Career in Poultry Genetics

[Teach97]

I graduated from Texas A&M. I had several friends in the pultry science program. 10+ years ago it was a good field with plenty of opportunities. Not so sure now. Back then they had some issues getting folks to finish their degree programs because of job offers...it and turf grass were the fastest folks to get jobs out of the ag group. Might want to look there. Everyone was going to Tyson, Pilgrims, or other major producer. It was about large scale production and efficiency.

 

[CityChicker]

Really, to be honest with you, you are looking at a life of poverty. LOL, I hate to be negative, but it is a tough field. With just an undergrad, your options will be severely limited. If you get an undergrad in something broad like biology, you will have even less options.

You could do a poultry science or ag science undergrad (although as you noted, not many schools offer poultry science). From there, you can get a masters or pursue something like vet school. Vet school is *extremely* competitive though. If you want to become an avian vet, your looking at another four years on top of the first eight. After all that, you will be in a profession that pays less than some BA or BS level degrees.

I hate to be negative, but working with animals is tough. You have to be very devoted to your studies and willing to make huge sacrifices. If you opt to go the poultry science route (rather than something like DVM), your options will be somewhat limited. The majority of the jobs are in industry, for example meat or egg production. Good luck on your path though! I say get into undergrad and then reevaluate your long term goals after a couple years.

 

[digitS']

"Employment of agricultural and food scientists is expected to grow 9 percent between 2006 and 2016, about as fast as the average for all occupations."
"Opportunities should be good for agricultural and food scientists with a master’s degree, particularly those seeking applied research positions in a laboratory."
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos046.htm

Animal Scientists
Conduct research in the genetics, nutrition, reproduction, growth, and development of domestic farm animals. Mean annual wage, $54,290
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes191011.htm

"Highly skilled geneticists have replaced the individual farmer in the reproduction of today's chickens and turkeys.

Large breeding farms employ staff geneticists to assist in and direct their breeding programs . . . These positions are not 'lack-luster' jobs'"
North Carolina State University

Steve's digits

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
You're welcome; I am a former college professor and that was a sort of targeted version of part of my usual advising-students spiel LOL

I am most definitely more into genetics then genetic engineering as the creation of different breeds interests me.

Um, be aware there are probably somewhere between "no" and "zero" paying jobs for that

If the whole entire field interests you, you can certainly work on color genetics and creating new breeds and so forth as a personal hobby -- possibly a publishable one, although I wouldn't hold my breath -- but what people are going to PAY you to do is to study resistance to <germ of the week> or optimizing broiler performance in cruddy conditions or things like that. Or if you are more on the general genetics/evolutionary biology end of things rather than agricultural sciences, things like using molecular sequencing data to infer evolutionary origins of <breeds, species, whatever>. (There are not all that many of the latter type jobs available, mind).

I might look into talking to somebody up there about pontential jobs in the poultry feild as well.

DEFINITELY worthwhile. In fact it would not be a terrible idea to write nice SENT BY SNAIL MAIL, BUT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADD'Y ENCLOSED letters to people in the industry, too. Basically what you wnt to know are things like, what sorts of jobs do they see as realistically being available/hot in the industry in 5-10 years, what do those jobs involve doing, and what education/credentials/experience would it take to be a strong applicant.

Does anybody have a clue what the starting pay is like for industry jobs, or university jobs? I am more into industry the university as I have no desire to teach students.

Dunno about the poultry industry but I've had students get jobs in the environmental monitoring biz and they seemed to start in the range of $25-35k (that's US$, late nineties and first few yrs of new millennium, dunno bout now). Can go up briskly with experience, in some cases.

In my sort of biological field (dunno bout poultry science), being a lab technician with a bachelor's or masters degree would be a bit lower salary on average, and less possibility for advancement (again, #s from '90s ish).

No point in even contemplating professors' salaries (they start a bit higher than the above) because you need a PhD *and* there are generally a jillion applicants for each position, and darn few positions open per year.

IME in biology, and I cannot believe that poultry science is any much different, a BIG determinant of how easy it is to get a job, and how agreeable a job you can get, is how much (if any) field-specific research and/or employment you get during college. Spending a couple years working in someone's lab, even if for peanuts or for free, or doing an undergraduate research project on something related to what you want a job in, or even 'just' a summer or part-time job doing something, ANYTHING, related to the field, is really a big seller when you graduate and are looking for jobs or graduate programs. So that is my biggest advice -- don't rely on coursework to 'certify' you to do <whatever>, go out of your way to get actual working experience in the field, ideally with someone well respected in the field.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[tellynpeep]

Quote:
Poultry veterinarians are employed by industry (think Perdue Chicken, etc.) They won't be working in small flocks or pet chickens. If your pet chicken is sick, your best bet is an avian vet, or one who has an interest in chickens. Older vets have a pretty broad education and should be pretty qualified to handle most problems. The newer grads out there have a narrower focus and quite likely have never worked on a bird at all. I'm a small animal vet and, while I don't specialize in chickens, I can fake it if I have to (yeah, I'm an old geezer too..)

 

[tellynpeep]

As far as the original poster's question:

If you are seriously interested in genetics, you'll need a solid foundation in biology first. You can concentrate in genetics, but a real specialty would be a subject for grad school.
If your primary interest is in poultry, you could consider an animal science program at a good ag school.
There are lots of opportunities in genetics, but poultry genetics specifically is a pretty narrow field, and you may have to create your own niche.
Good luck!

 

[CityChicker]

Lots of good advice in this thread! I can tell you as a student right now that is a little ahead of you in the process, even getting into a good school is tough!! Do NOT allow yourself to think it will be easy. I know so many other students that are in hopeless situations because they they didn't focus enough on grades and EC's.

I would really advise against BIO as an undergrad degree. You have got to have something different to set you apart in the sea of applicants. Undergrad course work is so similar for several degrees, I would go with something different than the generic BIO degree that 90% of your classmates will have.

Whatever you decide to do, work as a research associate, shadow a vet (or someone in a similar field if you can find the opportunity), do one (or more) undergrad honor's thesis. Positions in this field are few and far between and the pay relative to education just sucks.

I would check out the Student Doctor Network forums too. They don't have a poultry forum, but there is a vet forum where you will find other undergrads in similar programs.

 

[MoodyChicken]

I was just talking to someone about this! There's a loooot more than you'd think. I thought there'd be nothing, but there's actually quite a lot, especially when it comes to genetics and virology. Something to consider though... the majority, if not all, of such a career is lab work, lab right ups, and tests. So that kinda turned me down.

I'd rather get down and dirty on the farm so I ended up choosing the path of a livestock veterinarian. Where do you plan on going to college?

 

[seedcorn]

30 plus years ago, this is what I wanted to do.

1) Have to have PHD.
1a) Better enjoy math/probabilities as that is your job as a geneticist. You will be more of a mathmatician than biologist.
2) Very few jobs and those that are there are VERY hi pressure.
3) Do you want to live where the poultry industry is?
4) Good thing about Ag is always have work, bad thing is pay over all is low and hours long.

I enjoy working in Ag but there are drawbacks. I highly suggest you shadow some people in Ag to see what it is like. There are no Monday to Friday 8 to 4 jobs in Ag. If there are, I've been too stupid to find them--& that is highly probable.

 

[Henk69]

Hi,

I am a trained molecular biologist/biochemist. Chickengenetics is only my hobby.
I work as a programmer for a commercial bussiness now.
Need I say more?

You might find a few real geneticists @ the-coop.org