This year at St. Louis High School, Mr. Bernia’s Animal Science classes are raising 150 Broiler chickens as a part of the Michigan FFA Broiler Contest. They will raise them until they reach eight weeks old then they will kill and process each bird. 

Bernia, the Agricultural teacher at SLHS, says, “Following the processing of our chickens, we will be donating 50 to local food pantries and shelters to help those who are less fortunate. The remainder will be sold as a fundraiser for the Animal Science class to continue to be able to do more cool projects.” He added, “I am most excited for five of our students to be able to compete at the Michigan FFA Broiler Contest. I really want to bring home the Zindell Trophy! I am least excited about all the poop!” 

Skylar Rodriguez, a senior in animal science, stated, “ I am most looking forward to seeing the chickens everyday and learning more about them. I am not looking forward to the end of the project when they all die.”

According to MarketWatch, “America’s main meat of choice is chicken, which makes up about half of the meat we eat. Consumption of the bird is at its highest level ever, with Americans eating an average of 89 pounds a year each versus 54 pounds for beef and 50 pounds for pork.”

Once everything is finished, Animal Science will have a barbeque for their class. The chickens are one week old, so seven more weeks to go!