Things Are Getting a Little Chirpy in Ag-Science

Big happenings in CTE’s Agricultural Science class with the arrival of some special guests. Instructor Tony Wood explains:

“Ag-Science students are incubating fertilized eggs that have been brought in from three flocks of laying hens. This is a 21-day process of incubation at a controlled temperature, humidity and turning of the eggs. Students are recording the temperature and humidity and making adjustments based on the data collected. At Days 7 and 14, all the eggs were candled by using a bright led flashlight to view inside the egg. Observations were made and recorded regarding the embryonic development of each egg.

“At the same time, we have ordered a flock of day- old broiler chicks. These 25 chickens will be used for meat production rather than egg production. The broiler project is part of an FFA Broiler Competition. Students will keep detailed records regarding the chickens’ growth rate, feed conversion ratio, cost of production and environmental observations. The data produced through this project will be continuously compared to the industry standard for the Ross 708 Broiler Chicken. At the end of our five-week project, students will select five birds to take to Munsells Poultry Processing to compete against other FFA chapters across the state.

“When our layer chicks hatch, we’ll collect data on their growth rate and feed conversion ratio as well. It will be interesting to compare data on chickens that have been bred for different purposes.”