Ideas please for a quiet way to keep chicks in a classroom?

[Muriel Werombi]

Hi All,
I am planning to raise some baby chicks in my classroom, with the idea being to get the chicks used to being handled for when they are later housed by our class vegetable garden. I have a few students who usually aren't able to handle noise, and although I love the peeping of the chicks I've raised at home, I need a solution for school. Would a large fish tank work, one with a lid? Obviously I will make sure there is fresh air available. Just wondering if anyone has done this before? Many thanks in advance!!

 

[IamRainey]

How about a piece of styrofoam wrapped in a towel to absorb sound. You could cut off the corners so there is ventilation. Or perhaps just a towel that let air flow but cut out the visual as well when the kids need to be focused on other things. .

 

[lazy gardener]

My suggestion is to brood them outdoors in the coop. What is your school policy regarding animals in the classroom? While pets are nice, I would not want chicks housed in my child's classroom due to the dander issues. I have reactive airway disease, and my lungs can not handle the chicken dander in the house AT ALL, however, when I visit my chickens in their outdoor coop, where they have deep litter instead of shavings, I do not react. Chicks would benefit from being brooded in the coop with a MHP style brooder instead of being confined to a tiny little brooder in the classroom. By the time they are 2 - 3 weeks old, they should have 2 s.f. in the brooder per chick.

 

[ShrekDawg]

My school used to raise chicks every year, not sure if they still do. I did it in like first or second grade. But when we did it, we just hatched them then gave them back to the farmer. We did have kind of like an open house thing where parents amd siblings could come see the chicks though and hold them but I'm not sure how long we kept them. But I know we never had them long term or anything like that. So never had to keep them quiet.

I will say though that I raised my chicks using the Mama Heating Pad method and they were SO QUIET and slept through the night. Supposedly they are way quieter than heat lamp raised chicks but they were my first chicks so I can't compare. But I would say you should look into it. There is a MHP thread here on BYC but there have been a lot of changes since the beginning so you could probably skip to the end and/or ask questions about it. But it's really simple.

I would also say that I don't think a fish tank would be a very good idea as I don't think it would provide enough ventilation. But besides that, they need enough room to run around. You could try a kiddy pool but that might be kind of messy. But you could put walls or a fence up. Or maybe try a large or xl dog crate, either the plastic or the wire kind. Maybe you could even put a lock on it so the kids can't get in randomly haha

I don't think chicks can ever be completely silent but I think with enough food and water and the "mama hen" they should be pretty quiet! You can also try giving them clumps of dirt/sod to dig through or even a dust bath! Obviously not too many treats but the dirt also helps them get used to the bacteria and microorganisms in the area where they will be living so they don't get sick and can build an immunity. And giving them things to do such as dirt/grass to dig through or a dust bathe, it will maybe hopefully occupy them and keep them busy and happy so that they are quieter. Because happy, tired chicks are quiet chicks! Well, usually. Lol

Hope this helps!

 

[ShrekDawg]

My suggestion is to brood them outdoors in the coop. What is your school policy regarding animals in the classroom? While pets are nice, I would not want chicks housed in my child's classroom due to the dander issues. I have reactive airway disease, and my lungs can not handle the chicken dander in the house AT ALL, however, when I visit my chickens in their outdoor coop, where they have deep litter instead of shavings, I do not react. Chicks would benefit from being brooded in the coop with a MHP style brooder instead of being confined to a tiny little brooder in the classroom. By the time they are 2 - 3 weeks old, they should have 2 s.f. in the brooder per chick.

Very good advice from L.G. that I hadn't even thought of.

If you can brood outside that would probably be best.

And I still suggest the MHP brooder

 

[GretaGarboFirst]

I also want to support the idea of not having the chickens in a classroom. From a chickens perspective, they need ventilation and room and lots of it.....Go with lizards......lol

 

[lazy gardener]

Or worms. Vermicomposting is an excellent classroom project. All sorts of classroom lessons can be taught with worms. And worms are very well behaved pets. No smell, they are very quiet, and very well behaved.

 

[PirateGirl]

I know if I was in a classroom with a bunch of chicks, I'd probably be an itchy eyed sneezy mess. Is there somewhere they can be at school, but not be in the actual classroom? Maybe then different classes can visit them regularly and learn from them without interrupting your class time as well.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Or worms. Vermicomposting is an excellent classroom project. All sorts of classroom lessons can be taught with worms. And worms are very well behaved pets. No smell, they are very quiet, and very well behaved.

Curious what sorts of lessons they cam teach?

And more about raising them.

I've thought about it before but always figured it was too messy or smelly or difficult.

And I dont mean that first part as any sort of argument or anything, genuinely curious what they could teach because I had never thought of it before.

 

[PirateGirl]

or, I know this is less fun, but if you were raising chicks at home (or someone else was incubating and raising them) you could have a webcam set up so that they can be checked in on any time by the kids, even from their home computer