Our First Few Days with Chicks and the Micro-farming Unit

So soft and delicate!

After their surprise arrival, the chicks quickly settled down to life in their brooder. They began eating and could often be seen taking naps under the heat of the lamp. We felt that they had recovered well enough from their trip through the mail. We took the chicks out to see how they move around, and get a good look at their pin feathers and the remaining egg teeth (the "tooth"on top of their beaks that is used to crack the egg that they were in).

We will keep you updated on all the changes we observe in our chicks. In Science Tr. Sharon taught the students about the life cycle of an egg and answered questions such as, " Why can't the chicks just drink milk? Don't all babies drink milk?" 

The chicks handled the love of thirteen hands quite well

The chicks have been a very endearing addition to our classroom. As we learn more about micro-farming, specifically right now, the history of farming, we will highlight the history of chickens on a farm. We have focused on six periods of the history of farming. The six periods are: hunters and gatherers, the beginning of planting (about 8,000 years ago), the beginning of farming and markets (about 5,000 years ago), the Age of Discovery (about 1,000 years ago), the Industrial Revolution (about 200-300 years ago), and the modern farm. Each period has an important innovation that caused a big change in the food that humans ate. We talked about how one thing all human beings from any of these periods had in common was they all needed to eat, to get energy, to live. 

Our first lesson about farm life - once the animal begins to eat, it begins to poop.

Today we eat in a very different way than the hunters and gatherers did. As we understand more about farming and the food that we eat. We will look at our own hens. They will begin laying eggs in 4-6 months. Third graders have promised me that they will help gather eggs in the fall and show next year's third graders about the care of hens. This spring we will consider the environmental costs of eating local eggs versus eggs being shipped across the country. We will consider the benefits and environmental costs to having the varied diet that we do today.

A gasp escaped from the crowd as one chick jumped to the top of the wooden barrier.

The chicks can regularly be found huddled together. Animals seem to feel safer in a group.

One thing we know for sure is that the chicks are a crowd pleaser.