Success Story4-H Chick Life Cycle Programs



4-H Chick Life Cycle Programs

Author: Heather Cassill

Planning Unit: Clark County CES

Major Program: Agriculture 4-H Core Curriculum

Plan of Work: Horticulture, Livestock, Forages, Agriculture

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome

The life cycle of animals are a part of the science curriculum for a variety of grade levels. The Clark County 4-H program offers the chick incubation project to Preschool through 3rd graders to enhance their classroom curricula while seeing real life examples of the life cycle represented. 4-H Extension Staff provides the curriculum, incubation equipment and in classroom lesson talking about the chicken lifecycle and parts of the egg for the chick project. The chick incubation eggs are obtained at no cost from the University of Kentucky Poultry. This spring, 21 classrooms participated in the chick incubation project. Twelve families adopted the chicks, who were then able to use the chickens to enhance their livelihood. Outside of the classroom, teacher’s reported from parents that students were talking about the projects with their families and friends at home. As an outcome of the project indicated in post-evaluations, 100 percent of students indicated that they learned more about the life cycle of the chick, how the chick incubation process works, how a fertilized egg developed into a chick, parts of the egg and how to care for a living animal. In 2018, a need was seen to educated youth and families about how to care for chicks from day three after hatching through egg production. The Clark County 4-H Chick Chain Poultry Club was started under the leadership of Clark County 4-H Agent, Heather Cassill and two 4-H volunteer leaders. Seven youth completed the project in its first year. Youth met eight times to learn more about how to care for their chicks. Topics included brooding, nutrition, health, safety, housing and handling. Five families adopted chicks from the classroom incubation projects. Youth had a better understanding of what is involved with raising poultry and 100 percent they understood the needs of the chicks through each stage of development.






Stories by Heather Cassill


4-H Chick Life Cycle Programs

about 5 years ago by Heather Cassill

The life cycle of animals are a part of the science curriculum for a variety of grade levels. The Cl... Read More


Clark County 4-H Agriculture Day

about 5 years ago by Heather Cassill

Kentucky is home to 85,500 farms, tied with Oklahoma as the 4th ranking state in the number of farms... Read More


Stories by Clark County CES


4-H Teen Leadership Impacts Community through Service Learning

4-H Teen Leadership Impacts Community through Service Learning

about 5 years ago by Shannon Farrell

The Clark County 4-H Junior and Teen Leadership clubs are heavily focused on Leadership and Communit... Read More


Teen Leader on the Rise

Teen Leader on the Rise

about 5 years ago by Shannon Farrell

Clark County 4-H has a strong teen leadership club. Many of its members are highly involved in the ... Read More


Stories by Agriculture 4-H Core Curriculum


Livestock Club

Livestock Club

about 5 years ago by Matthew Chadwick

This year I worked with our Livestock club for the first time as the point agent. We started the yea... Read More


4-H and FFA Tractor Short Course

4-H and FFA Tractor Short Course

about 5 years ago by Virginia Harper

Calloway County 4-H and FFA collaborated on a Tractor Short Course to engage youth in learning about... Read More