Monday, September 8, 2008

the chicken doctor is in

Caught a great little article on how chickens are raised written by Dr. Tim Cummings, a poultry veterinarian at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University. He's been a "chicken doctor" for almost 25 years now and it would seem he's heard just about everything.

They biggest myth busted for me while reading his article? The issue of hormones used to make chickens grow fast:
When people find out that I work with poultry, it's amazing how regularly I get asked the same questions. For instance, it's fairly standard to get asked about all the hormones used to "make the chickens grow so fast."

After I inform the curious individual that hormones are not injected or fed to the birds, I often see this funny look come over their face.

It's almost like they don't believe me.

After all, one poultry company even advertised that they don't add hormones to their chickens! That was nice of them, especially since no other poultry company in the world does either.
Well, I'll be!

UPDATE 12/11/08: Per Dr. Cumming's request, I've removed his contact info from this post, so he's not overwhelmed by requests from outside the region. Read the linked article above if you're still interested in contacting him.

4 comments:

YayaOrchid said...

So what are chickens fed/given that we hear about is harmful for us? Is it chemicals to make them lay more eggs? Pls do let me know. Please.

Kathi D said...

Wow, that's a great offer! I might ask what causes double yolks. My young hens have laid two double-yolkers already. Maybe they both came from one hen, I don't know.

The one question that most people ask me is whether the hens can lay eggs if there is no rooster. That seems to be a widespread misconception.

Kathi D said...

yayaorchid, I don't think the issue is so much what the chickens are fed, but the way they are housed (too little room) and the way they are butchered (salmonella). But I'm an amateur, so there is plenty I don't know about commercial growing.

Melanie K said...

huh. i had always heard that they were fed hormones to fatten them up faster. so i guess F@ster F#rms deserves an "A" in advertising. or something . . .

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