I decided my future job today. Chicken Scientist!

[crait]

Today, I found out, whenever my family was over, that there is, infact, such thing as a chicken scientist.
I live in Texas and there is a college here (If you haven't heard yet) called A&M. Guess what!
They actually offer Poultry Science! I decided that's what I want to do because I really, really love chickens! I love learning about them and I wouldn't mind playing working with them everyday of my life! I'm already taking a lot of biology/wildlife science courses at my school because I like learning about stuff like that.

I was really leaning towards computer/software programming because I already program video games and programs for fun. I also wouldn't mind being a psychologist because I like helping people and listening to people's problems.

What are your opinions on this?
Know anyone who are chicken scienists? Are you one?

 

[speckledhen]

Doctor Peter Brown from FeatherFanciers and First State Vet Supply has a PhD in Poultry Science. If you help as many people as he has, youll be doing great!

Not sure what you'll do with it, but good luck with your career choice.

 

[crait]

Quote:
I want to see all my options.
I wouldn't really want to be a doctor, but that would still be pretty cool.
Maybe I could 'merge' my two job ideas together and be a chicken psychologist?

 

[speckledhen]

Well, Dr. Brown is not a medical doctor, to my knowledge. He just knows chickens! Not sure about the chicken psychologist, LOL.

 

[crait]

Quote:
That's what I meant; A medical chicken doctor.

 

[gumpsgirl]

That would be great! There aren't enough poultry specialists in this world for sure! Good luck to you.

 

[Rosalind]

Which big poultry company did you want to work for: Tyson, Perdue, Aviagen, Hendrix Genetics, Cobb-Vantress, Hy-Line, Big Dutchman, Schering-Plough Animal...? Your other option will be USDA or FDA work, and I gotta say, they are not really hiring due to lack of funds. Many of their job postings are years old because they lack congressional funding. Things could change by the time you're out of college, though.

I'm a medical scientist working on human diseases, but my employer has a vet division and I know what goes on there, more or less. If you stop at a Bachelor's, you'll pretty much be a technician forever. If you like being a tech, more power to you, but most techs get frustrated with the fact that your career more or less peaks after about three years. You become un-promote-able due to your lack of graduate school. So most folks I know who started out with a BSc in some kind of science do end up going to some sort of grad school eventually. I know a few people who went to law school and ended up working in intellectual property law. Another option is getting an MBA and going into management. Vet school is another possibility, although I warn you that it is REALLY hard to get into vet school--you must have absolutely perfect grades, high test scores, and lots of volunteer experience working with all sorts of animals, not just chickens, cats and dogs. Or you can go the traditional route, which is to follow your bachelor's with an MS or a PhD.

In these modern times, being an ag scientist means you have to learn quite a lot of microbiology and genetics. And much more complicated genetics than the blue x blue = some blue, some black, some splash type of Punnett Squares we do for feather coloration or comb shape. You may find this all extremely interesting...or not. It will depend on your experience and the skill of the A&M professors you get.

Personally, I started out being interested in human diseases by way of a pre-med major, but after one rather depressing summer job found out that I really don't like dealing with actual sick people. I still find the actual pathology of disease, and putting together the puzzle pieces to cure it, fascinating. So I went to grad school for more of a bioengineering education.

 

[dlhunicorn]

If you'd like a little taste of what that entails then visit my chicken library (link below in sig) where I have categorized and stored a lot of the info and articles I have found on the web (poultry science and veterinary sources)
(whereas most forums are open to view , some I have had to restrict to reg members because of spam issues)

 

[Oblio13]

I majored in Babe-ology, but chickens would have been better at least in terms of alimony.

 

[DuckyBoys]

My degree is in equine science with a lot of animal science thrown in for good measure. I went to Colorado State which has the best undergrad equine program in the country. No offense to A and M.

We didn't do much poultry at all, a little in the nutrition classes but that was it.

The sceince was difficult at times, yes, but in my opinion this education choice was fantastic. There are LOTS of job opportunities, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, in animal science. Poultry science included.

Count on taking a lot of science. If you like biology and molecular biology you'll like animal science. Molecular isn't that hard so don't let the name fool you. It is a lot of diagrams to memorize, pathways and stuff. If you're a visual person mo bio is cool because they use a lot of visuals to help you understand. I don't care what anyone says, biochemistry is the best class ever. Want to know the secret to life - study biochemistry. It's worth it.

Classes that I took were:

Animal science
Bio I and II
Chemistry
Organic Chemsitry
Biochemistry
Animal Breeding
Anmal nutrition
Equine reproduction
Equine nutrition
Mocrobiology
Cellular biology
Practicum classes such as industry, farrier science, foalmanagement, jumping etc
Endocrinology
Animal metabolism
Anatomy and Phys
Physics
Developmental biology

Don't forget the calculus. Which wasn't hard either. Waaaaaay better than algebra in my opinion. And don't worry if you're not already good at these subjects, the cool thing about college is the tutoring center!

If you work hard you can do anything.

In addition is was a great foundation for vet sci and/or grad school should you choose to go on in your studies.

Good luck!