New Research about Free-range Chickens--and Poultry Insights about Backyards and Sexing

CAST Research Paper Rollout 

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology is hosting three presentations regarding the new research paper Impact of Free-range Poultry Production Systems on Animal Health, Human Health, Productivity, Environment, Food Safety, and Animal Welfare Issues. 

The rollout will occur at three venues in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 18. 

8:30 - 10:30 AM EDT

Breakfast Presentation and Panel Discussion

FMI, 2345 Crystal Drive, Suite 800, Arlington, VA

~ cohosted by Food Marketing Institute (FMI)

12:15 to 1:15 PM Lunch Presentation

1302 Longworth House Office Building

2:30 to 3:30 PM Presentation

Capitol Visitor Center, Room 202 (Senate side)

CAST will post a video on its website and provide a free download of the issue paper. 

Raising Backyard Chickens--Better than Television 

With the boom in backyard chicken entities, observers note plenty of benefits along with some specific concerns. This blog entry is about a farm couple who took on chicken raising with the right attitude and for the right reasons.

The Problem with Sexing--and Science to the Rescue

When prospective chicken farmers order their birds, they sometimes receive a certain amount of roosters with the shipment. As you might expect, the males generally make a lot of noise and bother the productive females. They don’t even taste very good. Apparently, sexual misidentification is hurting this backyard chicken movement. 

Two breakthroughs might help with this problem:  (1) A new gene technology to differentiate between male and female chicks pre-hatch could improve animal production, reduce costs, and eliminate ethical dilemmas for the egg and poultry industries. (2) The race to bring egg sexing tech to market is extremely close, and different technologies are being developed in Germany, Israel, Canada, and the Netherlands.

by dan gogerty (bottom pic from dailygreen.jpg)