CLUCK NEWS: Antibiotic chicken food in Netherlands linked to drug-resistant E. coli in humans

Next to Salmonella, probably the biggest health risk associated with chickens is the bacterium E. coli. Some people are probably tempted to assume that backyard hens might be more likely to cause problems related to E. coli because they are less likely to be medicated. Now a report from the CDC that appears in their Emerging Infectious Diseases journal suggests that the genetic makeup of E. coli found in some Netherlands hospital patients is so similar to that found associated with chicken meat sold there that the chickens are likely the source of the strain and, moreover, the strain is drug-resistant probably as a result of emerging in chickens fed anti-microbial agents.

CLUCK CITIES: # 28-- MILWAUKEE

On July 28th, 2011, it will become legal to keep chickens in Milwaukee, the 28th largest city in the US. Most large cities in the U.S. allow chickens. The ordinance allowing them is provisional and will sunset in one year unless renewed. CLUCK is not prone to simply forwarding readers to another source, but for a concise article about backyard chickens, it is hard to beat Michael Timm's How to keep urban chickens happy, which appeared in the Bay View Compass.

Squozi the bantam cochin.
Photo by Jim Klousia for the BayView Compass

And, for the record, chickens are now allowed in our nation's twentififth through thirtieth largest cities:

Nashville TN, Denver CO, Louisville  KY, Milwaukee Wi, Portland OR, and Las Vegas NV.