Students from the Animal Sciences 103 class, called “Working with Farm Animals,” joined Poultry Research Farm Manager Chet Utterback in helping with a chicken hatching lab Tuesday afternoon at the Poultry Research Farm, located just southeast of campus town in Urbana.

The chance to visit a working poultry farm as part of a class is a unique opportunity for students studying Animal Sciences.

“As far as I know, we are the only institution that allows students to do labs on the farms,” Utterback said.

The poultry farm is just one of the places where the students visit, with other labs for the class occurring at the swine, beef, dairy and sheep farms on campus.

Utterback led students through the entire process from egg to chick, with students gearing up in jumpsuits and boots to collect eggs directly from the farm. After cleaning and inspecting eggs, students got to check out some of the newly-born chicks up close. The facility had hatched around 1,200 chicks in the last day, with many being sold to outside parties. Customers bought everything from a handful to hundreds of chicks, with baby chicks going to such places as farms and other universities, such as Iowa State University.

Starting next year, Animal Sciences 103, which is currently an elective, will become a required class for animal science majors, allowing more students who might not have a background in livestock to get an up-close look at farm animals.