Progress on the chickens' new home
There are going to be some exciting new things to see when you get back to school in the autumn. We have just ordered a chicken house and are going to the school soon to plot out exactly where the chicken run will be and how big it will be. We have agreed that it will be somewhere up on the top field, next to the new polytunnel (the polytunnel will be in the corner of the games field, where the very high, wire-mesh fence turns a corner and then ends). The pen will be big enough to walk into, so those of you who want to, can have some close encounters with chickens! We won't get the chickens until you are back at school, as we still have lots of planning and research to do with you. Which breed of chicken will we get? What will we feed them on? How can we make their run more interesting for them?
We have also bought a special feeder, that keeps other animals, such as mice and other birds, out of their food. It only opens when a chicken treads on a pad in front of the feeder, so we will have to weigh our chickens to set the feeder to open at that approximate weight. How much do you think a large or small chicken might weigh? We might have a guess the weight of a chicken contest, winner gets the first egg! How would we weigh a chicken?
There will be opportunities for you to help with the chickens during term-time, and some families and volunteers have already offered to help with caring for them during weekends and holidays ( thank you very much). We are still looking for some more families, or anyone you may know who lives near the school who also loves chickens, so that we can have a rota where none of us have to be there too often, and we can swap around as needed.
With the new chicken house AND a new polytunnel for next term and some other interesting projects that will be starting (take a look at the Muddy Boots Science page on this website to find out more) I am getting very excited about next term. I hope you are too.
I look forward to seeing you next term. Meanwhile, please do send me any new designs you have drawn for chicken toys and equipment. We might be able to make some of them!
