Interested in getting started in backyard poultry? Had chickens for a while and looking for some experienced information from a poultry extension agent? Want to get into hatching eggs, or you've tried and not had a great hatch rate? This spring, N.C. Cooperative Extension is offering programming to help you grow your flock!
2023 Workshops
Workshops will be offered in partnership with the Haywood County Public Library and as an educational program just through N.C. Cooperative Extension. The programs offered at the library will be 'snippets' to get you interested and informed; whereas the programs offered at the Haywood Ag Center will be more in-depth and focused on folks seriously into (or want to get into) backyard poultry.
Workshops on Backyard Poultry will be presented by our Area Specialized Agent in Poultry, Lauren Greene. Egg incubation and hatching workshops (including Hatching School) will be presented by N.C. Cooperative Extension, Haywood County Extension Director, Sally Dixon.
Registration
Hatching School Information
Our Hatching School will include information on everything you need to know about hatching eggs at home and getting your hatch rates over 75%! Sally Dixon, Haywood County Extension Director, has hatche
d over 1,000 eggs in the past five years in a variety of incubators and settings.
You will learn a lot during Hatching School including:
- a variety of incubators --- from simple foam incubators to professional cabinet incubators and everything in between
- how to fertility test eggs
- egg sourcing
- what happens each day during the 21-day incubation process
- candling eggs and what to look for to identify developing embryos
- the hatching process
- correcting foot deformities & culling sick chicks
- troubleshooting poor hatches
Registration Information
All programs offered at the Haywood County Public Library are FREE and do not have registration requirements. Please contact Kathy Olsen at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville with questions.Programs offered at the Haywood Ag Center require pre-registration and payment. Payment can be made with credit/debit cards (only via Eventbrite) or exact cash or check during regular business hours at the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Haywood County Center. Checks need to be made out to the NC Agricultural Foundation and can be mailed to our office at 589 Raccoon Rd. Waynesville, NC 28786. No refunds are allowed.
Registration Links for Backyard Poultry Programs:
