Hello! New Chicks!

[Birdaciously]

Hello Backyard Chicken community!
My classroom just recently hatched chickens, and let me just say, the whole process was phenomenal! Our group collectively decided to keep the chickens at our school, as opposed to sending them back to the farm they came from. We have a nice sized garden that is not currently being used by any other classes, and we're planning to build a coop for them. As of now we've got them in a homemade brooder (thanks to some helpful teachers).
Three of our eggs have produced happy, healthy, baby chicks, whilst we have a few more that have pipped. This is our first time raising chickens, is there anything most new chick owners forget? Tips for coop building? Name suggestions are also welcome!
Thank you!

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Hi and welcome to BYC!

I would suggest checking out the Learning Center; there is tons of great info for new chicken owners there! And the Coops section has some great ideas for coop plans and advice on how to go about building one.

Best of luck with your new flock and thanks for joining us!

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Hello, and welcome to backyard chickens! I agree with BuffOrpington88, there are many great and useful ideas and advice here on BYC. Just look around, Good Luck!

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Birdaciously, and ! Pleased you joined our community! That sounds like such a great school project...so many important lessons for kids. Here are some links you will find useful: the Learning Center is packed with useful articles for all aspects of chicken raising.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
When it comes to coop building time, think to the future when it comes to size of coop and run https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
And of course the Coops section https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops
Also, I assume you are a grade school teacher? If you are part of a K-12 school district, a high school Industrial Arts class might undertake building a coop for your class??
Enjoy your chicken adventure...your students will always remember this!

 

[N F C]

Congrats on your hatch, chicks are a lot of fun. Enjoy!

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[Cynthia12]

How fun, you get to keep them at school? That's awesome!!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - great project and its great that you are keeping the chickens at school - a great opportunity for further learning. I think having the students decide on the names would be much more fun than any of us

 

[QueenMisha]

Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

Always great to get kids into the hobby early on. Please do consider what you will do with cockerels should any of the three turn out to be so - many people don't anticipate quickly enough the day their little chick becomes a young cockerel and starts crowing his head off! It can be very hard to rehome cockerels, so if it's necessary for your situation, please try to identify males and advertise them for new home as early as possible. While many roosters can be extremely friendly and great pets around children and adults alike, they need a goodly amount of hens to keep them from overmating them and so a rooster may be too much for a small flock (less than 8-10 hens).

Other than that note, enjoy raising your chicks!

 

[Birdaciously]

Greetings from Kansas, Birdaciously, and

! Pleased you joined our community! That sounds like such a great school project...so many important lessons for kids. Here are some links you will find useful: the Learning Center is packed with useful articles for all aspects of chicken raising.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
When it comes to coop building time, think to the future when it comes to size of coop and run https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
And of course the Coops section https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops
Also, I assume you are a grade school teacher? If you are part of a K-12 school district, a high school Industrial Arts class might undertake building a coop for your class??
Enjoy your chicken adventure...your students will always remember this!

Thanks for all the wonderful information, I'll be sure to check it out!
Well, actually, I'm one of the students involved in the project! Our teacher was thinking of setting aside a Saturday to have anyone who wanted to help come and help. I imagine we will probably have kids from the Wood Shop elective come down and participate. The teachers that helped with the brooder also showed interest in the coop.