Unit 6 — February: Chicken Care and Management
Description
Students apply their knowledge of chicken biology to practical husbandry. The unit covers habitat design through a webquest activity where students calculate square footage and plan nesting boxes, ventilation, and outdoor run requirements. Students engage in daily chicken care including feeding, watering, and cleaning. The unit includes feed calculations and cost analysis, chicken anatomy study, breed identification, and percentage calculations for tracking flock composition. A mock veterinary component teaches students to identify common chicken diseases and health conditions, with diagnostic activities using model chickens.
Essential Questions
- What conditions do chickens need to thrive?
- How do we calculate appropriate housing and resource requirements?
- How are chicken health and disease managed?
- What are the economics of raising chickens?
Learning Objectives
- Design appropriate chicken housing using space requirements.
- Calculate feed quantities based on flock size and life stage.
- Manage daily chicken care tasks responsibly.
- Identify chicken breeds and track flock demographics.
- Perform calculations involving feed costs and percentages.
- Identify chicken diseases and suggest appropriate treatments.
- Apply business and math skills to animal husbandry.
Supplemental Resources
- Graph paper for housing design and calculations
- Markers for labeling habitat diagrams
- Calculators for feed and cost computations
- Lined notebooks for care records and observations
- Colored pencils for visual presentations
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Earth and Space Sciences
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Life Sciences
Science and Engineering Practices
Students read and analyze informational texts about agriculture, food science, natural resources, and animal science topics throughout the year. They write argumentative and informative pieces, including blog posts, portfolio updates, and project reports, to communicate findings and support claims with evidence. Students engage in collaborative discussions, present research to peers, and develop vocabulary specific to agricultural science domains.
Students apply mathematical reasoning across units, including calculating feed amounts, fertilizer ratios, percent loss, square footage for chicken coops, costs of food using grocery ads, carrying capacity using graphs, acreage and supply calculations for agribusiness planning, and unit conversions in food science measurements.
Students conduct investigations and laboratory experiments aligned to life science, earth science, and engineering standards throughout the year. Topics include plant cell structure and function, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, genetics and heredity, ecosystem dynamics and food webs, water chemistry and macroinvertebrate biology, natural resource management, and engineering design applied to agricultural structures.
Career readiness, financial literacy, and 21st century life skills are embedded throughout the curriculum. Students explore careers in agriculture, food science, veterinary science, natural resource management, and agribusiness. They develop personal finance skills through grocery budgeting and agribusiness planning activities, and practice workplace readiness skills including teamwork, communication, and problem-solving across all units.
Formative Assessments
- Observations of daily chicken care activities
- Journals documenting habitat design decisions
- Exit tickets on disease identification
- Webquest completion and habitat plans
- Group discussions on veterinary diagnoses
Summative Assessment
Webquest submission, projects on chicken habitat design, lab practical with disease diagnosis, and portfolio documentation of care records
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of chicken housing design through a labeled diagram or model with teacher guidance, rather than a written webquest. For feed calculations and flock management tasks, students may use manipulatives, calculators, or partially completed worksheets with visual supports such as charts or reference sheets. Disease identification may be completed through verbal responses to teacher-led questioning about model chickens or image-based matching activities instead of written descriptions.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students receiving IEP services may benefit from graphic organizers or visual diagrams to support chicken anatomy study and disease identification, reducing the demand on written output while still demonstrating content understanding. For calculation tasks involving feed quantities, costs, and percentages, teachers may provide partially completed templates or step-by-step reference guides so students can focus on applying math reasoning rather than managing multi-step processes independently. Oral responses or dictated journal entries can serve as alternatives for habitat design documentation, and hands-on participation in daily care routines should be prioritized as a meaningful avenue for demonstrating responsibility and practical skill. Extended time on diagnostic activities and the habitat design webquest, along with frequent check-ins during independent work, will help students maintain momentum and build confidence across the unit.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should be given extended time for calculation tasks and the habitat webquest, as these require sustained focus and multi-step processing. Preferential seating during disease identification and diagnostic activities ensures students can closely observe demonstrations and model chicken materials without distraction. Printed reference materials summarizing space requirements, feed formulas, or disease symptoms may be kept at the student's workspace to support access during performance tasks.
ELL / MLL
Multilingual learners benefit from visual supports throughout this unit, including labeled diagrams of chicken anatomy, photo-based breed identification references, and illustrated charts connecting disease symptoms to conditions. Key vocabulary related to husbandry, habitat design, and veterinary care should be introduced with visual context before it appears in tasks, and simplified written directions for care routines or calculation steps help students focus on the agricultural content rather than navigating complex language. Where possible, allowing students to discuss observations or diagnostic reasoning with a partner who shares their home language supports deeper engagement with the veterinary and habitat design components.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should be connected to the hands-on components of this unit first, as daily chicken care tasks offer accessible, concrete entry points that build engagement and confidence before moving into more abstract calculations or disease identification. Feed and cost calculations can be scaffolded by breaking them into smaller steps with real-world context, such as connecting flock size to quantities students have already observed, to make the math feel purposeful rather than abstract. Teachers can reduce the complexity of habitat design planning by providing partially completed frameworks that guide students toward key decisions without overwhelming them with open-ended requirements from the start.
Gifted & Talented
Advanced learners can extend their engagement with this unit by exploring the economics of small-scale poultry production at a greater depth, such as researching how feed conversion ratios, breed selection, and housing efficiency interact to affect profitability over time. Students may also investigate comparative husbandry practices across different agricultural contexts or scales, connecting chicken management principles to broader systems of sustainable agriculture or food production. In the veterinary component, gifted students can be challenged to analyze the public health and biosecurity dimensions of common poultry diseases, going beyond individual diagnosis to consider flock-level management and prevention strategies.