Has anyone used their chickens in live animal education programs?

I took one of my chickens to a local summer camp to talk about the benefits of chickens and the kids absolutely loved meeting and feeding the chicken. It got me wondering if 1: other people are doing this, and 2: if there is a market for this type of program.
So.... is there anyone out that that has taken your chickens to school or afternoon programs and talked to children about chickens? Or taken your chickens to senior citizen center? Has anyone used chickens in Animal Therapy programs? If the answer is Yes, have you done this casually or have you developed an organization or company? Any thoughts??

My husband's mil would take their chickens to school for art I do believe.

I don't know if theres a demand for it, but I think it'd be a mighty fine hobby.

I'm not sure about demand, either. Some schools still go on field trips to farms, so why not bring the farm to the school? I thought senior citizens center would be a good one too because it seems like everyone has a "chicken story" from their childhood that would spark good (hopefully not bad) memories/feelings.

I, too, have wondered about taking a chicken to visit a senior center. I might look into it and find out what the folks at local facilities have to say.

Mavabird said:

I, too, have wondered about taking a chicken to visit a senior center. I might look into it and find out what the folks at local facilities have to say.

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I'd be curious what you find out! I used to work at an Aviary where we took birds, such as owls and parrots to senior centers. However, with the latest disease outbreaks restrictions/guidelines might different for chickens. Who knows!?

I know chickens are used as therapy animals in nursing homes. They help bring up old memories that would otherwise be lost.

I would sometimes take chicks to elementary schools or high schools. People loved how cute they were. I've taken my ducks to school as well and everybody loved how they would come when they are called or would follow me even though they are 3 years old now. I've also brought in peafowl into schools. People would always be cautious or amazed since peafowl being tame enough to put on your arm and pet is not common. It's lots of fun educating people of poultry, especially peafowl. If you wish to know anything on peafowl just ask and I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Birdrain92 said:

I would sometimes take chicks to elementary schools or high schools. People loved how cute they were. I've taken my ducks to school as well and everybody loved how they would come when they are called or would follow me even though they are 3 years old now. I've also brought in peafowl into schools. People would always be cautious or amazed since peafowl being tame enough to put on your arm and pet is not common. It's lots of fun educating people of poultry, especially peafowl. If you wish to know anything on peafowl just ask and I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

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Cool! Did the school ask you to come in or did you approach the school? Did you go to individual classrooms? I'd love to know more details on how you did it and what type of things you talked about. In this age, I imagine you would have to connect the chickens to learning objectives like science.

Barred Feather said:

Cool! Did the school ask you to come in or did you approach the school? Did you go to individual classrooms? I'd love to know more details on how you did it and what type of things you talked about. In this age, I imagine you would have to connect the chickens to learning objectives like science.

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I would take them into my classes. The first time was my teacher had us do for the first week to get to know their students by learning what we do for hobbies. Then I would bring into my Speech class since the assignment was a How to Do .... Lecture. The last time I brought in a bird to school was for my Vet Tech class. I graduate next year from high school. Though I have to do a Senior project which one of the options to do for a Senior project is go into a school and teach a special subject or give a lecture on a specific topic. I hope to bring my birds into other schools and teach more. At the County Fair I got to teach lots of people.

With my ducks I brought them into to demonstrate on how when you hatch out ducklings they will imprint on the first person or animal they see and that takes care of them. This making it easier to form bonds with the animal and making it easier to train the animals. The How to Do Lecture was how to train peafowl for Showmanship. Went from trying to get the peafowl used to being caught, used to being handled, and then letting other people pet the bird. In the Vet Tech class it was the last day and we were doing nothing so I had fun and just brought my White peacock in for fun and to stop some of the rumors on peafowl. Peafowl are always aggressive was one rumor. Peafowl are only aggressive when provoked, they can be very friendly when handled and treated properly. I was able to get Grand Champion with the White peacock Ice at the County Fair and lots of people loved him.