Our Pets – Helen’s Blog

The School Chickens…Part 2

Their story continues to grow as they have now had their own chickens, but as the school chickens are approaching being 17 mths old it is more than time that I completed the story of their birth. As per Part 1 we took home the incubator (and brooder cage) on the Friday afternoon with 2 hatched chickens and pipping eggs.

Eco Glow and chicks Over the weekend 10 of the 14 eggs hatched out beautiful chickens. Mr (then) 4 was fascinated. I rapidly discovered that along with being cute, chickens also poop their own body weight everyday 🙂

For the next 3.5 weeks, the chickens enjoyed the classroom during the week (with Jeff cleaning the cage, feeding and watering them everyday) and had weekends at our house. But when it got to the stage that the children wouldn’t sit down ‘that end of the classroom’ with the chickens due to odor, since there were no other volunteers, the chickens came to the shop. Here they enjoyed a large space in our big display brooder.

While at the shop they spent alot of time working out their pecking order – flying from one end of the brooder to the other. I thought they were fighting all day. Five of them were were sold to a Grandmother as pets for her grandchildren and five were left here.

It was obvious there at least two roosters – the darker, non speckled ones and they were taken away by a kind customer. And so we were left with three pretty speckled chooks… who turned out to be a rooster and two hens: Bruce, Dark Specks and Speckles.

For more photos see the chooks first birthday story.

The School Chickens Turn One year old…

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

3 Chooks at 1 yr old On Saturday the 15th of Nov 2014… Sat just been, the school chickens… who are now beautiful chooks – turned one year old. I have put together a photo collection of their existence – which I took in to school for the children, so they can see how much they have grown. Along with the photo collection I took in morning tea – of the chooks favourite foods. I had the platters in an esky and got a few weird looks when I said we were going to the share the chooks favourite treats. I suspect more than one person was worried we were having layer pellets. I actually took watermelon and strawberries, which I’m sure that many chooks enjoy greatly. Even the old black hens will peck the watermelon rind clean.

Bruce the rooster, whom we suspect was ‘Fairy Princess’ in the classroom, Dark Specks (probably the one named Bruce as a chicken by the children 🙂 who is back to laying beautiful brown eggs after her attempt at brooding and Speckles – who is now off in her nest but I have no idea at all if she actually hatched anything as I never found any evidence of a live or dead chicken, are customer favourites at the shop. Bruce in particular is a real ‘show pony’ who lets us know when someone arrives and does his wing flapping dance to show off his lovely feathers when I take anyone to talk to him.

Bruce drying his wings

Photo collection of the school chickens: Chooks 1st BD

We have an incubator in our classroom – Part 1 ’The School Chickens’

It’s been a very busy week here in the shop- incubation season is starting. So it’s probably way past time that I actually started the story of how we ended up with our ‘school chooks’: Bruce the rooster and the hens Dark Specks and Speckles – both of whom laid lovely brown eggs today.

We didn’t actually find out about the incubator being in the classroom till a Friday afternoon, after school when ‘The Boy’ said “We’ve got eggs in our classroom. They are going to grew into baby chickens.” Naturally we were interested and so on Monday morning went to investigate. There were 15 eggs, in a manual turn incubator and the teacher hadn’t been told much about it….so there was no water in the incubator and the eggs hadn’t been turned since they arrived. Jeff and I looked at each other and started wondering where we could source some day old chicks, if the eggs didn’t hatch! So we filled up the water tray, turned the eggs and volunteered to help.

The next day Jeff brought a candler to check the eggs out and to his amazement 14 of the eggs appeared to have growing chickens… and some were very close to hatching size. So he filled up the second water tray and we kept on eye on them everyday at drop off and pick up. I think the first chicken appeared on the Thursday, because when I come to pick up the incubator on the Friday afternoon there were 2 chickens and some more eggs pipping.

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…Continued in Part 2. Got to dash to do the school run. Take care Helen

Grandad you can’t take the old black hens to the market

The hens at work 2012 — May 2012.. hens at the shop

I’ve been trying to date when the old black hens arrived here at the shop.. I’ve a photo from May 2012 and know they were here then… Grandad and Grandma went on holiday and left them here to be ‘hen/baby sat’. At that point in time ‘The Boy’ was not yet at school and spent some of his time at the shop – naturally he made friends with the chooks and loved to help feed them. Anyway the grandparents returned from their travels, moved the younger Isa brown hens back to their chook pen and left the 5 old Australop hens to ‘keep down the weeds’.

Then the day arrived… Grandad came down and was having a cup of tea with us when he announced he was ‘taking the old hens to market’ and getting some younger hens …well Mr nearly 3 let out a cry “Grandad you can’t take the old black hens to market they are my friends!” and dissolved tears. Many hugs, cuddles etc later we assured him that the old hens could stay. So we got our first feathered staff members.

By Jan 2014 we now only have 3 of the 5…the other 2 having died of natural causes. Best guess makes the girls about 9 years old (as of 2014) and so far each spring they have laid some eggs.. it will be interesting to see if it happens this coming spring? I’ve no idea how long hens live? But google has reports of up to 20 years.

26th July 2018: Glossy, the last of these beautiful girls lived to 13, we estimate. She was fit and healthy and eating half her own body weight up to the morning she literally fell off the perch. I still miss her… she was always the first hen at the gate for breakfast each morning.