I very rarely rant but I'm ranting now! PIC ADDED!

[chickensioux]

Alot of my ducks, geese, pigeons, even chickens have come from the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, point being, I would rather give a needy animal a home than let any of my eggs hatch. I have ordered ducks in the past and will order more chickens when the time comes. Here's my rant though:
I don't give my eggs away or sell my eggs to 4-H, schools or whoever for "classroom hatching" purposes. Too many of these poor little chicks and ducks end up dumped, unwanted or uncared for properly. (no offense to the teachers or anyone else who do it properly, I know you are out there) I just haven't participated in this practice until this spring........
A teacher called me for duck eggs. We carried on the usual conversation I have, you know, what will happen with the babies, etc. She asked me if I would take the babies after they hatched, no, I am trying to sell my house and don't need a brooder sitting around. So she said she had a good home for them blah, blah, blah. I relented. First of all, she asked me if I would bring them to her.....no (should have been the first clue). She calls last week and tells me 4 of the 12 I gave her hatched. "What do they eat? Should they have a heat source? I am feeding them dog food." This is after they were 4 days old. I gave her the info she needed and she said the woman that wanted them was picking them up that day. Why did she not know this info or find out this info BEFORE they hatched? I don't know.
Today their new owner called me, I was assuming for more info. No, she works long hours and is going out of town soon and just can't take care of them like she feels they need and she said "Helen" said I would take them back if necessary. "I'll have to turn them lose on our pond I guess." They are 10 days old!!!!!! Guess where they are? Yep, you guessed it.......

Never, never, never again.

 

[flnatv]

Sorry to hear that... and I am a teacher, but I plan to hatch my own eggs and put them with my own flock.
I would possibly get eggs from someone, but it would be what I would want in my flock... not just a random egg.

I have seen on here people taking home their kids classroom hatch project birds and they end up to be meat birds... very disappointing.

I agree with your rant, BUT... there are good teacher out there (LIKE ME

) that wouldn't do that.

The problem... it gives all teacher a bad name!!!

 

[WingingIt]

I'm sorry they turned out to be so sorry, but you, my friend, are a very good person.

I'm with you, though, never again.

 

[ChickLover98]

I incubated my own eggs in my classroom with my science teacher. I took the chicks home after 3 days of him caring for them over the weekend. All went well. I guess its safer if you're there doing it yourself... My neighbors recently rescued two abandoned ducklings that were found running around in NEWPIG!!! They are pretty old now and we are planning to release them soon in the river behind our neighbor's house, because they were wild to begin with, but only when they are almost fully grown and can fend for themselves, 10 day old ducklings are so vulnerable, though. Never again.

 

[Laurajean]

Wow, I can think of a "caption" for that one, but can't post it here.

And come to think of it, you don't rant often!

Horrible story however, I am truly sorry. DOG FOOD?

Certainly NO OFFENSE meant to the GOOD teachers out there, and we have plenty, but I certainly don't blame you for not wanting to put eggs or chicks into the hands of someone who doesn't even know the basics of care. It's very sad, I'm sorry this happened.

 

[JulieNKC]

How awful. What an example to set for her students, she should be teaching them to be responsible.

 

[redhen]

What a SHAME. WHAT exactly did that teacher teach those kids then?? Poor little duckies...

 

[chickensioux]

They are cute though......durn burn it!

 

[SilverPhoenix]

This is why I discourage classroom hatching. I work with a farm animal rescue group and we get so many teachers calling us about unwanted birds! I know, teaching kids "the circle of life" and all, but these hatching experiments really need to be FULLY thought through before anything happens. And there are documentaries and whatnot that could be shown to kids instead, and if the kids really want to see the cute fuzzy butts, have hobbyists like us come out and bring some chicks for them to meet. These hatching experiments just lead to too much tragedy, unless a lot of preparation is down beforehand.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I regularly supply hatching eggs for a particular school. The understanding is that I will get the birds back. If there is someone who wants chicks, then I MIGHT be willing to let them have some of them (my choice completely).

This has been a FANTASTIC experience for the last five years. One year I got a call from a different school asking for hatcing eggs. So I said yes, but I would want my chicks back. After the babies had hatched and been there a couple of weeks, I got a call asking if I wanted them or not--uh, DUH! Yes, they are mine! Turns out the teacher and her husband (a middle school science teacher) BOTH had hatching eggs from SEVERAL people, and there were no homes for the other chicks! One of the suppliers might be willing to take some of them back. So I ended up with my chicks plus several others--who I promptly gave to a neighbor that I knew would care for them well.

Never again for those irresponsible teachers. Hatching projects can be WONDERFUL experiences, but the whole thing needs to be WELL PLANNED. Care of the chicks needs to be a part of the curriculum! Final disposition of the chicks needs to be known and planned before the eggs are acquired. Anything less is unacceptible.

I recommend that the OP make a call to the principal and relate the things that went wrong. Obviously he will not supply that teacher with eggs again, but she will likely find another source. Best to have the entire project forbidden by the principal, or at least tightly regulated.