Foundations of Chicken Care

This unit introduces essential knowledge and decision-making skills for establishing and maintaining a small flock, including legal requirements, bird anatomy, housing, feeding, biosecurity, basic reproduction, breed selection, and cost considerations. Students will learn to assess site and housing options, plan flock needs, and implement preventative disease, pest, and predator controls in preparation for deeper production and management topics in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze Texas legal, regulatory, and local ordinance considerations affecting small-scale and backyard poultry operations and apply those findings to a proposed flock plan
• Evaluate housing, location, bedding, and equipment options and select an appropriate housing design that meets welfare, climate, and budget constraints for a specified flock size
• Apply basic husbandry practices—including feeding strategies, nest and brooder setup, breed selection (meat, egg, or dual-purpose), and cost estimation—to develop a written care and production plan
• Demonstrate and evaluate biosecurity, disease prevention, pest and predator control measures, and decision thresholds for treatment or veterinary referral, including response considerations for avian influenza risk