The Cream of the Crop Competition invites students in NSW secondary and tertiary education institutions to create a PowerPoint or a video which can be published on the web and win $500. The competition invites NSW secondary and tertiary students to promote the importance of agriculture to their peers, to encourage a better understanding of agriculture as well as promote agricultural careers and rural life.

1. By Katy Donovan

4.  There are many management practices that should be followed if you
want to own a chicken. One is ‘Blinkers’. This is that the use of blinkers
or other vision impairing equipment should not be used with out
veterinary advise. They are not to be used in caged birds, they
interfere with the access to water and food.
 Dubbing or Desnooding is another practice. This should only be done by
a competent operator soon after hatching. It is not to be performed
on broiler birds.
 Toe removal prevents injury to hens during mating. It is on male
breeding birds and may be removed within 3 days of hatching. It is the
terminal segment of each in-ward pointing toe.

6. What to feed Chickens

7. What to feed Chickens cont…

8. Egg Production

9.  One of the diseases chickens can get is egg
peritonitis. This is when the peritoneum
becomes inflamed due to an infection from
bacteria. Things like sudden death, loss of
appetite, weakness, depression and yolk
coloured droppings are some of the
symptoms of egg peritonitis. Some chickens
have been treated with medication like
antibiotics to treat this disease. Some other
ways are having fluid drawn off but it is
often better to have the chicken put to
sleep. There are no ways to prevent this,
only treat it.

10. External Parasites-
Poultry Lice
 Poultry lice are found on the
chicken’s skin and feathers. They
feed on blood, dry skin scales
and feather parts. If your
chicken has poultry lice, the
easiest treatment is dusting your
chickens with a proprietary lice
powder. This will kill off any
living lice but will need to be
repeated 7 days later to catch
any eggs that the first lot of lice
left behind. All your chickens
may need to be treated if one of
them has it.

11. Want more chickens?
Why keep a Rooster?
For starters, roosters are
male chickens and if you
want your hens to give birth
to beautiful tiny little baby
chickens and keep your
chicken farm growing, you
will need a few roosters in
your chicken farm.