• Chickens quarantined during bird flu outbreak in Mexico

    Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

    An employee sprays a farm under quarantine following a bird flu outbreak in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State, Mexico on Wednesday. Mexican government declared a national animal health emergency on Monday in the face of an aggressive bird flu epidemic that has infected nearly 1.7 million poultry. The emergency declaration included provisions for quarantine, slaughter, vaccination, and the destruction of infected products.

    Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

    Chickens remain in their cages in a farm under quarantine in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State, Mexico.

    Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

    Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, & Nutrition veterinarian Adolfo Ortiz works in a mobile laboratory in Guadalajara.

    Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

    View of a sanitary checkpoint (including cardboard cutout of a flag-waver) installed by the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, & Nutrition following a bird flu outbreak in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State.

    Reuters reports that an outbreak of avian flu has killed at least 870,000 poultry birds in Mexico:

    "The virus has never been out of control. It is localized in two places in Jalisco and up until now there is no evidence that it is anywhere else," the official said, asking not be named.

    As a cautionary measure, authorities declared a national animal health emergency on Monday to help prevent the disease's spread to other parts of Mexico or farther. The ministry has ordered vaccinations from Asia and is also developing their own drugs domestically to combat the flu.

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  • Fried chicken restaurant 'KFC' opened in Iran

    Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

    An Iranian waiter works at the KFC restaurant in the city of Karaj in the Alborz province in central Iran on Monday. The American fast food chain restaurant Kentucky Fried Chicken has opened a branch in Iran despite harsh US sanctions against Iran over that country's nuclear programmes, Iranian media reported on Feb. 25. Amir-Hossein Alizadeh, the licence holder, said it took him five years to get the permission from relevant local authorities to re-open KFC in Iran. KFC was closed in Iran following the 1979 Islamic revolution, due to its affiliation with the US, the country's political arch-enemy.

    Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

    Iranian women pass in front of the KFC restaurant in the city of Karaj in the Alborz province in central Iran on Monday.

    According to QSR Web, KFC denies opening a restaurant in sanctioned Iran:

    KFC told the BBC's Persian Service that it plans to take legal action against individuals or companies that take advantage of the brand name in Iran. The statement also says that that the company has no plans to open a restaurant in that country.

    See more images of Iran in PhotoBlog.

  • Extreme chicken consumption earns a prize at Wing Bowl 2012

    Tim Shaffer / Reuters

    Contestant "Stevil Kanevil" is struck with a bamboo cane as he enters the arena for "Wingbowl 2012", the annual chicken wing eating contest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday.

    Alex Brandon / AP

    Craig "Hot Pockets" Injajin from Abington, Pa., eats chicken wings during SportsRadio WIP's Wing Bowl 2012 eating contest on Friday. The annual event is held the Friday before the Super Bowl.

    Tim Shaffer / Reuters

    Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi from Japan celebrates after winning "Wingbowl 20," by consuming a record 337 chicken wings in the 30-minute contest period.

    If you're still hungry for more, see last year's event in PhotoBlog.

  • Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune Herald via AP

    James Banks, 12, left, struggles to hold on to his chicken while standing next to Nolan Slage, 9, right, during judging at the McLennan County Junior Livestock Show in Waco, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 20.

    Boys struggle to hold chickens at livestock show in Texas

    By Jim Seida

    Q: Why did the chicken cross the playground?

    A: To get to the other slide! Get it? Got any other good chicken jokes?

  • Danny Vowell / Kentucky New Era via AP

    A chicken turns back after apparently having second thoughts about crossing the road on Thursday, Jan. 6, on the Pembroke Road near Hopkinsville, Ky. Seed scattered on the road had lured the bird out onto the busy pavement.

    Kentucky chicken has second thoughts

    By Jim Seida

    Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, this one didn't, because a big Ford pickup might have flattened it if it had tried.

  • Ina Fassbender / Reuters

    A farmer holds up an egg next to one of his hens at a chicken farm in the western town of Schleiden January 6. The German government moved to calm public fears on Wednesday after highly toxic dioxin contamination in the feed of poultry and hogs turned out to be far more widespread than first thought.

    Germany's chicken feed contamination worse than first thought

    By Jim Seida

    It looks like the chicken is pondering, which came first?

  • Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images

    An Ultra-orthodox Jewish man holds chickens during the Kaparot ceremony in the Mea Shearim Ultra Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem on Sept. 13, 2010. The ritual is supposed to transfer the sins of the past year to the chicken. It is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the most important day in the Jewish calendar.

    Kaparot: an ancient and mystical custom

    The orthodox Jewish ceremony involves taking a white chicken and waving it over a person's head while a prayer is recited, "This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This chicken will go to its death while I will enter and proceed to a good long life and peace." The chicken is then slaughtered, and it is given to the poor.

    Most Jews today perform the Kaparot by waving money that's been wrapped in a white cloth over their head, reciting the prayer and then donating the money to charity.