Rising to a challenge brings both fun and rewards.
A great way to learn about caring for your chickens, make new friends, and have fun learning is to join a 4-H Poultry club.
You'll have the fun of raising chicks from the time they're one day old.
You will watch them grow and care for them.
You'll need to keep track of their growth and health and how many eggs they produce.
You could even learn how to train a chicken to "strut its stuff" in a Fitting and Showing competition.
Yes, you can train a chicken to accept a lot of handling and to show itself off to its best advantage.
Chickens come in a surprising array of colors and sizes.
They can be a startling white, deep red, black and shiny, and rich brown.
Their egg shells can be white or brown, which you can find in the grocery store, but they can also be shades of blue or green.
Imagine bringing the first blue eggs into the house to share with your family.
This is an easy way to make friends.
You spend time with other people who are curious about chickens and want to learn more.
Together you learn and practice caring for your chickens.
When something doesn't go right, everyone helps to figure out the problem and come up with a solution.
One of the first things you'll learn is that you need to provide a quality house for your chicken.
Some requirements for a chicken house (or chicken coop) are the same no matter where you live.
Its size needs to match the number of chickens you will raise; it needs to protect from predators like neighborhood dogs and cats plus wild animals like owls and foxes; it needs to be easy to clean and well ventilated; and it needs to keep your chickens warm and dry.
An assortment of chicken house building plans is the best way to start.
The considerations for your chicken house that have more to do with where you live are how to minimize mud or extreme dust; how to protect from extremes of cold and heat; whether additional lighting hours are required to encourage the hens to lay eggs; and the amount of space you have to work with which might vary if you already live on acreage or live in the city.
The neighborhood feed store is a place you'll frequent.
You will have purchased your chicks through this store.
Comparing feeds and prices then measuring the growth, health and production of your chickens will all be part of your project.
There are pre-printed booklets available through the club you join that will tell you what to track and measure.
There is responsibility attached to a 4-H project.
In order to succeed you'll need to properly care for your chickens.
This means keeping their chicken house clean plus keeping fresh food and water available.
Like any animal, when overcrowding or unclean conditions exist the opportunity for disease or even death increases.
The best news is that you're sharing this experience with your friends in the club.
Yes, there's plenty of fun to be had while you're learning all about chickens: breeds, types, proper care.
And plenty of fun when you take your chicken to a contest and show others how well you've cared for them and, in return, how beautiful your chicken is or the great quality of the eggs it produces.
You'll see the rewards of putting time and effort into caring for a fun animal that has a surprising amount of personality.
Contact your 4-H Poultry club today by finding your local Extension Service office, asking at school or asking at local feed stores.