Backyard chickens: the booming pandemic hobby. But with an increase in chickens comes an increase in disease transmission among them. A new survey from the University of California, Davis seeks to better understand how many backyard chicken flocks there are in the state, and where they are located, so the university can more effectively deliver poultry health information and prevent the spread of disease. The most recent outbreak of avian influenza, or bird flu, happened four years ago in two poultry farms in Tennessee. In 2014 and 2015, the costliest bird flu outbreak resulted in 50 million chicken and turkey deaths. Another disease spread by chickens, the virulent Newcastle disease, saw an outbreak in Southern California in 2020. “We don’t have a good estimate of where or how many backyard chicken flocks there are in California,” said Myrna Cadena, a Ph.D. student in animal biology who, with poultry specialist Maurice Pitesky, is leading the survey. “Knowing how live birds are moved in California will be crucial in the event of a poultry disease outbreak.” The survey is available through September at https://bit.ly/3rWYpOa.