Weather, Light, & Egg Data Collection Experiment
Hello! to all science students who will be helping us collect this necessary data. This will greatly help Gabey's Smart Chicks business in further developing her breeding plans for 2014!
This 2013 experiment will over our Winter and into our Spring quarters, Jan. 1- Mar. 9, 2013.
Your Science Facts:
Chickens are just like any other animal, in that they need a break from all the work they do year round. And just like other animals, there are many variations in how much and how often they do this work. For the purpose of our experiment, we will be looking at our two different breeds of chickens to learn more about their own variations.
The first is fairly obvious as we have shown you in their eggs; Marans lay chocolate brown eggs and pure bred Ameraucanas lay blue. The Marans are laying very slowly (only 1 hen right now) and the 2 Ameraucanas have taken a break for the winter. We need to learn how long and under what conditions do these breeds begin to lay consistantly.
There are 4 main factors that are huge in deciding how consistant these hens will lay. What they eat and their general health. And for our experiment, weather and light. Gabey will be taking care of the first two and you will be recording the information for the last two; Weather & Light.
Chickens need a minimum of 12 hours of sunlight, with most hens needing 18-21 hours of sunlight to fully produce 1 egg. Of course in the winter, there's not only less sunlight but it is also colder. That means that much of their energy that would go towards egg production, instead will go towards staying warm, molting (sheading feathers so that new one can grow in), and sleeping.
Hypothetically, consistantly adding artificial light to extend their day, like commercial poultry farms do, gives chickens the opportunity to produce their eggs a little faster. We will be recording what our chickens are currently doing as the light changes through the season to see how natural exposure to sunlight affects their egg production. With this data we will be able to see how much light our chickens need to produce their eggs. This will determine weather Gabey's Smart Chicks will spend additional money & energy on producing artifical light next year to supplement for weather conditions in the hopes of producing more eggs.
What you will need:
You will be creating a data table with your science teachers that will record the date, daily temperature, how much sunlight was available, and how many eggs were laid for the day, for every day of the week, Monday-Sunday. Gabey will be posting how many eggs she has collected in the evenings after-school here on her website. You will need to make sure that you record this information on the correct day-including weekends! Gabey will only keep this data up for a week, beginning each week again on Sundays.
Learn More Here!
Day Light Hours: http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/97164.aspx
Weather: http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov//
This 2013 experiment will over our Winter and into our Spring quarters, Jan. 1- Mar. 9, 2013.
Your Science Facts:
Chickens are just like any other animal, in that they need a break from all the work they do year round. And just like other animals, there are many variations in how much and how often they do this work. For the purpose of our experiment, we will be looking at our two different breeds of chickens to learn more about their own variations.
The first is fairly obvious as we have shown you in their eggs; Marans lay chocolate brown eggs and pure bred Ameraucanas lay blue. The Marans are laying very slowly (only 1 hen right now) and the 2 Ameraucanas have taken a break for the winter. We need to learn how long and under what conditions do these breeds begin to lay consistantly.
There are 4 main factors that are huge in deciding how consistant these hens will lay. What they eat and their general health. And for our experiment, weather and light. Gabey will be taking care of the first two and you will be recording the information for the last two; Weather & Light.
Chickens need a minimum of 12 hours of sunlight, with most hens needing 18-21 hours of sunlight to fully produce 1 egg. Of course in the winter, there's not only less sunlight but it is also colder. That means that much of their energy that would go towards egg production, instead will go towards staying warm, molting (sheading feathers so that new one can grow in), and sleeping.
Hypothetically, consistantly adding artificial light to extend their day, like commercial poultry farms do, gives chickens the opportunity to produce their eggs a little faster. We will be recording what our chickens are currently doing as the light changes through the season to see how natural exposure to sunlight affects their egg production. With this data we will be able to see how much light our chickens need to produce their eggs. This will determine weather Gabey's Smart Chicks will spend additional money & energy on producing artifical light next year to supplement for weather conditions in the hopes of producing more eggs.
What you will need:
You will be creating a data table with your science teachers that will record the date, daily temperature, how much sunlight was available, and how many eggs were laid for the day, for every day of the week, Monday-Sunday. Gabey will be posting how many eggs she has collected in the evenings after-school here on her website. You will need to make sure that you record this information on the correct day-including weekends! Gabey will only keep this data up for a week, beginning each week again on Sundays.
Learn More Here!
Day Light Hours: http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/97164.aspx
Weather: http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov//