Have you all seen gas prices lately? They are getting crazy as we see oil demands continue to rise and the political unrest across the world. One of the better investments I have made lately is buying an oil Exchange Traded Fund in my sons Education Savings Account last summer. That investment is up 45% since July. Unfortunately while his account is growing, my discretionary spending is going down since more and more of my hard earned money goes to paying for gas. Luckily, chickens (and scientists) have come to the rescue with a way to reduce some of our dependency on oil.
According to an article on physorg.com scientists have figured out a way to take chicken feathers and make them into plastic. "To make the new plastic, the researchers started with chicken and turkey feathers that had been cleaned and pulverized into a fine dust. They then added chemicals that made the keratin molecules join together to form long chains -- a process called polymerization."
Most plastics are petroleum based and require the use of fossil fuels. Chicken feathers are essentially a waste product right now. If we are able to make chicken feathers into plastics, we are using waste to create another source for the plastics that we use. Another benefit of the plastics made with chicken feathers is that they can be recycled, melted down, and reused.
Let's hear it for chickens! This is just another reason that they are one of my favorite animals. Leave a comment on what you love about your chickens We have have a lot of chickenless readers whom we are trying to convert into raising chickens and your comment might influence them to start.
~Michael~
11 comments:
I love my chickens personalities. Each of them is quite a character. I also love that everything about them is beneficial from their lower cholesterol eggs to their awesome fetilizing poop. LOL
So cool. Hopefully they will actually use the chicken feathers instead of oil. I bought a silver ETF a month ago and it's up 17% in a month. It's due to inflation. So smart pick on the oil ETF!
What I like about chickens:
1 - he delicious eggs we enjoyed for breakfast
2 - their ability to "recycle" the weeds I pull from my garden, as well as kitchen scraps, into eggs
3 - the wonderful garden soil I have vegetables growing in (the chickens spent the winter tilling and fertilizing the garden area)
love my chickens! we incubate our hens' eggs so we watch the lil guys pop into the world-oodles of fun and education for the whole family. we raise the boys for meat and the girls for eggs. our yolks are the color of a florida sunset-and they taste like butter! fresh, pastured eggs are so much healthier too.
Ah, but can they turn plastic into chicken feathers? THAT would be impressive!
There are a ton of practical reasons to love my chickens...many already listed.
But honestly I love them for all the impractical reasons:
- the loud frantic clucking that occurs in the morning when my girls like the do their egg laying
- watching the way they almost seem to dance while they eat worms out of dirt
- neck snuggles when I hold them
- (when we have roosters) the way they puff and show themselves off to the hens with such grandiosity
Chickens rock! :-)
I can't wait to have chickens! ;0)
What kind of chemicals are used? Are they safe for the environment or for us? If neither is true, then I don't see any benefit.. Yeah, we may save some petroleum, but will we kill ourselves and/or our planet to do so?
I'm convinced! My little Austrolorps will be here in May and I can't wait. Working on their chicken mansion right now. :-)
I absolutely love my chickens. They are the most entertaining animal I have owned. I got them a week ago and my TV has not been on since. I can't wait to eat their eggs! Hopefully they don't all turn out to be roosters.
Absolutely fascinating! I'm still working on Matt to convince him how awesome chickens are. Maybe you could put a good word in, at the football games. :) Love the bee picture! That should be blown up and framed! :)
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