Saturday-Sunday, September 21-22:   Green Festival, Washington, DC
UPC will host an exhibit table & UPC President Karen Davis will speak on
Backyard Chicken-Keeping at 2:00pm Sunday on Stage B

Backyard chicken-keeping has benefited chickens somewhat as people who previously knew chickens only as food discover how delightful chickens are as living creatures. However, it has also attracted people who mistreat their birds, know little or nothing about chickens and their needs, and brag on the Internet about their own abusiveness. It has also fostered a bustling chick hatchery business involving the same kinds of factory-farm cruelties that small farm practitioners and backyard enthusiasts claim to reject. As the popularity of backyard flocks in urban and suburban areas has grown, animal shelters and sanctuaries are inundated with calls to take in unwanted chickens, particularly roosters. Karen will discuss the pros and cons of keeping backyard chickens, what chickens need for happiness and wellbeing, and what you need to do if you are considering or already have a backyard flock.

KAREN DAVIS, PhD is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that addresses the treatment of domestic fowl in food production, science, education, entertainment, and human companionship situations. She is the author of several books including Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry and More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Award-winningly profiled in The Washington Post for her outstanding work for the birds, Karen maintains a sanctuary for chickens on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. KAREN DAVIS, PhD biography.

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