Interest in keeping backyard poultry has been increasing steadily with a huge jump in growth around the COVID pandemic and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak due to egg price increases and egg shortages.  We have also see a big jump in the number of 4H kiddos who want to keep chickens and turkeys for 4H livestock projects.  Many cities and municipalities require a certification before they allow you to keep backyard poultry.  Lots of people just want to learn more about this for their own family and personal food security.  Maybe this is the perfect holiday gift for that hard to buy family member.  Whatever your reason, we have you covered.

This self-paced course is expected to take 2-3 hours to complete and includes the following 6 modules:

• Getting Started
• Brooding, Basic Husbandry & Nutrition
• Housing
• Egg Production
• Maximizing Health
• Biosecurity

After completing this course, learners will be able to:

• Identify rules and regulations relevant to raising backyard poultry in their state, city, or municipality
• Source healthy birds to raise in their backyard
• Apply concepts of basic husbandry, nutrition, and housing to successfully raise backyard poultry.
• Explain how eggs are produced
• Practice safe handling of birds and eggs
• Recognize health-related abnormalities of poultry through physical examination
• Describe the roles of of veterinary care and biosecurity in maximizing poultry health