We've all seen the "how a baby chick develops" science fair projects. They're cool and informational. A good demonstration of scientific principles.. We would like to do a project that answered a scientific question - ie. "What happens if we do XYZ, and why?" However we're not coming up with very many cool ideas that we could both answer a question, and not also harm the chicks development in the process. Has anyone done something like this? Or have any suggestions? We did pretty well last year with "Are chicks drawn to different colors of feeders" (With a resounding "Maybe, but need a larger sample" conclusion.)
How about a study regarding nutrition of the flock and how it relates to hatch rate, egg size, or chick vigor. Or how about a study regarding egg size and chick vigor. Or how about a study comparing chicks raised on free feed dry crumble vs. free feed fermented feed.