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These chicken life cycle worksheets give children four printable pages for the four stages of the life cycle of a chicken: egg, hatching, chick and chicken. Children read a labeled diagram, label the stages from a word bank, cut and glue the pictures in order, and draw the cycle from memory. Every page has an answer key, and you can print in color or in black and white, on Letter or A4 paper.
Chicken life cycle worksheets to print (PDF)
These four pages show what the generator prints for the chicken life cycle worksheets: the labeled diagram, the label-it page with a word bank, the cut-and-glue page for putting the four stages in order, and the draw-it page with room for your own pictures. Click any picture for the PDF, or use the generator at the top of the page to choose a single page, switch to black and white, or print on A4 paper.
Life cycle diagramAll four stages, with a sentence each.PDFLabel the cycleWrite each stage from the word bank.PDFCut and gluePut the four stages in order.PDFDraw the cycleDraw and label it from memory.PDF
The life cycle of a chicken, from egg to hen
The chicken life cycle has four stages, and children learn it best as a circle that goes round and round:
Egg → Hatching → Chick → Chicken.
A chicken does not change shape the way a butterfly or a frog does, so it has no metamorphosis. The chicken life cycle is about growth: a fertilized egg develops outside the mother, and the chick that hatches grows into an adult. The times below are for a typical farm chicken.
Chicken life cycle stages in order
Stage
What happens
How long
Key word
1. Egg
A hen lays an egg. If it has been fertilized by a rooster and kept warm, an embryo grows inside, fed by the yolk.
21 days of incubation
embryo
2. Hatching
Around day 19 to 20 the chick pips, which means it pecks a small hole with its egg tooth, then works around the shell until it pushes the end off.
Up to a day
pip
3. Chick
The wet chick dries into a fluffy ball of down. It eats, drinks and keeps warm under a hen or a heat lamp, and grows real feathers.
About 6 weeks
down
4. Chicken
The young bird grows into a hen or a rooster. Hens start to lay eggs at about 18 to 22 weeks, and many lay almost one egg a day.
Adult from about 5 months
hen
What happens inside the egg in 21 days
An egg is a complete life-support system: the yolk is food, the white (albumen) is water and protein, the membranes keep out germs and the shell has thousands of tiny pores that let air through. For a fertilized egg kept at about 99.5°F (37.5°C), the main events are:
Day
What is happening
Day 1 to 2
The embryo starts to form, and the heart begins to beat around the second day
Day 7
Eyes, a beak and legs can be seen
Day 14
Feathers cover the body and the chick turns its head toward the large end of the egg
Day 19 to 20
The chick draws the yolk into its body and pips, breaking the shell with its egg tooth
Day 21
The chick hatches, damp and tired, and dries into fluff
Chicken life cycle for kids: eggs, roosters and hens
Many children are surprised to learn that a hen lays eggs without a rooster. Those eggs are unfertilized and will never hatch, and they are the eggs we eat. Only an egg that has been fertilized, and kept warm by a hen or an incubator, can grow into a chick. A newly hatched chick can live for up to two or three days without food because it still has some yolk inside its body.
How long do other birds take to hatch?
Bird
Incubation
Japanese quail
About 17 to 18 days
Chicken
21 days
Duck
About 28 days
Turkey
About 28 days
Goose
About 28 to 30 days
Chicken life cycle printable: what is in the set
The generator at the top of the page makes five pages for the chicken life cycle worksheets, and you can print all of them or choose one. Every page uses simple pictures that children can color, and all of them have a name and date line.
Page
What children do
Skills
Life cycle diagram
Read: all four stages with a picture and a sentence for each
Vocabulary and the order of the stages
Label the cycle
Write each stage name from the word bank (Egg, Hatching, Chick, Chicken)
Spelling and recall
Cut and glue
Cut out four pictures and glue them in the right order
Sequencing and fine motor skills
Draw the cycle
Draw each stage and label it from memory
Making a model of the cycle, with lines for writing
Answer key
A completed label page and sequence page for the teacher
Quick marking
Chicken life cycle worksheet: how to use it in four steps
Choose the pages. In the generator, pick all four pages of the chicken life cycle worksheets with the answer key, or one page at a time.
Print. Press Download PDF or Print, in color or in black and white, on Letter or A4 paper.
Teach the stages. Read the diagram together and say the stages in order: Egg → Hatching → Chick → Chicken.
Practice and check. Children label, cut and glue and draw, then check their work with the answer key.
Vocabulary for the chicken life cycle worksheets
Teach these words before children start the chicken life cycle worksheets, and use them again when you check the answers:
Word
What it means
hen
An adult female chicken
rooster
An adult male chicken, which can fertilize eggs
embryo
The tiny animal that grows inside a fertilized egg
yolk
The yellow part of the egg that feeds the embryo
albumen
The egg white, which gives water and protein
egg tooth
A small hard point on the chick’s beak that breaks the shell and later falls off
pip
To peck the first hole in the eggshell from inside
incubate
To keep eggs warm so that they develop
Hands-on activities to go with the chicken life cycle worksheets
Candle an egg: in a dark room, a grown-up shines a bright torch through a fertilized egg on days 7 and 14 so that children can see the veins and the dark shape of the embryo.
Egg anatomy: crack an ordinary egg into a dish and label the shell, white, yolk and air space.
Hatching project: some schools borrow an incubator, and the 21-day count makes a good wall calendar.
Compare to a frog: a chick looks like a small chicken, and a tadpole does not look like a frog. Ask children to explain why.
Sequence cards: cut the four pictures from the cut-and-glue page and shuffle them for a partner.
Wikipedia’s chicken article covers the biology, the breeds and the history of the domestic chicken.
Chicken life cycle worksheets by grade
Grade
How to use the pages
Kindergarten and Grade 1
The diagram and the cut-and-glue page: name the four stages and put them in order, and compare chicks with adults for NGSS 1-LS3-1
Grade 2
The label-it page with the word bank, plus the egg anatomy activity
Grade 3
The draw-it page used as a model, linked to NGSS 3-LS1-1: organisms have unique and diverse life cycles, with birth, growth, reproduction and death in common
Chicken life cycle worksheets: frequently asked questions
How long does it take for a chicken egg to hatch?
About 21 days when the egg is fertilized and kept at around 99.5°F (37.5°C). The chick pips on day 19 or 20 and hatches on day 21.
Does a hen need a rooster to lay eggs?
No. A hen lays eggs with or without a rooster. Only eggs that have been fertilized by a rooster can grow into chicks.
What are the stages of the chicken life cycle?
Four: egg, hatching, chick and adult chicken. Some teachers add the pullet or cockerel stage for a young hen or rooster between chick and adult.
Which grade learns about the chicken life cycle?
Life cycles appear from kindergarten, and grade 3 develops models showing that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles with birth, growth, reproduction and death in common (NGSS 3-LS1-1).
Are these chicken life cycle worksheets free?
Yes. Every page is free to print for home and classroom use, with no sign-up. Choose color or black and white, and Letter or A4 paper, before you press Download PDF.
