Choosing the Breed and Researching Chickens

As a class, students voted on which breed of chicken we should raise.  Popular breeds were the winter hardy Legbar, and the Amerucauna which lays blue and green eggs.  Ultimately we decided to go with Serama's because they are great urban chickens.  They are small, friendly, quiet, and aren't territorial.  They get along well with kids and other animals.  They're about half the size of a normal chicken, and their eggs are small too!  People raise Serama's for their eggs, and because they make great pets.

Students researched how to take care of eggs in the incubator, how to build a chick brooder (the indoor pen that chicks live in until they can go outside), and how to take care of chicks.  We learned about complications during development, problems chicks have during hatching, and how to keep chicks from getting sick.  We researched chick development, and learned how to use a candling lamp to see inside the egg, while the chick is growing.  Chicks hatch after only 3 weeks in the incubator!