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Chickening Out

OBJECTIVES: The students will:

Gain an awareness of differences between conventional and
organic, free-range chicken farming;
Understand chicken life stages and egg formation;
Learn the anatomy of an egg;
Understand chicken flock dynamics in relation to pecking
order;
Learn about communication between chickens.

METHOD: The students will dissect a raw egg to examine its anatomy, learn
to handle and care for live chickens, and participate in a simulation
of chicken behavior.

MATERIALS: poster showing chicken anatomy and chick development

an assortment of freshly laid different colored and sized eggs;
bowls
golf balls
paper towels
seeds and corn kernels
paper cups
bandanas
boundary markers
magnifying glasses

BACKGROUND:

The egg is an environment for development. The animal within the egg is kept
relatively safe, moist, and undisturbed by the outside world. Being in the egg allows
total abandonment of offspring by the parents, or it leaves the parent(s) free to
acquire food and protect the offspring without having to carry them around.
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Disadvantages do exist, however, for egg layers. If a mothers eggs must be incubated,
this limits how far she can travel to avoid predators or to search for food and water.
It may also require the mother to have a mate for help. The long gestation period
required for bearing live young, though inconvenient for the mother, often produces
offspring that can eventually function on a more intelligent level.

Eggs come in many different colors. Many of these colors, including the speckled eggs
laid by many wild birds, are excellent for camouflage. Larger American chicken breeds
lay brown eggs. These are the same inside as white chicken eggs. Different breeds lay
even more colorful eggs. Pure-bred Araucana chickens from South America lay eggs
that range in color from purple to blue to pink.

Eggs also come in many different sizes. For example, Bantam chickens, which are a
smaller variety of chicken, must lay three eggs to equal the size of two regular
store-bought eggs. Conventional packaged eggs have the egg size on the cartons.
There are 50-200 different varieties of eggs laid per year.

Hens may start laying eggs at about six months. Until they are one year old, young
hens are called pullets. Pullets that hatched early in the spring will sometimes lay in
the fall, but usually they dont lay until the weather is warmer. Hens reach their egg-
laying peak at about one or two years of age. They will still lay plenty of eggs up to
four years of age, but at four to five-years the hen is considered old. Hens lay fewer
eggs as they get older. In addition, older roosters have lower virility. Older chicken
are less likely to have fertile eggs to create chicks. Also, moving chickens from one
home to another can cause molting, which can temporarily end laying.

The hens with larger, brighter combs are usually the best egg-layers. In very cold
weather a chickens comb can freeze. This causes lowered egg production in hens and
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a temporary end to fertility in roosters. A large comb is at more risk of freezing than a
small one, so sometimes farmers cut off large combs. This is called dubbing.

Heavily feathered, heartier birds lay better in cold weather than lightly feathered
breeds. A laying hen can be detected by her soft, deep abdomen, her large, moist
vent, and the widely spaced pubic bones. An average hen lays about 220 eggs per
year. A typical farm family would need two laying hens per family member to supply
enough eggs for the familys food.

An examination of the inside of an unfertilized egg provides a wealth of information.

The yolk is a food source for the chick. The chick develops from the germinal spot,
which may be visible in the yolk. The egg white (albumen) provides nutrients to the
embryo. The chalaza are white strands in the yolk that hold it in position. The outer
egg white controls the eggs permeability to oxygen and carbon dioxide. The inner
albumen stores the embryos nitrogenous waste. The eggshell is strong, waterproof,
and breathable. The lining inside the egg works with the albumen to restrict
permeability. The air pocket at the wide end of the egg is what the chick uses to
breathe during the hatching process.

For hatching, birds grow an egg tooth on top of their bill and use a special muscle on
the back of their neck. This muscle allows them to thrust the top of their bill into the
eggshell and crack the shell with the egg tooth. The egg tooth falls off after hatching
and the muscle atrophies.

Factory farmed and organic/free-range chicken eggs have several differences that the
students may notice. The yolk is darker in free-range eggs because more nutrients can
be available to a ranging bird. In addition, the egg may be fresher because it was not
shipped and stored or pasteurized for sale. Some factory-farmed chickens may be
malnourished of trace minerals, which can cause thinner shells.
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The shell may also be thicker in free-range/organic chickens because they can acquire
their own wide range of food. Also, free-range chickens generally receive more
calcium and nutrients from natural matter. The membrane is easier to separate in
fresh farm eggs and these eggs usually hold their yolks and whites together better
than the longer-stored conventional varieties. The shell may be different as well, as
free-range chickens will produce a variety of sizes and colors in their eggs.

Students may have concerns about factory-farmed chickens that have nothing to do
with the eggs, but instead on the process of egg-production. Many big egg production
operations, for example, debeak their chickens. This involves cutting off about half of
the top beak and the tip of the lower one. It is done because the top beak has a
sharp, down-curving extension which could be used to peck other birds or fling food
out of the trough and cause it to become waste. Factory farmed chickens usually are
confined to cages which do not allow much movement. The sole purpose of these
birds is for them to lay eggs or be butchered for meat sale.

Chickens have always been domestic birds, arising from domesticated breeding
strains of the Ring-Necked Pheasant (native to China). All chickens need to eat grit
(pebbles) to be able to digest their food. Grit is stored in their gizzard and used to
grind up their food. In addition, egg-laying hens require that 16-18% of their diet
must be protein (i.e. oats, insects, worms).

Carefully rinsed egg shells from the egg dissection can be crumbled into fine pieces
and feed back to the chickens. This is a good example of nutrient recycling. Eggshells
are made of calcium carbonate. Chickens need an additional source of calcium, such
as ground oyster shell in their feed. Without enough calcium the eggs would crack
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under the weight of the hens. Worse, the hens might lay eggs without a shell at all,
only a membrane that could not provide protection to the developing embryo.

Proper diet is vital to health. Unless a hen is broody or mothering, all chickens should
have shiny red combs and wattles. Their eyes should be alert and bright. Their
feathers should be smooth and shiny. Healthy chickens have well-formed droppings
without any pinkish tinge of blood. They should be busily eating, dusting, or preening.
Quiet birds with fluffed out feathers are not healthy.

Chickens can provide great benefits to a garden. They can eat weed seeds and bugs.
They also aerate the soil as they scratch in it. Their manure is a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
It has the highest nitrogen content of all manures and is therefore excellent for plant
growth. Chickens can cause problems, however. They can eat seeds and very young
seedlings or scratch them from the soil. Too much chicken manure applied straight to
a garden will put an excessive amount of nitrogen on young plants and can actually
burn them. They may also help themselves to crops like tomatoes, lettuce, and
strawberries. If care is taken not to let chickens in the garden immediately after
sowing seed, or when plants are young, and if their manure is weathered or
composed before being spread as fertilizer, then the dangers they pose to the garden
becomes much smaller than the benefits.

PROCEDURE:
1. Spend approximately 30 minutes in discussion at the start of the class. Begin by discussing
the advantages and disadvantages of egg-laying. Laying eggs is an adaptation that many
animals, through natural selection, have acquired. Ask the students what other animals
besides birds lay eggs (i.e. reptiles, amphibians, fish, spiny anteater, duck-billed platypus).
Why is it better for some animals to give birth to live young instead of laying eggs? Why is it
better for other animals to lay eggs rather than birth live young?
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2. Next, discuss egg shape. Place an egg in the middle of the table. Why are eggs ellipsoid-
shaped rather than round? One answer is that it is easier to fit more eggs under hens when
they have a pointed end. Demonstrate this to the students with real eggs. Another answer
is that ellipsoid eggs dont roll away in a straight line like balls do. Have the students roll the
golf balls and examine the movement, then demonstrate with an egg. Notice how the egg
curves to one side. How is this difference advantageous? Rather than roll faster and faster
downhill until it hits something, eggs turn and stop themselves!
3. Now explain egg coloration and pigmentation. Birds have pigment pores inside them for
making color. What is the advantage of colored eggs? Have the students brainstorm some
ideas. Are all eggs the same size? What birds might have large eggs? What birds would have
small eggs? Do all chickens lay the same size eggs? Does each chicken produce eggs identical
to those it has laid the day before? Why or why not?
4. Discuss pullets and which hens are likely to be the best egg producers. How do stress, cold,
and age affect egg-production? How many eggs do the students think would be needed to
supply a typical farm family with food each day?
5. Hand out the eggs, dividing them up so that each pair of students receives one egg to study.
Explain how to candle eggs. This is a technique to determine if an egg is fertile. It can be
done 72 hours after incubation or until 3 days before the scheduled hatching. Though this
technique used to be done by candlelight, the students can simply hold their eggs up to a
bright lightbulb. The bright light shines through the egg and the students can see the
interior.
A clear egg means the egg is infertile or the embryos development stopped early. A dark
haze or grayish cloud means the egg is rotting. Fertile and normally developing eggs will be
dark throughout when examined at two weeks of incubation. A fine network of veins
radiating from a dark center means the embryo is developing normally, but a dark red circle
with no veins indicates that the embryo has died.
6. Once the students have practiced candling, they can crack the eggs open to examine the
interiors. Can the students notice any more differences between the fresh free-
range/organic eggs and the conventionally-farmed eggs? Discuss the reasons for these
differences. This can create an understanding of the nutritional value of both types of eggs.
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Be prepared for an ethical discussion should one arise out of the differences in how the
chickens are raised.
7. Explain to the students that for the next thirty minutes or more they will visit a chicken coop.
Have the students observe the birds. (It is good to leave some eggs in the nesting boxes for
the students to find. They can then discuss the sizes and colors. The students should also feel
the temperature of the eggs to see which ones were freshly laid and which have been
around for a while.)
8. What are the chickens picking up when they peck and scratch at the ground? Discuss chicken
dietary requirements and explain the nutrient recycling benefit of eggshells in their diet.
Now show the students how to get the birds to eat from their hands. Hands should be held
flat. The students should stay calm and take care not to startle the birds. Allow them to feed
the chickens bread, seeds, and/or eggshells. What do they observe about the animals
eating behavior? Chickens have a pecking order, or hierarchy, in which the most powerful
rooster dominates the others. Have the students try to determine the pecking order from
top to bottom of the chickens in the coop. What behavior gives them clues to the pecking
order? What do they observe about the dynamics between hens and roosters?
9. Demonstrate how to gently pet their cheeks, heads, and necks. Help students gently hold the
chickens so that they can become more aware of their anatomy. Discuss the crop, gizzard,
oviduct and spurs. Show the students where they can feel the crop, pin and down feathers,
scaly legs, combs and wattles, and even the wings. The combs of chickens are the only
unfeathered, unscaled parts of them. The combs take in sunlight and use it to make vitamin
D.
10. How healthy are the chickens? Have the students look to see if they have skin or feather
parasites. They can use magnifying glasses to look among the underarm feathers by the skin.
How does diet affect health?
11. Ask the students to come up with ways that chickens may be helpful in a garden. Are there
any disadvantages to chickens in a garden? Weigh the advantages and disadvantages with
the students. Are there any ways to combat the disadvantages?
12. Spend the end of the class playing the Chicken Nutrition and Predation Game. Explain that
chickens need to find enough of the right type of food to stay healthy and to be able to lay
eggs. Free-roaming chickens, unlike commercially-raised chickens, have the option to go out
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and forage for their own goodies. Remind the students of the protein requirements of egg-
layers and the need for grit. In colder climates, chickens need more carbohydrates in order
to stay warm. These are found in the form of corn and some other grains. Too many
carbohydrates, though, will cause a chicken to become fat and unable to lay eggs.

All but a few students are designated as hens. They each get a cup which they will put in a
predator safe area such as a tagging tree. This represents the safety provided for chickens
either by roosting in a tree or in their coop/barn. Each student will get 2-3 bandanas to put in
the waist of their pants. The predator will try to steal these flags. If a student loses all three
flags, he or she is considered dead and must sit out of the game.

The hens must go out to the playing area and find carbohydrates, protein, and grit. They can
only pick up one of these at a time and return it to their cup. For maximum health they will
need to get 10 pieces of corn, 20 pieces of oats/rye, and 7 pebbles. The predators,
meanwhile, try to steal the flags of the hens and kill the chickens. Rounds are seven
minutes long. This simulates seven days in a week. The time can be changed according to
what works best with the group.
13. A variation of this game demonstrates the pecking order between roosters. Simply add a few
roosters to the hens. The top rooster can tag other roosters and take away the food they are
carrying. This shows how the dominant rooster picks on the underling beta roosters to
make these second or third ranked birds work harder to acquire food. This may also lead to a
discussion about the variation of food quantity between ranks of roosters. The roosters may
warn individual birds of the approaching predators and herd or call hens to safety.

PROCESSING:

Conclude the game and ask the students to discuss the different nutritional
components each chicken has collected. Review what they have learned in class,
especially the differences in color and size of eggs, chicken dietary needs, and chicken
pecking order. Ask them what new things they have learned and why this new
knowledge is applicable to their lives. What else would they have liked to learn? Get
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feedback from the students. Spend some time asking and answering any final
questions.

ADDITIONAL INFORMAITON:
Terms to Know

Flock: group of chickens

Hens: adult female chickens

Roosters: adult male chickens

Cockerel: male younger than one year

Pullet: female under one year

Chick: baby chicken

Capon: rooster whose sex organs have been deactivated providing the bird with characteristics for
meat production

Caponizing: process of deactivating a rooster

Roosting: returning to sleep at the same place each night

Roost: place where birds return to especially at night

Perch: toes wrapped around something like a tree branch or ladder wrung

Perching: when a bird is sitting on such a thing as a perch whether sleeping or not

Droppings: chicken excrement or manure

Vent: opening where excrement and eggs come out

Oviduct: where eggs are formed and moved along

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Crop: pouch at base of neck where food goes and bulges after a meal since chickens have no teeth
or stomach

Gizzard: where food passes to after the crop and it is ground up for digestion

Grit: grinding agent so chickens can digest food; naturally in the form of pebbles

Scratch: traditional chicken feed; mixture of various grains

Ground-fed: when chickens are not kept in cages and can find food by foraging

Shank: part of a chickens leg from the foot to the first joint

Spurs: sharp, horny protrusions on a roosters shank which he uses to stab people he doesnt like
and in fights with other roosters; length and condition give a rough idea of their age

Comb: skin on top of head

Wattles: dangly skin under chin

Bloom: slimy, wet covering after egg is laid which has eased the eggs passage through the oviduct.
It dries quickly into a thin, invisible membrane.

Clutch: batch of eggs in a nest

Incubation: period when eggs are kept suitably warm and moist

Setting: when a hen sits on eggs to incubate them.

Broody: when a hen is in the mood to incubate eggs

Break up: refers to discouraging a hens broodiness so that she will continue to lay eggs

Pipping: when chick makes a hole in the eggshell so that they can breathe

Brood: batch of chicks

Incubator: simulates the temperature and humidity of a brooding hen

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Candling: shining a powerful light through an egg to see how it is developing

Plumage: a bird's configuration of shape, size and color of feathers

Moult: once a year usually in autumn when the feathers fall out and are then renewed.

Cannibalism: Chickens will eat each other if they draw blood after too much pecking; chickens are
carnivorous and will devour each other if they take a mind to; they will eat the inside of eggs if they
find out it tastes good; difficult to eliminate this behavior once it starts

Litter: durable, not packed easily, and permits easy evaporation; covering of coop floor (i.e. straw,
pine needles, wood shavings, sawdust, and rice hulls)

Coccidiosis: chicks are susceptible to this disease if litter in brooder gets wet and messy

Dust: thrashing in dirt to dust their feathers to clean themselves and to kill body parasite.

Pecking order: where chickens are arranged socially by rank

RESOURCES:
Damerow, Gail. Storeys Guide to Chicken Raising. Vermont: Storey Books, 1995.

Emery, Carla. The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 9th ed. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1994.

Luttmann, Rick and Gail. Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginners Guide.Pennsylvania: Rodale Press,
Inc., 1976.

Tetrault, Jeanne and Sherry Thomas. Country Women: A Handbook for the New Farmer. New York:
Anchor Books, 1975.