About chickens who float on balloons, others who are pets

Is that the one with the Canada Goose where they build an ulta-light aircraft and the kid flies down the west coast in the fall to teach the bird how to migrate? If so, I have seen it but it's been many a year since I watched it last.

That's the one! Nice film. Actually it was many geese, a whole flock, flying from Canada to (ersatz, also filmed in Canada) North Carolina. Ultra-lights are so appealing and so treacherous, AND I WANT ONE!!

The movie Fly Away Home is fiction.
http://www.epinions.com/content_30385213060

But the idea of Canadian Geese following an ultralight is done for real,
to teach them new migration patterns.
www.operationmigration.org
(also search the web for many interviews with "Bill Lishman")

"Most waterfowl learn the migration route and its destination wintering area from their parents. If birds are orphaned or raised in captivity and then released, they will not migrate. They join the resident population and fight for survival in the harsh northerly winters.

All of this is a particular concern for endangered species. To ensure their survival, birds are often raised in captivity. Once mature, the healthy birds can be released into the wild; however, they need to be taught a safe migratory route."

Many excellent photos at:
http://www.operationmigration.org/photo%20journal%20mig-02.html



Many species are now involved, including whooping cranes:
http://www.operationmigration.org/work_wcranes.html

"It is believed that approximately 1,400 whooping cranes existed in 1860. Their population declined because of hunting and habitat loss until 1941 when the last migrating flock dwindled to an all-time low of 15 birds. The wild flock has slowly increased to over 180 in late 1999. "


Since then, others have started the Trumpeter Swan Migration Project
http://www.trumpeterswans.org/TSMP.html
Interview at: http://www.earthsky.com/2002/esmi020126.html

Wow! What great stories. I really enjoyed reading them all and now I really want some chickens. What do you feed them in the winter?

Good thread.

You buy chicken feed of course! For the most part commercial feed is a bunch of different grains/seed thrown together. Any livestock suppllies store should either have it in stock or be able to get it for you.

It's pretty cheap. I think I paid about $4 per 40lb bag for feed and a 40lb bag would last me a full month. They eat more feed in the winter and less during the summer but it averages out.

didya ever read whats in the feed? its a mix of grains and animal meal with feathers. yummy. I feed my checkens Omalene, its just grain and tiny crushed alfalfa cubes its got all the minerals and I add a Calcium supplement made of, get this, crushed oyster shell and marigold petals.
Their eggs are the most golden flavorful huge cacklefruit around. .

What kind of chickens were Henrietta and Lulu? Were they hatched from brown eggs or white? Can you describe any genetic markers that would distiguish Henrietta and Lulu from "ordinary" chickens? I don't want to accidentally eat one of their direct relatives!

They were smaller than what we think of as 'fryers.' Bigger than banties, but much smaller than your average hen. One was from a white egg, the other from brown. Maybe I can figure how to put their pic on here this evening.

Thanks Fishin. You'd think I'd know that since my uncle use to have 10,000 chickens. Now that I think about it, it really was a stupid question, lol. I was curious since I didn't even know they ate bugs.

I think this gal spent far too many years in the city ;-)

Haven't seen Flyaway Home, meant to, thanks for the reminder and those great training photos. Recently saw Winged Migration which is an amazing film. I sky-highly recommend it. Another movie I loved was the animated Chicken Run where the chickens were plucky not plucked.

Hmm.. I get a red "X" for the pic there edgarblythe.

fishin-what animal are dispatching there with the .45?

No no.. Not dispatching.. Just learnin' a kitten about the importance of using a litter box!

Last month, "bird plague" (dunno what that is in english) spread here in holland. They had to do what they call here a "preventive clearing out" - which equates to the full extermination of the chickens on all the farms in the regions where a sick bird had been found.

A new word/term again cropped up in the process: "hobbychickens". This because people who owned a chicken or two as pets - "hobbychickens" - also had to surrender their animals to the "clearers". A lot of them refused, and on the advise of a.o. the Dutch Association of Hobbyanimal-keepers hid their chickens, or smuggled them out of the regions in question. Very quickly, the papers started using the word "onderduiken" for this, which means hiding, but is normally only used to refer to Anne Frank and her peers - those who hid from Nazi persecution. Publicity item of the month was the arrest of a nun who was suspected of smuggling out chickens that way, and the questioning of the other sisters in her convent.

Now, the spread of the illness has been contained, and the government has proclaimed an amnesty for the hobbychicken-owners who still have their chickens in hiding. This got the ministry of agriculture a lot of flak, since it comes down to rewarding the law-breakers. Critics say that now we know for sure that next time, no-one will surrender their hobby-animals. But then again, what alternative to the amnesty? Kill all the "onderduikers" after all, though there is no more danger, just to make sure the law is kept?

The dilemmas of a small country ...

I'm aware that the pic didn't load right. Am busy looking for a way to fix it.

Running afoul of the law is no way to save their peckers.
Next time, they'll have to hatch a new plan before flying the coop.

Buying the chickens a fur coat might help. If the cops thought the chickens were weasels they would not take them.