Written by: Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky| Small and backyard poultry
There has been a lot of research looking at how HPAI has been able to get around biosecurity measures and continues to spread in the USA. Fomites are being looked at. A fomite or fomes is any inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents can transfer disease to a new host. Research has … Continue reading "Transmission of HPAI virus?"| Small and backyard poultry
It is almost Turkey Day. As you are planning your Thanksgiving dinner it is interesting to look where the food comes from and how the prices are influenced by weather patterns and global politics. Expana just came out with their Thanksgiving Dinner Index. It is down 3.3%. The index tracts price fluctuates across the key … Continue reading "The Price of Thanksgiving Dinner"| Small and backyard poultry
There is a new term I’m sure we are going to be hearing a lot about sooner rather than later. That word is “Panzootic’ (pronounced pan-zoh-ot-ik). For those that have not heard of it, it refers to a disease affecting animals of many species, especially over a wide area. H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) … Continue reading "A new term you’ll be hearing about"| Small and backyard poultry
We have a new course available for practicing veterinarians to try and help them start seeing small and backyard poultry flocks. Please tell your local veterinarian about the course so they will be able to help you with any disease issues you may have with your flocks. UK leads program to train veterinarians in backyard … Continue reading "New poultry medicine course for veterinarians – tell your local veterinarian about it"| Small and backyard poultry
Colorado has an interest ballot issue for the next election. It is supposedly designed to “Protect animals for unnecessary suffering and exploitation”. Specifically, it involves revisions to statutes 18-9-201 (amending sections (2), (2.9), and (5), and adds section (3.5)) and revisions to 18-2-202 (adding section 1.9). 16OriginalFinal.pdf (state.co.us) Statute 18-9-201: Definitions Section 2 revisions include … Continue reading "Colorado Ballot issue: Slaughter age for poultry and other...| Small and backyard poultry
A paper was included in the latest issue of Poultry Science (December 2020) that I thought might be of interest to our readers. It looked that the quality and cost of commercially available specialty eggs and compared them with conventionally-produced eggs, that is, produced with hens in cages. They compared brand name eggs labeled as … Continue reading "Comparing egg quality across production systems"| Small and backyard poultry
Every year we have outbreaks of human salmonellosis related to backyard poultry. According to the latest numbers from the CDC (November 18, 2020), there have been 16 multi-state outbreaks of Salmonella illness this year linked with poultry in backyard flocks. This year we have had the highest number of cases ever! As of November 18, … Continue reading "Human salmonellosis cases related to backyard poultry"| Small and backyard poultry
With the current COVID-19 situation the US Department of Homeland Security has confirmed food and agriculture as a critical infrastructure. With people becoming more and more distant from food production, it is important to remember that we are dependent on farmers for our food. I saw one post on Facebook that said there was no … Continue reading "Agriculture declared a critical industry by Homeland Security"| Small and backyard poultry
People are justifiably concerned about the recent outbreaks of human COVID-19, but there is a lot of misinformation circulating on the internet. One is with regards to chickens. Despite what some news outlets have reported, COVID-19 did NOT originate in chickens and you CANNOT get COVID-19 from chickens. There is some speculation that it originated … Continue reading "Chickens and COVID-19"| Small and backyard poultry
KFC Canada tested a plant-based ‘chicken’. They sold the product at a single KFC and an A&W restaurant in Canada. They sold out in that one day. They offered a ‘chicken’ sandwich alone or along with a plant-based Fried Popcorn Chicken Bucket. Both were developed under Greenleaf’s Lightlife brand.| Small and backyard poultry
Written by: Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky| Small and backyard poultry