garden and I decided to make it a vegetable garden with the help of chickens ...hence chicks and weeds. But it seems to mean something very different for many people you'd not necessarily want to be linked to. This is too bad. I'll - I'll stick with it but decided to also start this blog because there is an aspect of the chicken gardening that is not only beyond organic, it goes far deeper and broader than that.

And maybe that does deserve a new blog - It is related to deeper realizing the immense suffering of sentient beings on this planet - as well as the unspeakable beauty, serenity and divinity of it. Quan Yin is a goddess of compassion who will also kick butt if needed.

So this is not meant to be a blog about aniaml activism or beautiful godesses and spa like gardens - but something for those who dare to open wide. It might at times show the suffering in images not for the faint of heart, it will show beauty and it is thought provoking. Some of the posts however are about HOW is this manifesting is this here tiny corner of the Univers in this here life with who I am.

Yes, I would like this garden to be so beautiful you would not want to leave - and this here is what I am struggling with:

Learning to carry the universe or be crushed by it. This phrase is from a longer paragraph quote I read somewhere ...and it jumped out because that is how I have been feeling for many months now.

So why did I start this blog - because - ... on some level I have been wanting to write about this all long - and it does not really fit onto the chicksandweeds facebook page or website, the how to pages. Those really are about chicken keeping, gardening, farmsteading, sustainable living and such. Here is where I can just talk about how chickens have changed my life - are changing my life.