A team of researchers from the Dresden University of Technology and the University of Leipzig has developed an innovative new way to sex chicks before they hatch. The technique is 95 percent effective, and could potentially eliminate the need for commercial poultry operations to cull millions of day-old male chicks each year. So how […]
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Like the Roomba robot eternally vacuuming a living room floor, the egg collecting Poultrybot searches for and gathers eggs laid by hens on the chicken coop floor. So-called floor eggs are the bane of every chicken keeper. When Europe banned caged layers, egg producers who turned their hens loose in the coop found that some […]
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Two of the latest strains of the avian flu (H5N1 and H7N9) can be contracted by birds and humans, but researchers have recently developed vaccines to protect both from the virus. The Journal of Virology recently described the development of the vaccines, and the scientists behind them are optimistic that they can significantly mitigate the […]
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Well, just when we thought we’ve heard it all: researchers have claimed that science is getting close to being able to adjust the DNA in a chicken to create a “chickenosaurus” or a chicken-dinosaur. Researchers have announced that they’ve successfully modified the beak area of a chicken embryo so that it looks like a dinosaur’s […]
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Back in the 1950’s, broiler chickens were, on average, about one fourth the weight of today’s broiler chickens. They’ve gotten bigger, bulkier and meatier. A recent article in the Huffington Post illustrates this point with photographs comparing broiler chickens in 1957, 1978 and 2005. The difference is striking; the broiler chicken from 1957 looks like […]
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Animal rights activists aren’t the only ones concerned about factory farming; now nutritionists are shedding light on the detrimental effects the practice can have on our food as well. Research has shown that the restricted grain diets of factory-raised chickens are making their eggs less nutritious than those of their free-range counterparts. Even the USDA […]
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