Hatching Today...I'm Terrified!

[tcltoughmom]

Hello-----I am so happy for you and the boys. I am a cook supervisor in a federal prison, and we also have feed the deer, and birds. Some of the men have never been so close to the animals in their life. We had one deer named Buttons, and he was here for several years but he was moved to a animal reserve. I have also taught cake decorating, and many of the guys said they would go home and make a cake for their children and grandchildren. I have also seen some of the guys fail their GED test, but with encouragement they completed it the next time. Its always worth the many bad days to get a great day once in a while. I have a chicken coop and about 45 chickens, and I live in a housing development. The guys in the kitchen love to hear about the chickens and eggs. They have learned and I have also. Continue the good work, tcltoughmom

 

[Stacieb2121]

I can't believe how wonderful this message board is!
All of you are so supportive and helpful!!!!

All the chicks are doing so good....they were moved to a bigger brooder today because the little darlings were learning how to fly/jump out....I took them outside for a little bit today to walk around and they got the taste of freedom.

I'm shocked! Chickens are much smarter than I ever would have given them credit for. I did some research and apparently there was a big study done on chicken culture and they found that chickens are smarter than a 1 year old child. I really had no idea!

On a side note something very very exciting has happened.....
Every two weeks all of the principals of the facilities for the county have a meeting and my when they met on Thursday my principal took her camera and showed all of them the hatching and the babies.
According to her they all loved this idea and I have already received emails asking for the protocol for hatching and where to get incubators. When I sent them all the info I included BYC because this has everything!!!
Well, the deputy director was at the meeting and he liked the idea so much and was so happy the boys had gotten involved and taken the project seriously that he wants to start a farm at our facility. We certainly have the land its just going to take alot of planning.
I was asked to come up with a proposal for doing this....and the support from my administrators and coworkers has been amazing.
We are going to start small with chickens and in the spring ducks. Hopefully a pig or two and eventually a goat. I really really want a peacock too....because I know for a fact that only one of my middle schoolers has ever seen one, the rest had no idea what they looked like. We are in the Houston area and if it really works well I would love nothing more than for the boys to show/auction their animals at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo....they could earn scholarships....something that would certainly encourage them to finish school and go to college!
I also thought if we did well with the chickens we could find a farmers market or something like that to sell the eggs or chickens and any money made would go back into the program or into an account for each boy with the stipulation he only gets the money when he registers for college. The possibilities are endless.
I've been looking at the coops that are on here and my principal and I have picked a couple that we like and want to run by our superintendent.
Do you guys have any ideas or advice you could give me on where to even start with a project like this???

I just can't believe how big this has gotten ....I just wanted to see if we could hatch eggs and try to engage the boys in the classroom. I just wanted to give them a reason to be excited to come to class. When they are interested and excited it keeps the shenanigans to a minimum!

Thank you all again so so much!

 

[Laney]

Stacie, when you do good the whole world stands up and takes notice! Now go out there and get what you can for these boys.

I will recommend stromberg plates for building chicken coops, storage barns etc if only because of simplicity. Check it out at strombergchickens.com

Laney

 

[PortageGirl]

THat is absolutely fantastic news.

 

[evonne]

i have goats, and my mom has a pot bellied pig, i would recommend goats before the pigs.... pigs seem a little more complicated....
if i'm still in the place i'm living come april ish, i'll have peacock eggs, and i'll gladly donate a few for the boys to incubate.. they take 30 days as opposed to 21 for chickens.. i think ducks are 27? so you could probly put peacock and ducks in the bator together??
i have A.D.D, so you'll have to hunt me down and remind me.... lol...
grats on all the accomplishments!!

 

[Mahonri]

WONDERFUL!!!

Soon Nifty will be saying... "A Chicken in every back yard and a flock at every school".