Who We Are
The University of Georgia began offering specialized study in the poultry sciences even before creating the Department of Poultry Science in 1912. For more than a century, many of poultry’s most prominent leaders have passed through our #1 ranked program, and have helped shape the way an entire generation eats. The department is proud of the fact that most graduates enter poultry, allied supporting businesses and life-science professions after graduation, which is particularly important as poultry production is Georgia’s largest agricultural industry, and agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry.
Undergraduate students study the genetics, embryology, and physiology of the bird, as well as nutrition, bird well-being, disease and health monitoring, poultry management, food- safety, and poultry products. This knowledge may be applied to any facet of the poultry and supporting agribusiness sectors, including preparedness for potential management of poultry firms.
While many of their students’ required courses are in the poultry sciences, it has been the department’s goal to ensure their students are multi-faceted, just like the poultry sector. Utilizing business courses within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences give our poultry science students an incredibly unique understanding of not only science (both applied and general), but business, marketing, accounting, and more.
Students planning to enter graduate or professional degree programs have the opportunity to expand their knowledge even further in several areas of science, including immunology, microbiology, nutrition, physiology, and other related studies. The flexibility and hands-on approach to the Poultry Science and Avian Biology undergraduate degrees contribute to their 100% job placement rate, and some of the highest acceptance rates to graduate and professional schools in the university.
- Creation of the first attenuated cocci strains that are used in current cocci vaccines
- New methods to diagnose and treat protozoal parasites in poultry
- Developed tunnel ventilation and evaporative cooling systems Designed radiant brooding systems that reduce gas usage by 30%
- Determined the cause of footpad dermatitis
- Cause and cure for a variety of nutritional maladies in poultry
- Developed the concept of bio-mapping processing plants to reduce food-borne bacteria
- Evaluation methods for energy options for poultry houses
- Developed benchmark bioassays for feed ingredient evaluation
- Nutritional influences on skeletal abnormalities and dietary strategies to minimize them
- Screening of wastewater as a cost-effective method of solids reduction from processing plants
- Every summer, faculty spend three days with 30- 40 agriculture and science teachers from across the state where they teach them about the poultry industry and how it can be incorporated into their classroom curriculum, including hands-on lab exercises.
- Every fall, the department hosts approximately 100 high school students, their parents, and/or teachers for an Open House event, where they rotate through six hands-on lab stations led by poultry science faculty showcasing their specialties.
- The department has worked to create Georgia’s first high school Poultry Science course standards and curriculum, which will be available for use in 2021.