By Anila Russell
Brooklyn Dairy Queen
What do chicken families do on Saturday afternoon? They go on peck-nicks. Then there's the famous, why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Joking aside, Wisconsin ranks ninth in agriculture, and 10th in the poultry industry. So why do people raise poultry?
People raise poultry for many different reasons. Poultry are raised for meat and for the eggs they produce, but also are just raised to be pets. Before deciding if you really want to raise poultry you need to figure out a few things before purchasing poultry. The most important question is why do I want to raise poultry? We've gotten a few egg laying chickens and bantams to add to our 4-H projects.
Do you have the money? Do you have the space? Do you have the time to take care of them? What type species do you want: Turkeys? Geese? Ducks? Or chickens and if chickens - what kind? In addition to that, what breed and variety do you want as well?
Oh yes, there is also that question of where do you get your poultry? Answering all of these questions will help you toward being a good poultry owner/producer. On the question of breed, a breed is defined as a group of birds that have common distinctive characteristics. A variety is defined as a subdivision of a breed and birds may have different comb types, feather colors, sizes beards or muffs and feathers on the leg.
OK, enough with talking about why people raise poultry, but people also have other uses for poultry such as showing them in 4-H, state, and national shows. My family has been showing poultry since 2002. My older brother Jason got us into showing all species - turkeys, geese, ducks, and market birds. We decided after a year that we should just stick to one species so we picked market chickens. Taking care of the market chickens is not too bad, depending on how many you plan to raise. There are lots of resources on the raising of market birds. When they're big enough, we move ours to a mobile pen outside and move them every day or two to a new spot on grass. Modern market chickens grow really fast and eat a lot of feed while doing so. They require lots of fresh water as well. By the time they're six weeks old, many "meat chickens" will weigh 5 or more pounds and are ready to be processed. We have ours processed at an inspected poultry processing plant. We sell some of our birds through the county fair, some to friends and the rest we eat ourselves or give to family as gifts.
So remember, when you go to the store to purchase eggs or buy poultry remember the time and care that goes into raising those poultry. Also, if you are at the fair and watching a poultry show, remember the 4-H and FFA members have worked hard and show their animals with pride. They chose that project because they love their poultry.
Brooklyn Dairy Queen
What do chicken families do on Saturday afternoon? They go on peck-nicks. Then there's the famous, why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Joking aside, Wisconsin ranks ninth in agriculture, and 10th in the poultry industry. So why do people raise poultry?
People raise poultry for many different reasons. Poultry are raised for meat and for the eggs they produce, but also are just raised to be pets. Before deciding if you really want to raise poultry you need to figure out a few things before purchasing poultry. The most important question is why do I want to raise poultry? We've gotten a few egg laying chickens and bantams to add to our 4-H projects.
Do you have the money? Do you have the space? Do you have the time to take care of them? What type species do you want: Turkeys? Geese? Ducks? Or chickens and if chickens - what kind? In addition to that, what breed and variety do you want as well?
Oh yes, there is also that question of where do you get your poultry? Answering all of these questions will help you toward being a good poultry owner/producer. On the question of breed, a breed is defined as a group of birds that have common distinctive characteristics. A variety is defined as a subdivision of a breed and birds may have different comb types, feather colors, sizes beards or muffs and feathers on the leg.
OK, enough with talking about why people raise poultry, but people also have other uses for poultry such as showing them in 4-H, state, and national shows. My family has been showing poultry since 2002. My older brother Jason got us into showing all species - turkeys, geese, ducks, and market birds. We decided after a year that we should just stick to one species so we picked market chickens. Taking care of the market chickens is not too bad, depending on how many you plan to raise. There are lots of resources on the raising of market birds. When they're big enough, we move ours to a mobile pen outside and move them every day or two to a new spot on grass. Modern market chickens grow really fast and eat a lot of feed while doing so. They require lots of fresh water as well. By the time they're six weeks old, many "meat chickens" will weigh 5 or more pounds and are ready to be processed. We have ours processed at an inspected poultry processing plant. We sell some of our birds through the county fair, some to friends and the rest we eat ourselves or give to family as gifts.
So remember, when you go to the store to purchase eggs or buy poultry remember the time and care that goes into raising those poultry. Also, if you are at the fair and watching a poultry show, remember the 4-H and FFA members have worked hard and show their animals with pride. They chose that project because they love their poultry.
