Chickens - Hatching an Idea at Grovetown School Why Chickens? Someone in Osprey Room had the idea that we could reduce our lunch waste if we had chickens to eat the scraps. At first we all thought the idea was a little crazy but then we talked some more, read some more, asked some more questions and discovered that it wasn t such a crazy idea after all! We completed a PMI sheet and worked through the problems, asking permission from the BoT and surveying parents to see if they would be happy to be on a holiday feeding roster. We could either get laying hens, chicks at one day old or we could incubate eggs and hatch them ourselves. We knew incubating eggs would be a little tricky but decided to give it a go. We borrowed an incubator from a local family and bought 24 brown shaver eggs on Trade Me to put inside it. The Incubator The incubator kept our eggs warm, moist and rotating just like a mother hen would. We needed to check every day that the temperature and humidity levels were right. The eggs would need to stay there for 21 days. Candling After about 12 days we took our incubator and a candling machine we had made using a torch and a shoe box lid to the darkest place we could find the cupboard in the hall! We all squeezed in, turned off the lights and had a look to see what was happening inside our eggs. It was amazing! We could see hearts, eyes, air sacs and veins. We had chickens growing! Day 18 Our chicks are due to hatch in 3 days so now we need to turn off the rotator so that the chicks can get themselves into the correct position for hatching. We also need to increase the humidity in the incubator and get the brooding box ready.
The Big Hatch Our chicks were due to hatch on Friday. It was so exciting. We checked the incubator every few minutes to see if something new had happened. After morning tea we noticed that not 1 but 2 shells had little holes in them. We could see the eggs shaking and hear the chicks chirping inside! The other classes visited us throughout the day to share our excitement. These holes stayed little all day. We had a special picnic tea at school with our families so children from all the classes came back to school to see what was happening. There was a lot of shaking, pecking, and chirping but no hatching! When we came back to school on Saturday morning we were thrilled to see 2 chicks inside the incubator. There were no signs of life from the other eggs until Saturday afternoon when our 3 rd chick hatched. This time it happened in about 15 minutes and some of us were at school to see it. It was a very special moment. We put our chicks into the brooding box to dry off. Building the Chicken Coop Now that our chickens had hatched we needed somewhere for them to live. We read lots of information about chicken coops, looked at lots of pictures online and came up with a bit of a plan. We talked to Dave the builder and used our plans and requirements to draw up a builders plan for us. We started sourcing equipment. We had some things lying around school, families donated some things that they didn t need any more and a local business donated some roofing iron. Dave came to school and worked with us to build the coop. We all got to measure, nail, drill and help construct te whare heihei. A few months on We have 2 hens and a rooster living happily at Grovetown School. They eat our lunch and edible garden scraps. They will start laying any day now. We have just clipped their wings. We would like to move them into our garden area and make them a bigger enclosure. We are also going to work on the rainwater collection system.
Action Learning Cycle Reflect on Change Identify the Current Situation Keeping a scrapbook Consult parents, staff and BOT Photos Ask experts Celebrate our first eggs Brainstorm idea Move coop to a better place Research our questions Allow a free range area More chicks Where to next? Take Action Explore Alternatives Involve parents and the wider community Use websites, books and experts to answer our questions Keep school community informed through newsletter and website Decision making process updates Decide who will do what and when it will be done
Links to Enviroschools Guiding Principles Empowered Students Listening to and acting on student voice Including pupils in decision making shared decision making Pupils consulted the BOT, parents and staff Children taking action Learning for Sustainability Feeling of connection to the natural environment Opportunity to learn from nature Skills and competencies needed to plan, design and create chicken coop Exploring attitudes and values needed to care for live animals Opportunity to participate and take action for sustainable future Opportunity to explore ethical issues e.g. eating animals, circle of life Maori Perspectives Including Maori perspectives e.g. burying unhatched eggs Respect for Diversity of People and Cultures Opportunities to explores a variety of perspectives - what should we do with Dave the rooster? Vegetarians Meat eaters Butcher Cultural perspectives Sustainable Communities Chicken coop built with recycled materials Project stemmed from desire to use our food scraps Links with KEG - using the eggs Having a rooster to raise more chicks Raising money from eggs sales to use for future projects