Functional Chickens

[Functional Chickens]

I am new to the forum. I am a functional skills teacher in Missouri. I started to raise chickens with my students as a project based learning. I will continue this project based learning every year because it is simply miraculous what chickens do for students with severe disabilities. Miraculous.

My students research chickens, based on temperament, egg production, and hardiness. We chose buff orpingtons and barred rocks. Because we have students with significant sensory issues, we also got a silkie. A hatchery near us donated the chicks, but because they expected most of the chicks to die, they gave us 8 chicks. Only one of them passed, so we were left with 4 silkies, 2 buff orpingtons and one barred rock. One of the silkies was a beautiful black rooster with iridescent green tail feathers ... we couldn't keep him because they are not allowed in the school district. Another was senselessly killed by someone in the neighborhood. Two polish silkie mixed breed pullets were donated to us. Now they are in quarantine for 3 weeks, I am taking fecal samples, and hoping that our two new ladies will be able to integrate into our flock.

I love reading this forum ... lots of wonderful advise.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. It sounds as if you are involved in an excellent program. Good luck to you and to those involved.

 

[BullChick]

A very warm welcome to BYC! We are so glad you’ve joined us!
For privacy sake, I understand that you cannot post photos of the students. However, if can you post their hands as they interact with the chickens, that would be great! Photos of the chickens alone too of course.
I spent a lot of time helping in special needs classes, and I know some students could benefit from quail. They are so quiet, and their eggs seem to always be different. Since they begin laying at around eight weeks, it would be more exciting since the students can watch them from baby to layers in one school quarter.
I acknowledge some quail can be flighty, but my Coturnix are easily handled by my 5-year-old.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Oh my heavens! I did volunteer work with special needs children as a teacher in our church for 16 years. It was so wonderful...they gave back to me much more than I was able to give them! I can’t wait to learn more about this program and how they learn too! If we can help you learn more about the chickens to help with the program , then even better! We look forward to seeing pictures of those chickens, and maybe the classroom set-up (no faces)! And welcome from all of us at BYC!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!! What a wonderful project for you and your school kids to do. Chickens are very therapeutic.

 

[BlueBaby]

Hello, and welcome! Glad that you joined! Good luck with the chicken's and your learning project!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Welcome to BYC! Thank you. You're doing some very special work. The kids you work with are lucky to have you. To take on something like keeping/teaching chickens when you already have so much on you, that's something that only a few will do. I hope you feel appreciated and the parents thank you for everything you do. Thank you!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

What a nice project! Getting kids involved in poultry is a great way to kick off their education on life in general.

So glad you decided to join us and welcome to our community!

 

[Pennys Mama]

Hello & welcome to BYC!!!

Feel free to post photos of your classroom flock, we'd love to see them!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
What a wonderful program although that must have been horrible for the children when someone killed one of the birds. So sorry for the loss.