[Sca-cooks] a Lenten question-

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> >I've always thought the prohibition on diary was, knowlingly or not,
> >because young cows are born in the spring (unless man interferes) and the
> >milk is needed for the young.
>
> Funny how that works, eh? Same with sheep and goats. IIRC, March is
lambing
> season, and you have hugely gravid mothers or mothers with newborns,
> neither of which should be milked.
>
> Johann, what about chickens? When I was a girl our neighbors usually let
> the hens set in the spring, but I don't have any idea if that was a period
> practice.
>
> I'm not sure that a 'virtue of necessity' is necessarily what Lent is
> about, but if it happens out that way...
>
> 'Lainie

Actually, a good part of the reason for having young of any species born in
the spring is to give them as big as possible a leg up on dealing with
winter- the older they are, the more likely they are to survive.

Allowing hens to set in the spring means that you have a chance of some of
the chicks producing eggs by fall, and your young cockerels will be of a
size to be eaten as well.

Also, most chickens cease laying entirely in the winter- it's too much extra
energy outlay during a difficult time of year. There are now modern breeds
that will lay in the winter, but even they cut back, unless they're in a
strictly regulated environment, where they aren't exposed to natural light-
think the laying batteries- there's a reason for them, aside from
covenience. For one thing, temperatures and light exposure can be strictly
controlled to an ideal for laying.

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....



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