La Casa Grande Colectiva

Tag: chicken

  • Fowl Pox – Avipoxvirus, not chicken pox

    About a week ago I noticed some black crud on the comb of one of our ISA browns.  At first it just looked like some dirt, but then I saw it the next day and the next.  I’ve read that people new to chicken keeping can get caught up in the excitement and novelty of their flock and overlook the health of the birds.  I’ve been trying to avoid that mistake by routinely checking each bird and noting any apparent changes.  After doing some online research and finding photographic examples of different diseases, I went out this morning to photograph the sick chicken for comparison.
    Fowl pox? on ISA brown comb Fowl pox? on ISA brown comb

    The black crud went away and now there are small white lesions on both sides of her comb.  This tells me that she has fowl pox, a very common viral infection in poultry around the world.  From what I’ve read online there is no treatment for fowl pox and it usually runs its course in 3-5 weeks.  [USDA info page] I’m going to make a call into the local Extensions office on Monday to seek advice and see if she should be quarantined form the rest of the flock. My inclination is yes, but I don’t where we’d put her at this point. Prevention through vaccination seems to be the only way to deal with fowl pox, which makes me wonder which if any of our birds were vaccinated.

  • Urbana Chicken Effort – 5 Year Update

    extreme-chicken1Lately we’ve had several revelations about chicken keeping in Urbana, IL.  It started when Ronna dug up this 2004 article from the New York Times while doing research on Urbana city ordinances.  The article begins, “A movement is underfoot in Urbana.”  Well, this is an update on Urbana chickens 5 years later.

    The article titled “From City-Reared Chickens, Farm-Fresh Eggs” (10/4/2004) quotes city attorney Steve Holz (*arrested development chuckle) “There is no restriction on livestock or poultry in the city [of Urbana].”  It goes on to say that “the city can take action against owners if they keep the animals in a way that hurts the health or safety of the neighborhood.”  So thats it. Keeping chickens in town is %100 legit, until they become a problem.

    I joined the yahoo group Urbana Chicken Effort awhile back, which I presume was the original communication tool for the “movement” that the article mentions.  With 32 members signed up, the list is still used to coordinate feed and chick buying.

    The other revelation occured when Heather ran into Danielle Chynoweth at the IMC.  According to Danielle, our oldest chicken, Ginger, was originally owned by Molly Stentz and is estimated to be 8 years old!  The 2004 NYTimes article quotes Stentz as saying, “There are so many people in my neighborhood who are doing it.  It’s low-maintenance and fun.”  This means that our elderly Ginger is one of the original Urbana Chicken Effort chickens, and she’s still ticking!

    So, La Casa is curious to know more about the history of Urbana Chickens.  How many people are keeping chickens in town these days?  Do they take as many photos as us?  How can we help each other and encourage more chicken cooperation?  Please comment and let us know how your ladies are doing.

  • chicken anatomy – the nictitating membrane

    I was out snapping photos of the chickens again yesterday. I zoomed in close and used a fast shutter speed to try to capture the moment they peck at food. I captured this image:
    nictitating membrane half closed
    Do you see that white thing covering her eye? It turns out that when the chickens peck at the something they actually blink too. Birds have a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane which both lubricates and protects their eyes.

    This nictitating membrane is between the other two eyelids and the cornea and has its own lubricating duct equivalent to our tear duct. (from here)

    I feel like I learn something new about the chickens almost every day.