Poultry Industry Teaching Resource

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Worksheets

9
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Looking at Eggs Name______________
Most of the eggs we eat come from chickens. A female chicken is
called a _______. A male is called a ________ or cockerel and the
babies are called _______. A young hen is known as a _________.
Other eggs that are eaten are quail, duck and goose eggs.
1. What egg colours did you observe in the activity? _________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The producers class all eggs that are not white, as brown.
2. What is the most popular egg colour in Australia? _________________________
What is the most popular egg colour in America? ____________________________
Is there any difference in the content of eggs with different coloured shells? _______
3. Not all the eggs laid by hens are the same size. Explain why this happens?
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____________________________________________________________________

4. Some birds lay round eggs and others lay eggs with one very pointy end. The
eggs of hens are different. In the box, colour the shape of a hen‟s egg brown.

5. Eggs are protected by their hard ____________. This is made up mainly of a type
of calcium carbonate called calcite. Shells are rigid but ________________________
6.

Add the following

words to the diagram.
Structure of an
yolk, albumen, shell, egg
air cell, chalaza cord,
germinal disc, shell
membrane.

Colour the yolk

yellow.

Activity 1 10 Science and English

Poultry Industry Teaching Resource
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7. Research the importance of each of the following parts of an egg.
yolk ________________________________________________________________
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albumen _____________________________________________________________
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shell ________________________________________________________________
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air cell ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
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chalaza cord __________________________________________________________
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germinal disc _________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________
shell membrane _______________________________________________________
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8. Complete the drawing to show a fresh egg in the bowl of water.

As the egg gets older the air cell

gets bigger causing the egg to
____________ in a bowl of water
however, thin or cracked shells will
also cause the egg to rise slightly.

9. Interesting Egg Facts

Which large Australian bird lays big, green eggs? _______________________
Which bird lays a pale blue egg? ________. Hint: The colour duck egg blue is a
popular paint colour.
Which bird lays the smallest egg? _______________________
Which New Zealand bird, about the size of a chicken, lays an egg six times the size
of a chicken egg? __________

Activity 1 11 Science and English

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Science Experiments 1
1. Freshness Test
You will need
eggs
glass bowl
water
Instructions
Half fill the bowl with water.
Place the eggs gently in the bowl.
Explanation
The fresh eggs will sink.
Less fresh eggs will float slightly because the air cell becomes larger with age.
Older eggs are still useful for cooking cakes and biscuits.
Rotten eggs however need to be discarded.
This test is only a guide as weak, cracked or light shells can also cause an egg to float.
The use-by date on the carton is the best guide of freshness.
2. Boiled Egg Test
You will need
boiled egg
fresh egg
smooth level surface
paper towel
Instructions
Mark the boiled egg with a pencil.
Carefully spin the eggs, one at a time.
Observe the difference.
Ask students to suggest reasons for the differences.
Spin the eggs and then put your finger on them to stop them.
Observe what happens when you try to stop the spinning of the eggs.
Explanation
The boiled egg will spin faster. The raw egg will spin slowly. The reason for this has to do with the
insides. The boiled egg is one solid piece therefore the whole egg spins in the same direction. The
raw egg has liquid inside which moves separately from the shell. The movement of the inside of the
raw egg keeps the whole egg from spinning quickly.
When trying to stop the eggs from spinning the boiled egg should stop immediately. The raw egg
will keep spinning for a moment because the liquid inside the egg will keep moving.

Have paper towel ready in case of accidents.

Activity 1 12 Science
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Chicken Sayings
Teacher Information
Use the list of chicken sayings to develop activities involving reading, researching, interpreting,
illustrating, and oral presentation.
Suggested Activities
1. Students locate their own chicken sayings and present to the class orally, with their
meanings.
2. As above, but illustrate in their workbooks.
3. Compile a class list of chicken sayings.
4. Each student is given a number of sayings from the list below, to explain and illustrate in
cartoon form. Use A4 or Art paper. Divide the sheet into squares for each illustration. Ask
students to write the saying at the bottom of each cartoon.
5. Chicken saying from other countries could also be researched.
6. Students mime the sayings.
Chicken Sayings
Don‟t put all your eggs in the same basket. Being cocky.
Like a chook with its head chopped off. Wake when the rooster crows.
Don‟t count your chickens before they hatch. Strutting around.
Strut your stuff. He‟s a bad egg.
Playing chicken. Stop crowing.
Chickens come home to roost. No spring chicken.
The rooster makes all the noise but the hen rules the roost. Nest egg.
The rooster rules the roost but the hen rules the rooster. Chicken fed.
A hen‟s party. As scarce as hen‟s teeth.
Like walking on egg shells. You‟ll be left with egg on your face.
There‟s a pecking order. Feather your nest.
Stop preening. A feather in your cap.
Fine feathered friends. Cock of the walk.
Fussing like an old hen. Don‟t brood over it.
Not all it is cracked up to be. Chick flick.
Feeling cooped up. He rules the roost.
When chickens had teeth. Flown the coop.
Being clucky. Like a mother hen.
Can‟t boil an egg. Stuck in my craw.

Other bird sayings

The early bird gets the worm.
Sing like a bird.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Like water off a duck‟s back.
Lovely weather for ducks.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Activity 1 13 English
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Measuring Eggs Name: ___________________
Length

1. Estimate the length of a chicken egg. __________ cm.

2. Estimate the width of a chicken egg. __________ cm.
3. Estimate the height of a chicken egg. __________ cm.

Compare your estimates with another student and revise if necessary.

4. Measure the length of a chicken egg. __________ cm.

5. Measure the width of a chicken egg. __________ cm.
6. Measure the height of a chicken egg. __________ cm.

Mass

7. Use a set of kitchen scales to measure the mass of an egg carton. _________ g.
8. Use a set of kitchen scales to measure the mass of a dozen eggs. _________ g.
9. Estimate the mass of one egg. ________ g. How did you make this estimate?

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

10. Measure the mass of one egg. ____ g. What was the difference from your
estimate? _______ g. Estimate the mass of ½ dozen eggs. ______ g.

Money

11. If a dozen eggs cost $4.80, how would you use a calculator to find the cost of
each egg? _______________________
12. If you used 6 eggs to make scrambled eggs, provide two ways the cost of the
eggs could be calculated. ____ x _____ = $______ , _____ ÷ _____ = $_____
13. If a recipe used 3 eggs, provide two ways the cost of eggs could be calculated
_____ x _____ = $______ , ________ ÷ ______ = $_______.
14. If you bought 4 dozen eggs, how much would they cost? ________________

Activity 1 14 Mathematics
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Spelling Activities
Choose the correct word
1. My brown ________________ has a beautiful, long tail. (rabbit, truck, rooster)
2. The _______________ of chickens were scratching in the farmyard. (flock, swarm, herd)
3. The ________________ farmer had lots of chickens. (chairs, poultry, books)
4. I like tiny, fluffy ____________. (chicks, swim, fast)
5. The nest was lined with soft ______________ . (wire, lay, feathers)
Word building
Add a prefix or suffix to make new words. (prefixes – un, non) (suffixes - s, es, ed, ing, ly)
e.g. cluck – clucks, clucked, clucking
crow ________________________________________________________________________
scratch ______________________________________________________________________
crow ________________________________________________________________________
roost ________________________________________________________________________
lay _________________________________________________________________________
Sentence writing
Write each of the following words in sentences that show you understand their meaning.
organic _____________________________________________________________________
healthy _____________________________________________________________________
mature ______________________________________________________________________
domestic ____________________________________________________________________
speckled ____________________________________________________________________
Scrambled Words
Unscramble the following words from List 5
cfnee _________ durga _________ ofrol ________ hggtnili __________ aroetdrp _________
Silent Letters
Comb has a silent “b”. Write five other words that have a silent „b‟ as the last letter.
1. ________________ 2. __________________ 3. ___________________
4. ________________ 5. __________________ N.B. Not from the lists.
Riddles
Choose five words from the list and write a simple riddle for each one. Read to the class who
write down their correctly spelt answer
Who am I? Who am I?
I have a beautiful long tail. I live in a large, cosy barn.
I wake the chickens up in the morning. I laid my first egg today.
I do not lay eggs. The hens clucked loudly.
Who am I? Who am I?
________________________________ ____________________________

Activity 1 15 English
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Alphabetical order
Write your spelling words in alphabetical order, along the lines. One list only.
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Dictionary Meanings
Use a dictionary to find the meanings of the words in bold in the spelling lists.
pullet _______________________________________________________________________
scavenger ____________________________________________________________________
moult _______________________________________________________________________
broody ______________________________________________________________________
organic ______________________________________________________________________
Word families
Write five words ending in „atch‟ as in hatch.
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______________________________________________________________________________
Word Usage
Write sentences using these words correctly. lay, laying and laid.
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________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Spelling Rules /Generalisations
There are many of these. Work through your list or address those your class is having
difficulties with.
Homophones
Underline the correct word from those in the brackets.
The clever hen found a way (threw, through) the barnyard fence.
The farmer had to (saw, sore) the (bored, board) for the new coop.
The egg is graded by (weight, wait) before it is put in the carton.
The wheat fed to chickens is a (serial, cereal).
Homonyms
Write the correct words on the line. (breed, crows, wattle)
This ________ of chicken will _________ next spring.
When that rooster ___________, he is louder than all the _____________ sitting in the tree.
The hen under the _____________ tree has a bright, red ______________.
Synonyms
Words with similar meanings such as big / large. Write synonyms from the lists for
chook ____________ , rooster ___________, spotty _____________, group _____________,
yard ____________, tame ____________, cluck _____________, pen _____________.

Activity 1 16 English
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Antonyms
Words with the opposite meaning such as big / small. Write antonyms from the lists for
black ____________, old _______________, sick ______________, immature ____________
inorganic _______________, hen __________, free-range _____________.
Spelling Bingo
Children write ten words from the class list on a piece of paper. A time limit is set. The
teacher calls out words from the list, and children underline the word if it is on their list.
When they have ten words they call out, Bingo. The words are checked and if all are correct,
the person is declared the winner and can call out the next list for the class.
Word Basketball
Divide the class into two groups. Provide a bucket and a soft ball. Line the teams up facing
each other with the bucket at an appropriate distance from the „in team‟.
The teacher reads a List word out and the first played spells it. If correct, student throws the
ball into the bucket. If they are successful, the team gets a point and the teacher continues.
Swap teams so everyone has a turn.
Word Baseball
Baseball is played in a similar way using three bases and a pitcher. The pitcher calls out the
List words. If correct, the player moves to first base.
Wall List
Write the weekly list or theme words and place on a wall in the class. Encourage the
children to add relevant words to the list as they arise during their activities.
Word Lists
List 1 List 2 List 3 List 4
chicken cluck colour protection
rooster crow white production
cockerel scratch yellow industry
pullet ruffle speckled chemical
poultry roost brown production
flock moult organic vegetarian
chook breed healthy omnivore
comb lay mature oviparous
wattle hatch young system
feather broody domestic consumer

List 5 List 6 List 7 List 8

manure carton growth farmer
barn dozen monitor tractor
fence batch commercial turkey
caged candling reproductive bantam
free-range albumen formation gizzard
guard yolk welfare flighty
floor weight disease warmth
lighting package nutrition cackle
scavenger label standard coop
predator storage behaviour comfort

Activity 1 17 English