The Hillsboro FFA Chapter purchased 100 chickens for the business class and the livestock class to use for a class project.

For the business classes they have split the chickens into two groups — one for each class. Before the chickens arrived at the school the students had to make layouts for the business plan of how the environment was going to be set up for the chickens and how much it would cost to raise them to be processed. The students brought in some items they had to build houses for the chickens, and when the chickens arrived they were split between the two business classes.

From the time they got dropped off until it is time for them to be processed. The students will take care of the chickens and keep records of feed and expenses throughout the project. Every day when the students take care of the chickens they are to clean and refill water, clean and refill the feeders, scrape out dirty shavings and put new in, and make sure all animals remain healthy each day.

The chickens will be processed on April 20. The students have not proposed what the plan is after they are processed, but they will have an answer soon.

Along with having 100 chickens bought by the FFA, there have been chicken and duck eggs in the incubator in the classroom. On March 13, when the first bell rang the FFA students heard chirping in the classroom. When they opened the incubator there was a baby duck. They took the little duckling out of the incubator and put it in a safe pen with a heat lamp and started it on feed and water.

Along with the baby duck the members have had some chickens hatching that will be raised with the ducks until they are grown enough to be separated into different groups.

Submitted by Riley Collins, Hillsboro FFA reporter.