Here are the answers to the questions on the worksheet about the life cycle of a chicken.
1.
21 days
(It takes about 3 weeks for an egg to hatch.)
2.
The yolk
(The chick eats the yellow part inside the egg while it is growing.)
3.
About 6 months
(A hen usually starts laying eggs when she is roughly half a year old.)
4.
They eat worms, seeds, and insects.
(Chickens are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and small animals/bugs.)
5.
No
(Roosters do not lay eggs; only female chickens, called hens, lay eggs.)
6.
The hen sits on them to keep them warm.
(This is called "brooding." The eggs need heat to grow.)
7.
Yes
(A chick can peck its way out of the shell all by itself without help.)
8.
The comb
(This is the red, fleshy growth on top of the chicken's head.)
9.
Feathers
(When chicks hatch, they have soft fluff. Feathers grow in later.)
10.
The crop
(This is a small pouch in their throat where food goes first before digestion.)
11.
About 5 to 10 years
(While they can live longer, most farm chickens live around this long.)
12.
To scratch the ground for food and dust bathe to clean their feathers.
(Scratching helps them find bugs and seeds. Dust baths help remove parasites.)
13.
Gravel or small stones
(Since chickens don't have teeth, they swallow stones to help grind up food in their gizzard.)
14.
They sleep on roosts (high perches) to stay safe from predators.
(In the wild, sleeping high up keeps them away from animals like foxes.)
15.
Brown, white, blue, green, or speckled
(The color depends on the breed of the chicken.)
16.
They can run quite fast, up to 9 miles per hour.
(Some breeds can even fly short distances over fences!)
17.
Fertilized eggs
(An egg must be fertilized by a rooster to turn into a baby chick.)
Parent Tip: Review the logic above to help your child master the concept of in the womb national geographic worksheet.
