14 Jan 2009
Free-range chickens are more prone to disease

Read the fine print - even the authors admit this is horseshit.

The authors emphasize that, because of the change in housing systems that occurred between 2001 and 2004, many of the farmers caring for these flocks lacked the experience and knowledge that would have prevented the higher mortality and disease rates.

Apparently they just took battery caged chickens, from breeds that have characteristics to live well in cages (larger, less mobile), and dropped them on the floor - calling them free range! I've never had a disease problem in my laying flocks. In fact, outside of one plague that came in from the outside and decimated a meat flock of mine several years ago, I have lost exactly twelve chickens to disease, out of the thousands that I've raised. I've lost more chickens to old age and predators than I have to disease.

As for the claim that free range birds peck each other - well, duh! They can't peck each other in battery cages - there's not enough room! And a simple beak trim while chicks prevents all henpecking. Maybe that's the "expertise" the farmers lacked, although I find that very hard to believe.

I wonder what agribusiness paid for this study?

Chickens kept in litter-based housing systems, including free-range chickens, are more prone to disease than chickens kept in cages, according to a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

20:26 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Hallucinations more common in people who drink lots of coffee

This goes a long way in explaining what's wrong with IT departments worldwide!

People with a high caffeine intake are more likely to hallucinate than those who drink little coffee, research suggests.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

07:40 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

Not Quite So Brrrrr!

We got a good bit of snow cover overnight - don't know how much as I'm just now getting ready to do chores, but it looks like at least 3 or 4 inches. But the temperature has actually climbed - it's 12°F right now, and it was supposed to be negative. That's a hopeful sign.

07:38 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Parachuting investor fled divorce, investigations

Well, I can't really put this one in 'Hunor', even though in some sense it belongs there - but it's just too damn strange not to blog....

He may be a "daredevil", but he's a pretty stupid one. He got caught this morning in Florida, not all that far from the crash site. Why did he radio in a trouble report? Why not just set the autopilot to carry the aircraft out over the Gulf? Why email his buddy with a fake suicide note - that's a dead giveaway you're not serious! Leave one secreted somewhere before taking off, and then make sure it's found days later. And stashing your own motorcycle in the woods? Gimme a break: if I'd been plotting this I would've made sure I had enough cash to buy a new motorcycle - with my fake driver's license! Good grief!

It's kinda funny - I used to deliver eggs in his old Geist neighborhood, and would wonder to myself what sort of criminal activity could land some of the folks up there so much money at such a young age. Now I know.

AP - With his personal and financial worlds crumbling around him, investment adviser Marcus Schrenker opted for a bailout. In a feat reminiscent of a James Bond movie, the 38-year-old businessman and amateur daredevil pilot apparently tried to fake his death in a plane crash, secretly parachuting to the ground and speeding away on a motorcycle he had stashed away in the pine barrens of central Alabama.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

07:32 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link