It seems that about this time each year a lot of farm supply stores and farm feed stores get in their supply of baby chickens. Now if you are planning on raising them for the freezer this notice will not be of interest to you. If on the other hand you are planning on raising some laying hens, you might find this something to consider.

If you have backyard chickens and would like to sell your extra eggs anywhere other than at your home, the Georgia Department of Agriculture requires you to have an Egg Candling Certificate. This certificate can be obtained by attend­ing an Egg Candling Class which is administered by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Classes are held around the state and open to the general public at no charge. Reservations are required and are done through the GDA.

The UGA Extension Offices here in the area are trying to determine if there is enough interest that we can get the Department of Agriculture to put on a class in our area. If you would be interested in earning your Egg Candling Certificate, please let us know so we can secure the date with the GDA. The proposed date would be sometime in later May, the location would be the McDuffie County Extension Office and class times are 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. The classes are free but are limited to 16 to 20 persons per class. The certificate allows that person, who follows the regulations, to legally sell eggs to the final con­sumer.

If you would be interested in par­ticipating in an Egg Candling Class, please contact the McDuffie County Extension Office at 706-595-1815 or e-mail me at makoenig@uga.edu and we will try to get the Georgia Department of Agriculture to set up a class here.

Good news, we are already on our way to getting the class, the Georgia Department of Agriculture has agreed to have the class if we can get 25 people to sign up with us. The deadline they have given us to get those names is April 27, 2018. So if you are interested, please let us know. Remember the class is free and it is a life time certificate, one time and you are done.