...and into the new year!

So, it's long overdue for a blog post, but unfortunately I ended the last year cramming experiments into every last minute, and began the new year with a visit from le chien noir (correct French? Probably not…). It's something that comes and sits on me from time to time, regardless of my state of mind, and I generally have to sit it out with a duvet, some boxsets and some creative kit. Anything stress-inducing (i.e. everything important) has to go on a list. During my new year's spell I finished mending my cardigan (new elbow patches and sleeves that are now the correct length), polished my DM's, made lots of different breads and several kinds of kimchi.

When I'm low I don't sleep very well, and can often find myself awake, my mind STILL racing at 3 am. In the past I beat myself up about being defective (I still feel that way sometimes when I'm low), but in recent years I've realised that these are undoubtedly my most creative times. The ideas for projects I come up with are incredible, the sorts of things that I never come up with normally, and I'm beginning to get the hang of capturing them so I can actually act on them when I'm 'up' again.

The really horrid thing is that I still don't feel very comfortable saying this. Depression is such a taboo! People assume THINGS. It's only recently I'm beginning to feel comfortable saying 'I have depression', as I feel I can 'fight my corner'. Yeah, I have low spots when I stay in my cave, but they're my most creative times, and when I'm up up I will get a week's work done in a day. The rest of the time I'm normal. So what?

A lot of people are fairly incredulous when I say I have depression as I'm normally so happy – but that's clinical depression for you. Stephen Fry only does QI when he's 'up', ditto any number of celebrities - just look at this list of famous names with major depressive disorders. The link between creativity and depressive disorders is HUGE.

SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL, EH?!

On with the new year!

Bee x

Getting in the Christmas spirit

With Christmas just around the corner, competition has been hotting up on the Cuddesdon Christmas Jumper Contest.

Today, said contest was conducted, together with mulled wine, mince pies, and a great game that involved attempting to peg Christmas angels to people without them noticing.

I will grant you my jumper did not employ tinsel, fairylights or baubles, but apparently colourful pom-poms are a winner.

That's right - I WON.

Just look at that trophy.

I can see why Kyrsten didn't want it in her house any more ;-)

Sustainable Dietary Protein

The following is a short briefing paper I created in (successful) application for an internship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). This office produces (amongst other things) POST notes which provide parliamentarians with concise, timely information on various topics. Sustainable production of necessary dietary components is something I find fascinating and I chose to explore protein a bit further. I hope you enjoy it!

On 13 May 2013 the FAO released a new book: "Edible Insects: future prospects for feed and food security". There is growing concern regarding sustainable protein production for a growing population. This document addresses the role of protein in our diet, and the UK’s ability to produce it in the future.

Background

Protein is required in the human diet for growth and replacement of all cells in the body. Proteins are made from amino acids, which are present in all living things. There are 24 amino acids in the human body, 16 of which can be synthesised by healthy adult cells. The remaining 8 must be supplied from the diet, and are termed 'indispensable'.

Red and white meats, eggs, cheese, fish, nuts and beans are considered to be the 'high quality' proteins as they contain all 8 indispensable amino acids. 'Poor quality' proteins are those lacking at least 1 amino acid including wheat, rice, and maize. Their incomplete protein profile can be overcome by eating complementary proteins e.g. a meal of beans (pulse) on toast (cereal) gives protein of equal quality to meat, meaning a vegetarian diet can supply an adequate profile of indispensable amino acids (1).

Recommended Protein Consumption

The recommended daily allowance of protein is 55 g for an average adult (2). The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) (3) found that the average adult consumption of protein was actually above this, with men consuming an average of 85.1 g day^-1 and women 64.4 g day^-1 (Table 1).

Table 1. Dietary protein intake for UK population

	Boys (4-18)	Men (19-64)	Men (65+)	Girls (4-18)	Women (19-64)	Women (65+)
Median daily protein intake (g) (3)	63.0	85.1	77.0	55.9	64.4	63.3

Consumption of up to 2-3 times the recommended guideline of protein is considered harmless; however once the body's protein needs are met excess protein is simply used for its calorific value, and surplus to requirements will be stored as fat. 

UK Protein Requirement and Production

Based on results from the NDNS and population estimates (4) it can be estimated that each year the UK requires almost 1.5 million tonnes of red meat, 700,000 tonnes of white meat, 500,000 tonnes of fish, and 300,000 tonnes of pulses. Currently the UK imports around 90% of meat consumed, but its self-sufficiency in producing beef stands at 80%, sheep at 65%, pork at 60-70% and poultry 88% (5). These figures are however in steady decline.

A food security analysis found that the UK is able to produce sufficient calories from arable, horticulture and livestock farming to provide the population with a healthy (if restricted) diet in a crisis situation (6). In reality it is unlikely the UK would act in isolation from the global market, and consumers are likely to demand a greater supply of high quality products over time, so the demand for meat is unlikely to fall.

Sustainability of meat production

The concerns surrounding future meat production include: production of cereals for animals that could instead be used for human consumption, environmental degradation from agricultural practices (POSTnote 418) greenhouse gas emissions, and concerns for animal welfare in more efficient 'intensive' systems (POSTnote 404). There are also serious concerns regarding the sustainability of fish stocks (6).

Table 2. Efficiency of animal-sourced protein production (7)

	Cricket	Poultry	Pork	Beef
Feed conversion ratio (kg feed: kg live weight)	1.7	2.5	5	10
% edible weight	80-100	55	55	40
g protein per kg edible weight	154-205	200	150	190

Production of meat is very inefficient in energy terms. The argument for the incorporation of insects into our diets centres on this inefficiency. For example, 5 kg feed is required to produce 1 kg pork (see Table 2), whereas crickets require only 1.7 kg feed per kg live weight. In addition more of the organism is edible (having no bones) and they provide protein equal to red or white meat. In all they are a much more efficient source of protein. While pulses are an even more efficient and lower-cost form of protein production, in the UK their consumption is 5 times lower than that of red meat. Considering this preference for red meat as a protein source it seems unlikely insects would be accepted as a protein alternative. 

Between January 2007 and December 2008 the cost of beef rose 21 %, lamb 16 %, poultry 23 % and fish 15% (6). As the cost of animal feed is linked to the price of nitrogen fertiliser – which is in turn linked to oil prices – it is likely that the price of meat to the consumer will continue to rise in coming years.

Conclusions

Owing to consumer preference it is unlikely that insects will form part of our diets in the near future. Sustainable production of protein is still a concern, and it is likely that pressure from rising food costs may yet force a reduction in the consumption of meat. Farming of insects for the global market may however provide another source of income for UK farmers.

---

References

1. G. Wiseman, Nutrition and Health (Taylor and Francis, 2002).
2. FSA, Manual of Nutrition (The Stationery Office, ed. 11, 2008).
3. Department of Health, National Diet and Nutrition Survey: Headline Results from Years 1, 2 and 3 (combined) of the Rolling Programme 2008/09 – 2010/11 (2012) (available at http://transparency.dh.gov.uk/2012/07/25/ndns-3-years-report/).
4. Dataset: Estimates of resident population: number, by age group, annual 2011, MFPHealth and Social Care Information Centre (2012) (available at https://indicators.ic.nhs.uk/webview/).
5. T. Garnett, Meat and Dairy Production & Consumption (2007; http://www.fcrn.org.uk/sites/default/files/TGlivestock_env_sci_pol_paper.pdf).
6. Defra, UK Food Security Assessment: Detailed Analysis (2010; http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/pdf/food-assess100105.pdf).
7. A. van Huis, Potential of insects as food and feed in assuring food security, Annual review of entomology 58, 563–83 (2013).

Understanding ex-battery hens

Last weekend we happily re-homed four hens via the BHWT. On first sight they have clearly come from an intensive unit - they're missing a noticeable amount of feathers from their posteriors (ahem), have been de-beaked and are extremely pale. They also spent a lot of time on Sunday looking up at the sky in a wtf?-type fashion, jumped every time anyone coughed, and have thusfar not really grasped the concept of 'up'.

At the end of a hen's most productive laying period (12-18 months) it is time to move on. The BHWT do a fantastic job of rehoming thousands of hens due for a less dignified end to their lives. But it's a big, stressful day for them, and they need some understanding. If you're thinking of getting ex-battery hens, here are a few pointers for understanding where your hens are at when they arrive home. It's been a big day for them.

Thankfully barren cages have now been outlawed in the EU (and thus the UK) as of January 2012 under EU directive 1999/74/EC. They have been replaced with "enriched cages", which are larger, and allow birds to exhibit more of their natural behaviours, such as roosting and dust-bathing. But when hens are rehomed they go from an intensive poultry unit to a small hen house in a garden in the space of 12 hours. What must that be like?

I put on my Investigative Scientist hat and found out.

Under the EU directive, enriched cages must be at least 45 cm high and provide each hen with at least 750 cm² of space; 600 cm² of this must be “usable area”, 150 cm² for a nest-box. The cage must also contain litter, perches and “claw-shortening devices”. What does it look like? It looks a bit like this...

Commercial poultry unit. Image from "EUROVENT EU - The enriched colony system for layers" document (c) BigDutchman

The majority of information I found on commercial laying units was from animal welfare sites, as a lot of people are not content with the extent of the new changes. I can see their point, but I didn't think I was getting an unbiased picture, and I wanted facts. So off to the farming world I went to balance it out. A name that kept cropping up was BigDutchman, a major supplier of mechinised poultry and pork rearing equipment throughout the world. On their website you can find a spec document for the Eurovent EU (a commercial laying cage unit adhering to the new regulations) which gave me a much better idea of what their living conditions were like. There are obviously others, but their online material is pretty good.

Dimensions for an 'enriched colony unit'. Image from "EUROVENT EU - The enriched colony system for layers" document (c) BigDutchman

There are a number of things I took from this. Firstly - the floor isn't solid, it's a wire mesh so droppings and waste feed can drop though onto a conveyor belt that removes it to keep things clean. Chickens produce a lot of poop, and trample it everywhere so I can how this would be good - if uncomfortable on the feet. Secondly, the floor slopes so eggs will roll out of the cage to the collection point. Personally I'd find this disorientating but I'm not a chicken, so who knows. There are areas that provide for basic chickeny needs - food and water, the ability to forage, roost and lay. Whether this is completely sufficient for their innate needs is another matter for another time.

Chickens scratching for feed in plastic matting. Feed is automatically dispensed at intervals. Image from "EUROVENT EU - The enriched colony system for layers" document (c) BigDutchman

The main thing that struck me was that this enclosure is much, much larger than what they're now living in: 27m² versus our 9 m² (though they'll discover another 5.4 m² when they learn how to get back up the ramp into the roost box). We definitely give them more personal space, but they don't have the same overall roaming range. On the girl's first day out in the run a couple of them kept trying to get beyond the chicken wire: this is probably why. 

They're also used to hanging out with a lot more chickens. The smallest enriched cage is for 20 hens (max 72) and the girls are now just a gang of four (I keep hoping they weren't separated from their best buddies, *sniff*). Further perusal of the document made me aware that these cages can be stacked 12 tiers high. In a fully stocked unit that is a LOT of hens! And a lot of hens means a LOT of noise. I wouldn't be surprised if the girls wondered if they'd suddenly gone deaf. It must have been a sensory nightmare.

I was also aware that day and night are completely artificial in commercial units. Lighting mimics spring daylight (18:6 hours light:dark) when their laying is at its peak - so our chooks went from spring to deep autumn in one day! I was also aware that their combs are so big and floppy because they'd previoiusly been pretty toasty. I've worried a lot in the past few days about the effect the sudden drop in temperature would have on a bunch of semi-feathered hens previously unaware of the outside world.

So is this life better for them? My gut says yes, as their life now is much closer to their natural habitat. In time they'll be allowed to free range during the day, and as our front garden is something of a jungle it will be even closer to their natural habitat! But it is definitely a shock for them. They've gone from a warm, populous, noisy environment to a cold, sparse, quiet one. Long light days were swapped for gloomy short ones. They may be nearer to the life nature intended, but I do wonder if they're thanking me for it right now!

It's for all these reasons that the BHWT recommend that you keep the hens calm and quiet in their coop for their first few days, and have an excellent "Care of ex-bats" page.

I hope this gives you some insight into the living conditions of battery hens. If you are thinking of getting some ex-bats or already have some, I'd love to hear your questions and stories. Please comment below!

Bee x

Life sans cash

Well, there it is, I'm officially skint.

I got my last grant installment at the beginning of July, to last me until the end of September. Now my monthly bills have come out I can see where I am.

It could be better.

I've just transferred enough money from my savings to bring my big-expenses-account up to zero, and am now a kept woman. With what the hubbie can give me, I have £6.34 a week spending money. Humph.

I've often prided myself on being frugal, but in this consumerist culture I really do find it truly difficult to keep my card in my wallet sometimes. The whole retail experience is geared towards BUY IT NOW, OR YOU'LL MISS OUT!! And I'm just not very good at missing out. For this reason both my cards are now in my desk drawer to dissuade me from using them.

So, I'm about to embark on a journey whereby I cannot spend any money unless I have directly earned it. Never in my life have I been in this situation, having always been very careful with my money. But for the first time ever, I have no money, and none to come until I've finished my thesis.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very lucky that this is my first time sans everything, but I am interested to see how I will cope...

Bees! Bees, bees, bees!

Yes, there it is, we've had the call! The fulfilment of a lifelong obsession! A little late in the year, but there was a swarm to collect and we went. Jon swaddled up from head to toe, climbed a ladder to try and get the swarm from 15 foot up a large tree. Then he remembered there was a hole in the crotch of his trousers. Poor Jon. He'll get better.

We only got half the swarm, because apparently bees are a bit stupid. We left the box all night in the hope of some early risers realising their error, but to no avail. If we left them too long they'd swarm someplace else, so we had to make do. The following morning Jon sealed the cardboard box and drove home while I cleared the area, set up the hive and carried 8 rather weighty brieze blocks down the hill to the hive site. I feel I had the raw end of the deal!

However, it meant that all was ready to go when Jon got back, and the bees could be "firmly tapped" onto the awaiting blanket leading up to the hive...

...where hopefully they smell the beeswax and see the darkness and say "I want to go to there"

I try to take videos while Jon keeps repeating "please let there be a queen here". I then get photobombed by a bee (0:39 on the video).

 

We are beekeepers! Also, bee suits are for wimps ;-)

Passive housing

Whilst driving to a conference a few weeks back, I caught the beginning of an episode of Costing the Earth on Radio 4. The subject: self-heating homes.

It was definitely worth the wait in inspiration terms - and I recommend a listen here. I have long dreamed of building my own house, and with rising heating bills, the prospect of a house that requires minimal energy input is very tempting.

For me, the most shocking statistic in the programme was that 27% of our carbon emissions in the UK come from heating our homes. This is the result of poorly insulated housing - and you only have to look at 1960s prefab homes to understand why. Much of UK housing is cheap and cheerful - we tend to see our homes more as investments, as a step on the property ladder, so we tend to settle for the housing that is made for us, rather than investing the effort and hours to really make them our own.

The problem here is that building developers have absolutely no long-term interest in the houses they produce; as long as they look nice and sell well it's a job well done. Never mind the long-term heating costs (or future flood risk for that matter). When you design and build a house yourself you are more likely to invest in its insulation as it is you that will reap the rewards in the long run.

The dream is 'passive housing': the house that heats itself, requiring no (or minimal) input. Surprise, surprise, it's the Germans who are developing it. Some stereotypes exist for a reason (sometimes I seriously wonder if I should emigrate). The question remains: how to incorporate these ideas into existing UK housing. I for one will be keeping an ear to the ground.