The Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, Sunday, July 12, 2009 - A9

Even so, Vehna, Mur- she just loves the organic

Chickens ray and Saunderson all
agree that it costs money
to raise chickens. It’s a
eggs, she adds.
Backyard chicken rais-
ing is fun and satisfying,
Continued from A8 labor of love with some but there are dangers
intangible benefits. that must be considered,
Murray has neighbors, Vehna says she raises says David Frame, USU
so when some of her chickens for her 4-year- Extension poultry spe-
roosters got old enough old son, Isaac. She’s cialist. He suggests that
to start crowing, she says skeptical of the antibiot- first-timers get informa-
they “offed ‘em about ics fed to most commer- tion from science based
that time.” She and Hyde cially raised poultry, she Web sites such as the
slaughtered the chickens says. USU Extension Office
themselves with an ax, She can tell the dif- and the Utah and U.S.
hanging them over a 5- ference between her Departments of Agricul-
gallon-bucket afterward free-range eggs and store ture, which all describe
to keep the mess down. bought eggs by cracking proper poultry raising
“You grab them by the the shells. techniques and contain
feet, set the head on a “There’s a noticeable links to report deadly
block and whack it off,” thicker shell,” she says. outbreaks of Exotic
she says. Her free-range chick- Newcastle Disease. The
She kept one rooster, ens also have a favorite disease can spread from
who continues to crow food: yellow dandelion hobby poultry to larger
each morning, but Mur- heads. As a result the commercial operations,
ray says the noise hasn’t yolks are brilliant yel- and would potentially
been a problem for her low, she says. There is devastate the industry,
neighbors. The cock one problem with let- he says.
roams freely among ting her hens wander Though chickens pose
the hens, she says. As a however; she often has a low threat of giving
result, every once in a to go looking for the diseases to humans,
while an egg yolk shows eggs. Sometimes she has there are a few that can
the red dot of a develop- no idea how long ago Eli Lucero/Herald Journal be transmitted, says
ing embryo. an egg was laid when Frame. Proper care and
Katherine Toronto plays with chickens her grandparents raise as a hobby and for food
“He gets an ‘A’ for she finds it, she says. storage. Merilyn Wright, the owner of the chickens, lives in Wellsville.
handling of eggs and
effort, but he doesn’t get To expose the bad eggs, carcasses, regular coop
all of them,” she says of she uses some ingenious tilized. Evelyn trans- into the IFA store with who visit from out of cleaning and separating
the hardworking rooster. folk-wisdom: fill a sink ferred the hen to another questions all the time. state. species such as ducks,
Murray suggests cool- with cool water and set coop and watched her The hobby farming “It’s the most fun toy chickens and turkeys
ing the eggs right away the eggs in. Fresh eggs for a couple more days community often shares we’ve ever provided for will lower the potential
to prevent the develop- will sink to the bottom “to be sure she was seri- information informally the grandkids,” she says. for infection and spread
ment of fertilized ones. and progressively older ous,” then she swapped through word of mouth. Wright’s granddaugh- of bird flu and other seri-
Just like all amateur eggs will begin to tip up, out the hen’s eggs for One of Bair’s customers, ters have a favorite hen ous diseases, he says.
coop keepers, Murray she says, with the really some fertilized ones. Merilyn Wright, refers named Zoë, an espe- Potential owners
and Saunderson say they old eggs floating to the Some of her four-week- to it as a sort of “chicken cially tame Plymouth should also check their
end up with more eggs top. old chickens will be underground,” a network Barred Rock breed. A city or county office
than they know what to Karen Evelyn, who laying eggs by the end of hobbyists and friends. duck named Bert wad- for zoning regulations
do with, so they use eggs has built her own of the summer; she says. Wright recently placed a dles out of the little barn and always be mind-
to barter with friends, “chicken condos” behind Others will end up in her small coop shaped like door and gobbles fresh ful of neighbors, says
and Murray sells eggs to her home in Logan, freezer. a miniature red barn in dandelion greens held by Frame. Hens don’t need
friends at the university. offers another tip. She Not everybody is suc- her Wellsville backyard, the girls. The kids have a rooster around to lay
“It’s not hard to find places a golf ball in a cessful right away, says complete with a rooster literally spent hours with eggs, so owners should
babysitters because they spot where she’d like to Bair. She’s had people weather vane, a welcome the flock, says Wright. be prepared to cull any
all want the eggs,” says collect eggs, duping one come back to the IFA sign and a tiny iron bell. After her granddaughters cocks if neighbors live
Saunderson. hen into laying her eggs for another run of chicks The roofs on either side named the hens, Wright close by. For more infor-
Logan resident next to the ball. From after the first try ends in of the classic three- says the prospect of eat- mation on how to prop-
Mandilyn Vehna trades then on it’s easy, since disaster. Murray tells the gabled barn lift open on ing them evaporated. erly manage backyard
the eggs from her 30 the hens like to lay near story of a dog who got either side for egg col- “We didn’t name them poultry, contact Frame at
free-range hens to a each other, she says. into her yard and shook lection. Colonel Sanders or 435-283-7586 or Kerry
local bread company. One of her Rhode nine hens to death before Wright says her Chicken Tenders,” says Road, USU Extension
In return, her hens fine- Island Red hens recently he could be stopped. “hobby farm” fulfills her her daughter. “Or Nug- veterinarian at 435-797-
dine on day-old bread “went broody” on her, When an owl or hawk interest in food storage get!” adds her grand- 1882. A popular online
every weekend. displaying a fierce desire gets a bird, the body dis- and independence, but daughter. resource can be found at
“The chickens love to roost on her eggs appears without a trace, more importantly, it is an “They’re very docile www.backyardchickens.
that, of course,” says until they hatched, even says Saunderson. educational playground and friendly. They’re com.
Vehna. though they were unfer- Bair says people come for her grandchildren, pets,” says Wright. And

USU Brigham City Pre-Engineering Course Schedule

The Utah State University Brigham City Regional Campus offers

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to meet with an academic advisor. These classes are taught in the
evening. The schedule of classes is as follows:

Fall Spring
CHEM 1210 Princ of Chemistry I CS 1410 Intro to CS II
CHEM 1215 Chemical Princ Lab CS 2420 Algorithms & Data Struct, CS III
CS 1400 Intro to CS I ECE 2250 Electrical Circuits
ECE 2700 Digital Circuits ENGR 2030 Engr Mechanics Dynamics
ENGR 1000 Intro to Engr Design ENGR 2140 Strength of Materials
ENGR 2010 Engr Mechanic Statics ETE 2270 Computer Engr Drafting
ETE 2210 Electrical Engr for nonmajors MAE 1200 Engr Graphics
MAE 2300 Thermodynamics I MAE 2160 Material Science
MAE 2650 Manufacturing Processes MATH 1220 Calculus II

9AM-9PM
MATH 1210 Calculus I MATH 2250 Linear Alg/Differentl Equations
MATH 2210 Multivariable Calculus PHYS 2210 General Physics I

Supplemental Courses
Fall Spring
BIOL 1010 Biology & the Citizen BIOL 1010 Biology & the Citizen
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Trigonometry


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CEE 2240 Engr Surveying BIOL 2320 Human Anatomy
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