Poultry News, Dec23/Jan24
Reading Time: 5 minutes
This time in Poultry News: Worlds’ Oldest Chicken, Soundwaves for Hatching, Battery Cages in Africa, Avian Flu Update, and Turkey Hunting Canceled
December23/January24
By Kenny Coogan and Carla Tilghman
World’s Oldest Chicken is 21
It’s official — it’s Guinness Record official! Peanut the chicken is now the oldest (living) chicken at age 21 years.
Peanut’s caregiver, Marsi Parker Darwin, remembers the day when she was about to throw an egg out but heard peeping from inside. She assisted Peanut’s hatch because she believed that Peanut didn’t have an egg tooth and needed help.
Peanut’s mother didn’t accept her as a chick, so Darwin moved her inside and provided supplemental heat. Today, two decades later, Peanut can still be seen in Darwin’s living room.
Darwin told Backyard Poultry, “One of the best parts of this experience has been meeting and being contacted by so many like-minded people. It gives me hope that so many care about birds and animals as I do.”
Darwin even self-published a book about Peanut’s life: My Girl Peanut and Me. The description reads, “Sometimes you feel like an outsider from the moment you’re hatched. Or peeled out of the egg, in Peanut’s case. Against all odds, Peanut overcame identity issues, bullying, anxiety, illness, and loss to earn the Guinness record of World’s Oldest Living Chicken. As one misfit to another, her tale is lovingly told by her caregiver of over two decades.”
Proceeds of the book will undoubtedly go to Peanut’s treat list which includes yogurt, bananas, and blueberries.
To beat the all-time Guinness world record title as the oldest chicken ever, Peanut will need to live for another two years. Muffy, an American chicken, was 23 years and 152 days old when she died in 2011. Good luck Peanut!
Poultry News: Researchers Explore How Sound Waves Can Address an Ethical Dilemma in Poultry Farming
One ethical dilemma from backyard poultry nurseries and the egg-laying industry is the hatching of male chicks. Many municipalities ban roosters and egg-laying facilities don’t need males. Therefore, most of the male chicks that are hatched are culled, which amounts to 7.5 billion a year. In addition to an ethical problem, this is also a costly problem for many hatcheries.
An Israel-based company called Soos Technology has partnered with Syracuse University and are investigating how sound wave energy can increase the number of female hatchlings.
According to Dan Bernardi, Senior Communications Specialist of the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, “Their proposed technology equips incubators with devices that introduce sound waves to fertilized eggs to alter gene expression. The result is genetically male chicks that express female physical traits, which means that these chicks will lay eggs.”
Soos Technology claims the treatment is safe for the embryos, non-intrusive to the eggs, and doesn’t involve any form of genetic modification or hormonal intervention. They add that it can increase the odds of hatching a female chick from 50% to near 80%.
Poultry News: Uganda Vegan Society Calls to Ban Cage System Poultry Farming in East Africa
According to the ASPCA, 15 states in the U.S. have banned small confinement practices, including gestation crates for pigs, veal crates for cows, and battery cages for chickens. Unfortunately, some used cages have been shipped and sold to East African countries and used for confinement of poultry.
“Due to increased poultry products consumption and the fact that the West is now dumping the battery cages in Africa, the hen’s welfare has been compromised,” Innocent Nabaasa, the executive director of the Uganda Vegan Society said at a recent workshop held in the capital of Uganda.
The meeting’s objective, which included stakeholders from poultry farmers, traders, and hotel managers, was to avoid mistakes of Europe and the West.
“I have grown up in a typical farming community (over 75% of Ugandans are farmers), and as a girl in a family of six, I was always tasked with slaughtering chickens,” Nabassa tells Backyard Poultry. “This was a traumatizing childhood experience. As a child under my parent’s custody, I couldn’t do anything to stop the cruelty. When I grew up and I was independent, I decided to join animal advocacy. I am passionate about ending cages because they deny hens an opportunity to live naturally: Nesting, flapping wings, dust bathing, and taking care of their young. I desire to see more hens live free, but importantly off our plates.”
Poultry News: Avian Flu Update
Avian flu continues to be a world-wide issue that affects multiple animal populations. Nations struggle with varying problems and solutions.
Finland is experiencing an uptick of avian flu appearing in fur farms, particularly mink. The Finnish Food Authority is requiring that all mink be euthanized because their upper respiratory tracts contain receptors that allow binding to human and avian influenza viruses.
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reports an outbreak of avian flu affecting wild birds and seals near Fort Flagler State Park. They urge caution and increased biosecurity for nearby poultry producers and backyard poultry keepers.
Wild bird populations, crucial for multiple ecosystems, are seeing their numbers drastically thinned. Flocks of great skuas in Scotland have shrunk by 90%. Dead pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and terns are turning up along the west coast of Africa, while Peru reports the loss of tens of thousands of pelicans. Dr. Anne Parkinson, Serologist in the Ohio Department of Agriculture Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, notes that vaccination efforts are crucial for poultry populations vulnerable to contact with wild birds.
In 2023, 81 countries reported outbreaks of H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza. Over 131 million domestic poultry have died or been culled. Dr. David Swayne, avian pathologist, states: “Vaccinating isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning. Vaccination application needs to be managed along the supply chain, including a surveillance program able to detect active infection in vaccinated animals.”
Dr. Monique Eloit, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), points out that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but that international collaboration is crucial to controlling disease spread and developing accessible vaccines and treatments.
Turkey Hunting Season Canceled
And last in Poultry News: Wild turkey populations are declining in many states, leading to canceled turkey hunting seasons. Among other causes for the decline is the destruction of wild bird habitats from urban expansion, drought, or flooding. Mississippi has also canceled wild turkey hunting, while Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi are funding research projects to study and address wild turkey decline.
SOURCES
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-peanut-theworlds-oldest-living-chicken-at-21-years-of-age-180982850/
• https://www.poultryworld.net/poultry/israeli-start-up-soostackles-culling-of-male-chicks/
• https://allafrica.com/stories/202308240280.html
• https://www.poultryworld.net/health-nutrition/health/avianinfluenza-mink-species-particularlyproblematic/
• https://www.woah.org/en/woahsanimal-health-forum-reshapesavian-influenza-prevention-andcontrol-strategies/
• https://www.aaap.info/davidswayne
• https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/08/avian-fluvaccine-wild-bird-transmissionendemic/674903/
• https://apnews.com/article/kansasturkey-hunt-canceled-be31e1461c6b6cdc8bff6647c6364ec8
Originally published in December 2023/January 2024 Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
