Chicken

Chickens have another reason to lose sleep thanks to roboticists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Using 3D imaging technology, the Intelligent Cutting and Deboning System developed at GTRI can debone an entire chicken with the skill of a human butcher and has the potential of saving the poultry industry millions of dollars by reducing costs and waste.  Read More

Any experienced chicken farmer will tell you, the relative contentment of the birds can be gauged by the sounds they’re making. While this has generally been accepted as anecdotal folk wisdom, a team of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia are now trying to scientifically verify it. They’re hoping that their research could lead to better living conditions for the animals, lower costs to farmers, and higher productivity.  Read More

Of all the childhood allergies, an allergic reaction to eggs is one of the most common. Typically, reactions can include wheezing, nausea, headache, stomach ache, and hives. In extreme cases, however, anaphylactic shock can result, which can itself sometimes lead to death. Eggs are difficult to avoid, too - they find their way into many foods that might not seem particularly "eggy," and are even used in flu vaccines. Needless to say, for some time now, scientists have been working on making eggs safe for everyone. A team from Australia's Deakin University is now claiming that they're well on the way to producing not just hypoallergenic eggs, but the chickens that lay them.  Read More

Judging by the number of folks who fall prey to food-borne illness each year, food safety is serious business, especially when you consider that pathogens such as Campylobacter and Salmonella contaminate over 70 percent of the raw chicken meat tested. Now, recent research from a food safety team at Pennsylvania's Drexel University offers proof-of-concept for what may one day be a common approach to preventing food-borne illness from raw poultry and meat products - the use of high-energy, low temperature plasma to eliminate unwanted bacteria while leaving the food basically unchanged.  Read More

At last week’s 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, a number of institutions presented their research into possible new sources of eco-friendly bioplastic, including everything from fruit fiber to bone meal. On the final day of the event, one other idea was put forward – bioplastic made from waste chicken feathers. While this particular source material has been tried only semi-successfully in the past, the researchers claim that this time, the chicken plastic should take flight.  Read More

Having chickens and vegetables in your backyard is great for self-sustainability, but what if I want both in a small space? Seattle-based architect turned-self-starter Traci Fontyn has the solution in the form of the Kippen House; a modular chicken coop with a rooftop vegetable garden that creates a looped ecosystem to benefit both your home-grown veggies and eggs.  Read More