The backyard chicken trend that’s popped up in all sorts of urban neighborhoods now has its own app.
The University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine developed the app to offer tips for raising healthy chickens — and will pay poultry owners to test its usefulness.
Participants must be backyard chicken owners at least 13 years old or game fowl breeders over age 18. They’ll need Apple or Android phones or tablets to use the app.
The UC Community Chicken app has six educational modules with short videos on health assessment, nutrition, vaccination, biosecurity, bird behavior and husbandry.
It includes chat and feedback buttons so participants can communicate with the UC experts and other poultry owners.
Participants who complete the study will receive a $25 Amazon gift card. To take part, register at https://bit.ly/UCchickenapp.
The UC Community Chicken app will be available to the public after the study is complete. For more information about the study, contact Maurice Pitesky at drcluck@ucdavis.edu.
16 comments
Do people raise chickens now for just eggs or for eating them also? Chickens tasted so much better when I was a kid growing up it seems, before they were bred for fast growing and large breasts. We rotated them out, when they stopped laying everyday they ended up as Saturday supper or dinner. Concord Ice and Fuel on Market St. used to give you a free chick with every pound of feed. It was fun to see all the chicks they used to incubate, a regular stop on my travels around Concord on my bike.
We had half a dozen for eggs. Family considered them pets, so when their laying days were over, we just had chickens running in the back, until they all aged out. Definitely fun, and odd to say, but they did each have their own personality. I would recommend chickens for kids growing up.
I still raise chickens for eggs locally… have been for the past 15 years. I don’t cull my girls once they stop laying, but let them live out their lives because it maintains a certain stability in the flock. Chicken have a very organized social order with a definite hierarchy. They also have a language of 35 words…maybe more. But I have to agree, chickens bought today from the grocery stores, no longer have flavor because of the way they are bred and raised in factory farms. Growing up here, we too culled unproductive birds for the dinner plate. Both the texture and flavor of the meat was remarkable. You can still buy baby chicks at Concord Feed every Spring. The store at Pleasant Hill offers many breeds, and sells out every Spring. I personally do not buy their birds because they order from Privett Hatchery in New Mexico. I have had terrible luck with the longevity of Privett’s stock in regards to longevity; 40% die within 4 years. This is a problem country wide because most hatcheries only breed for show, meat, or eggs; not longevity. The good news is that many small farms are trying to reverse that trend. I try to find my chicks from smaller hatcheries or farms. A healthy chicken should be able to live 8-12, even longer with some Bantam breeds. I like the idea that Cal is offering, but I too am a bit Leary about their intentions. If you all go on line…you can find local farmers that sell chicken meat, but you may have to travel a bit. Fresh farm eggs are sold locally at Brookside Farm on Morgan Territory Road, not to far from the Marsh Creek turn off…look for the sign eggs about a 1/2 mile down on the left. Owner Sandy Brooks sells good eggs!
Chickens are supposed to live 5 to 10 years but lifespans vary for certain breeds and a whole long list of other reasons too, probably has to do with all that “Free Range” business and what they eat.
Those free range birds will eat all kinds of bugs too, worms, lizards, even mice.
Bon Appétit !
I have never owned a chicken. No idea even, where I’d go buy one.
Concord Feed …. one on Clayton Rd and one Hookston
Safeway lol.
Data gathering for a future proposal to tax and regulate chickens. If there was no promise of future compensation, why else would they be giving out prizes?
YOYOHOP ~
My thoughts exactly!
Correct
Dirty Birdie
I’d had chickens and turkeys for many years. I’m the person they want to hear from and they’re not getting anything out of me.
Chickens belong on the farm not in the city.
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Hens are fine in a suburban setting where adequate separation can be provided btwn the coop and adjoining neighbors.
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Roosters arent typically allowed in urban & suburban setting because they cannot tell time.
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My GF, an avid baker, keeps five hens on her one-acre lot up in Lake County. It works out great for her (and me).
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Old timer…read your history about raising chickens. They’ve been in cities for years now!
chicken app on my iPhone says there chickens located across the street. That confirms they did cross the road.
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