I NEED THE BEST IDEAS FOR A WINNING SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT

[frankie5316]

I am going to start my science fair project in october and I really want to win!!

I need great ideas that relate to chickens. I have an incubator! i want something mor advanced than just studying the stages of the development of a chick. I want the best possible project! please help! I will keep you updated and credit who ever gives me ideas and i will credit BYC! please and thank you!

-Frankie

 

[seismic wonder2]

Take it to the next level by discussing genetics and husbandry. If I breed a black rooster with a white hen will the chicks have spots? will they be grey? will some be black and some be white? what will their eggs be like?

What if you breed a sliki rooster with a leghorn hen?

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

I recently read an article in the news about how researchers, using Google Earht, had discovered that cows tend to line up parallel to the magnetic poles when grazing. Perhaps you could discover if chickens, given a choice between roosts aligned magnetically, and those opposed, preferred one over the other. You'd have to make sure that other conditions were the same - same height, material, etc to eliminate other reasons for choosing one roost over the other.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Not sure how you'd mix chickens in this idea..but I won my 7th grade science fair by having a hamster run in a wheel & light a light bulb.

 

[MissPrissy]

You need someone to send you eggs from a variety of Blue/Black/Splash chickens. Orpingtons, silkies, Araucanas, etc.

You can do a prediction of what percentage of colors will hatch.

The genetics of blue being a dilution of the black gene.

How the different colored parents will give the chicks specific colors.

Example - Black x splash is always a blue chick, etc.

Oh, you can do soooooooo much!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
That's a good idea...but what happens if some don't hatch? I wish I had some laying right now...the "Lemon Blue" cochins are ALWAYS fun to see how they turn out! I had one blue, one lavender splash & three lemon blues!

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
That is always the risk we take when we hatch.

I would say try to get a bator full of eggs from different sources.

 

[seminolewind]

Collect hatching eggs from the same hen. Pick out some really pointy eggs, and some really rounded eggs. Mark and incubate and see if the rounded eggs are all female. Then look some other wive'tales up and test for male and female as you go along. I'm sure you can come up with alot of choices for theories on how to get more females, LOL. Might be interesting. I'm sure you can get alot of input here too.

 

[flakey chick]

A genetics type project is best with lots and lots of chicks and time. If your folks are ok with that, then more power to you.

You might do some type of behavioral project: Attempts to train them to do things or effects of (condition) on (behavior). The effect of light on egg laying has been studied extensively but there are many others you could try.

Maybe you could try correlating various factors with which chicks turn out to be boys VS girls. Compare growth rates of chicks in regular light to those raised under red light, etc.

 

[tomstephens]

You could also go an entirely different direction from hatching/genetics. I don't know if you have the available resources for this, but it could be interesting.

The Effects of Chickens on the natural eco systems. Maybe make 3 small pens, 3 medium pens and 3 large pens. For each size, you have one control with no chickens, one with one or two bantams and one with one or two standards. Take soil samples. Look at the different species of bug and plants in each pen. Then take photos everyday showing the affects of the chicken on their pen as the project continues. Take soil samples once a week and catalogue bug and plant species once a week.

Anyway, I think you get the idea. I think it'd be a great project.

-Tom