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EmailIphone Application    Posted: 10th October 2023
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Composer writes symphony for chickens
Research suggests that listening to classical music can be beneficial to livestock.

The piece has been designed to improve chicken wellbeing.

Chickens on a farm in New Zealand were treated to a performance of a special symphony on Friday, 6 October.

Musicians from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, smartly dressed as if in a concert hall, sat in a field to give a performance at the Bosktock Brothers farm in Hawke’s Bay.

Their feathered audience wandered around as the musicians played the new composition, Chook Symphony No. 1, which had been especially created for the chickens.

Scientific research has suggested that classical music can be beneficial for hens and other livestock, and so the Bostock Brothers decided to partner with the orchestra to try to boost the wellbeing of their free-range birds.

Composer Hamish Oliver tested different sounds and instruments to discover which ones the chickens responded to best.

Mr Oliver said: “The Bostock Brothers chickens were responsive to the viola, oboe, and bassoon, so I combined a string quartet with the squawkiest instruments of the woodwind family (oboe and bassoon) and added some inspiration from the chicken sound-world.”

The symphony combines these imitation chicken noises with a distinctly baroque sound.

The composer added: “It’s not everyday that composing opportunities for a feathered audience come up and this has been a new kind of musical challenge for me, a definite career highlight – a quirky project that has a serious intent and purpose behind it too.”

A recording of the symphony has been released on Spotify and YouTube.

 

Image (C) Shutterstock

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Cold-water dip to raise funds for Vetlife

News Story 1
 The veterinary mental health charity Vetlife is inviting the veterinary community to join it for a sponsored cold-water dip.

The event will take place at Walpole Bay, Margate, on 17 May during Mental Health Awareness Week. Participants of all abilities can join in the challenge and are advised to bring a towel, a hot drink, a snack, and warm clothes to get changed into afterwards.

Those taking part are being asked to try to raise £100 each to support the work of the charity.

Details about how to take part can be found here. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Bluetongue low vector period ends

In an update to its bluetongue guidance, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that the seasonal low vector period for the disease has ended.

With winter over, Defra is planning for a possible increase in cases as midges become more active. It has warned that farms along the east coast of England from Norfolk to Kent, and along the south coast from Kent to Devon, are at highest risk from infected midges blown over from northern Europe.

Since the virus was detected in England in November 2023, there have been 126 confirmed cases. The most recent case to be confirmed was on 1 March 2024.

Farmers are asked to continue to frequently monitor their livestock and ensure their animals and land are registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency.