Dr. Stephanie Hirsbrunner and Twain Lockhard with Elvis

Horses and chickens just naturally go together. At least my chickens and horses are the best of friends and hang out together all the time. So I wasn’t a bit surprised that among the thousands of people who turned out for the first day of the Midwest Horse Fair at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on Friday, April 19, a remarkable number were also curious about chickens.

I was graciously invited by the people at Nutrena Feeds to share a booth at the Horse Fair and to help give a seminar on chickens along with Twain Lockhart, a Nutrena poultry specialist, and Stephanie Hirsbrunner, a veterinarian at Country View Veterinary Clinic who has developed her own specialty in treating backyard chickens. I think the Nutrena people were a bit shocked (in a good way) when 175 people crowded into the seminar, but maybe they just didn’t realize how big a phenomenon the backyard chicken movement has become.

Stephanie has had to teach herself about chicken medicine because the veterinary schools approach chickens strictly as mass production units. They teach vets to treat whole flocks, not individual birds. I have been playing vet to my pets for decades, but I have to admit I don’t know much about doctoring chickens. We are all learning together, but Stephanie is one of only a handful of vets in the Madison area who "gets" chickens.

So I am really pleased that Stephanie has agreed to lead a seminar on Thursday, May 23rd at CLUCK the Chicken Store on chicken first aid. There will be a small fee for participants, but everyone will go home with a complete chicken first aid kit designed by Dr. Hirsbrunner! Click on our events listing for all the information.