Backyard Chickens Online Course Overview

Interested in raising backyard chickens? Looking to expand your current backyard operation? Enroll in the OSU Extension Backyard Chickens online course to learn best practices for raising and caring for backyard poultry. This self-paced, interactive course includes information on poultry nutrition, health issues, biosecurity practices, egg sales and more.

Both novice and experienced backyard chicken producers are welcome to enroll.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Select the right birds for your needs.
• Choose the right housing and equipment for your birds.
• Describe the best practices for caring for chickens at different stages of life.
• Recognize and prevent common health issues.
• Apply best practices for biosecurity.

Course Outline

You can work on this course any time, 24/7 for up to 30 days. You will watch videos, engage in learning activities and take quizzes. The course is divided into six modules, which can be completed at your own pace. Each module should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

To complete the course, you must access all pages and earn at least 80% on all assessments. A certificate will be available to download after the course is completed.

Total Time Estimate:    3 hours

Topic Overview

• Selecting Your Birds
• Caring for Chicks
• Caring for Chickens
• All about Eggs
• Poultry Health and Disease
• Backyard Poultry and Implications for Public Health

Quick Tips 

• For the best viewing experience, use the Google Chrome browser.
• First-time users will need to respond to a confirmation email from Canvas Catalog.
  • If you miss the email, resetting your password will also work.
• When logging in, use the Public Login option (unless you have OKey credentials.)
• Contact the OSU IT Helpdesk if you need assistance.