Chickens in Schools?

[Scarlet]

I was just wondering what everyones thoughts were on chickens in schools.

Our local school wants to have chickens. Great Idea!
But they want to rehome them to parents who already have chickens during the holidays - which I think isn't such a good idea.
I don't like the idea of uprooting them every 5/6 weeks.
I can't believe that it's possible to introduce them to a different flock every 6weeks for school holidays, stress, bullying, spreading disease etc all spring to mind.
If they move them complete with their coop,will they have a safe secure run? - it takes alot of hard work to ensure their safety - a fox only needs to be lucky once!

Am I just being a party pooper?

[Jeanied]

Scarlet I think this sounds like a good idea that hasn't been thought through. Why not have a chat with the person whose idea it is and see what is do-able? They could hatch eggs for example and send the chicks back once they are ready.

[Scarlet]

Hatching chicks is a great idea - but they want to keep the chickens and then rehome them during each holiday break. I can't see how this can work.

[its hilly]

A nice idea in theory i agree.
Its ok if the idea is for the school to supply a chicken keeping parent with a spare coop and run specially for their chooks to live in in the hols. But big no way if the idea is to let one or several parents have chooks to throw in with theirs.
Might simply be that the person responsible for the sugestion doesnt know that 'henpecked' can mean literally that the strangers to the flock can be pecked/harried to death. Most non chicken keepers dont realise that chooks (much as I luv em) are the velociraptors of the bird world.
However Im not sure the chooks would get too stressed by the moving if they are brought up with it, and get spoiled for the hols

[Scarlet]

Spare coop at a parents home is a good idea!

[MaureenHall]

I think a better idea would be to keep the chooks at school in their permanent homes during the holidays and have either 1 dedicated person to visit and care for them on site (like lottie holders do), or have a rota of trustworthy people to do it. I'm not a fan of moving chooks to different locations unless it's for permanent re-homing. I love the idea of getting the school kids involved, let them see where their eggs and meat come from really (not just Tescos, Asda etc )

[RichmondHens]

I share your concerns Scarlet. My childrens' school has just started keeping chickens ( a couple of hybrids) and I wonder about their welfare during the holidays. They have only had them for a couple of weeks and I still don't know what happens on weekends. I offered my advice but everyone wants to do it their way so I am standing back and waiting for problems to appear!

At the moment the chickens are kept in a coop/run thing (that commendably the kids built themselves with the help of a local carpenter) but which is too small, in my opinion. However the kids are keeping them clean enough and moving the coop every couple of days around the school's limited patch of grass. All this takes place during school hours, and the chickens are not shut up at night or let out in the morning, they have the pop permanently open so they come and go and food is left down all the time (here come the rats methinks). Apparently they have a rota for feeding and egg collecting on a weekend. I don't yet know what will happen in the holidays. No-one has mentioned sending them out. I suspect there may be a holiday rota for kids to go to the school each day but we shall see.

Sending chickens out to parents is ok in theory, but I think to minimise infection they should go to the same person each time, and ideally be kept in a separate enclosure. As you say, the idea has not really been thought through.

Chicken keeping has become very fashionable at the moment and everyone wants them, but half the time no-one really considers the responsibility of it all. I predict a lot of sad, ill cared for chickens in a couple of years or so that no-one really wants anymore, once everyone has got tired of the poop and the fact that ground and gardens are trashed etc. Kids will get bored and move onto something else.

[Snadger]

I think a better idea would be to keep the chooks at school in their permanent homes during the holidays and have either 1 dedicated person to visit and care for them on site (like lottie holders do), or have a rota of trustworthy people to do it. I'm not a fan of moving chooks to different locations unless it's for permanent re-homing. I love the idea of getting the school kids involved, let them see where their eggs and meat come from really (not just Tescos, Asda etc )

Great minds Maureen............I couldn't have put it better myself!

[vicky]

My daughter's primary school has had chickens for years. They are kept at school all year and people (teachers included) take turns to care for them in situ during holidays. They have a secure coop and attached, secure large run but during a normal school day they are let out by the children at 8.50 to free range the school field and are shut in to the coop/run at 3.20. Children are paired in a rota to do food/water etc. During holidays they might stay in the run all day but the size of it means this is fine.
No problems with foxes so far, the only problem they have had is they raised a brood of chicks last year and now have 2 cockerels...there's a free to good home notice on the school gate for one of them!

[Bramble-Poultry]

when i was a young lad (hears the groans already) our school was ahead of its years. we had a smallholding attached to the side of it and as an option for your GCE (note not GCSE) you could take farm animal management or something like that anyways.

so as part of the school, they had pigs, dexter cows, goats, poultry, geese, (rabbits for meat) etc and the school employed a "farm" manager to run the farm and do the admin, and the school also had lab technicians in the science department that took care of teh livestock out of school hours.

i think that if they wish to show the care and upbringing of the birds, then they need to look more closely at what they are doing?

[Bramble-Poultry]

Yes dear but life was sooo much different back in the dark ages!!!

[Flummery]

I have to agree with the others who say that this is a good idea that hasn't been thought through. I feel very sorry for any chickens involved if it goes ahead.

[di]

Another here that thinks it a wonderful idea but totally inpractical I'm afraid

I toyed with the idea of suggesting our school got some but weighed up all the pros and cons in my mind and unfortunately the cons won!
It's not just the 'who's going to look after them?',but in my mind also....would they become a target for vandals?(imagine how awful not just for the chooks but also the kiddies to arrive to school to a mass of feathers and blood)
Depending on how large the playground is,would the children still have room for being loud and boistrous without distressing the hens?(it is after all what breaktime is for...letting off all that pent up energy)
Health & Safety(sorry for swearing!)...we all know how mad it's all gone,I'm afraid I think that if there was just a whiff of AI in the air the school would face pressure to get rid quick...maybe I'm wrong?

It's yet to be arranged but I've chatted to DD's teacher about her class coming to our lottie in the Summer term.The infants already visit another site several times a year and get to see the chooks.I know it's not quite the same as actually looking after their own but perhaps the closest realistic experience open to them?

[rustylady]

I agree with Maureen and Snadger. If they're going to do it (and Elf & Safety will let them) then the chickens need to be permanently at the school with a rota of carers attending during the holidays.

[Scarlet]

I thought yesterday that perhaps I was being a little negetive! With the schools location I'm afraid foxes would be a problem and also most of the parents live a car journey away so the option for parents doing a rota is out of the question.
I introduce new birds every year to keep my flock young but I have a seperate run and coop that they use first for several weeks and then I sneak them in at night!
I feel a little more confident now in voicing my opinion although I'm not sure it's going to go down that well!