Iowa Blues - Breed thread and discussion

[Hurley]

Yes, I have wire over the coop, but there is a small gap between the door and the frame, I am guessing somehow he figured out how to get through there? It's either that or he somehow slipped between the layers of wire over the coop. Poor thing was scared out of its mind when I went in the coop to get it out. Managed to hook it with a leg catcher and get it outside.

Where I live is predator central, lots of owls, hawks, coyotes, fox, weasels, skunks, oppossoms, dogs from other farms. The coop and attached pen are locked at night, opening the pen to free range when the weather is good. As long as nobody is out overnight and as long as they have lots of Iowa Blue blood in them, they tend to survive. If they are not Iowa Blues, they have to be locked up or they disappear pretty fast. The juvies I keep locked up, but the adults do well on free range during the day.

I really want to build me a chicken barn, but the logistics of getting that accomplished with my work schedule is daunting.

 

[Hurley]

Got the go ahead to begin planning a chicken educational experience for my son's first grade class. Should be fun. I managed to find a great discount on a classroom pack from Brinsea (due to damaged packaging, but perfectly intact otherwise), to make it easy to bring hatching into the classroom in a small way. Still will do the majority of the incubation in the cabinet at home, easier and very reliable, but for taking some eggs in to demonstrate candling at various stages and to take eggs in for hatching, should work out well. Will have fun with the boys creating some display posters to help teach the other kids. I think every kid should get so see some Iowa Blue chicks, nothing cuter!

 

[bigmrg74]

Got the go ahead to begin planning a chicken educational experience for my son's first grade class. Should be fun. I managed to find a great discount on a classroom pack from Brinsea (due to damaged packaging, but perfectly intact otherwise), to make it easy to bring hatching into the classroom in a small way. Still will do the majority of the incubation in the cabinet at home, easier and very reliable, but for taking some eggs in to demonstrate candling at various stages and to take eggs in for hatching, should work out well. Will have fun with the boys creating some display posters to help teach the other kids. I think every kid should get so see some Iowa Blue chicks, nothing cuter!

Girlfriend is already on my case about getting some more chicks. gotta remind her that its going to be cold here for a while.

 

[karimw]

Got the go ahead to begin planning a chicken educational experience for my son's first grade class. Should be fun. I managed to find a great discount on a classroom pack from Brinsea (due to damaged packaging, but perfectly intact otherwise), to make it easy to bring hatching into the classroom in a small way. Still will do the majority of the incubation in the cabinet at home, easier and very reliable, but for taking some eggs in to demonstrate candling at various stages and to take eggs in for hatching, should work out well. Will have fun with the boys creating some display posters to help teach the other kids. I think every kid should get so see some Iowa Blue chicks, nothing cuter!

Awesome! I always try to get Iowa Blues into some classrooms in the spring

 

[karimw]

Girlfriend is already on my case about getting some more chicks. gotta remind her that its going to be cold here for a while.

My husband pouts about the chicks in the basement, but these will be the ones laying next winter, so he really shouldn't complain

 

[trailrider330]

Got the go ahead to begin planning a chicken educational experience for my son's first grade class. Should be fun. I managed to find a great discount on a classroom pack from Brinsea (due to damaged packaging, but perfectly intact otherwise), to make it easy to bring hatching into the classroom in a small way. Still will do the majority of the incubation in the cabinet at home, easier and very reliable, but for taking some eggs in to demonstrate candling at various stages and to take eggs in for hatching, should work out well. Will have fun with the boys creating some display posters to help teach the other kids. I think every kid should get so see some Iowa Blue chicks, nothing cuter!

Great idea Hurley!

Once I get some better breeders, and an incubator I don't mind leaving at school, I am hoping to do the same. I work for our local school district at all building levels (elementary, middle school and high school), and our kids also attend there, so I am hoping I have an automatic "in". Unfortunately, our superintendent has a pretty clear policy about nothing additional plugged in (i.e. floor lamps, table lamps, mini fridges, space heaters, Christmas lights, etc.) as a cost saving measure, so my guess is he will not be too keen on having an incubator plugged in either. Hopefully, we will be able to convince him otherwise in this case since it will be on a limited basis and would be directly linked to the curriculum.

Did it take much for you to get things going in your son's first grade classroom? Any advice for those of us that would like to try to do the same?

 

[Hurley]

I've had a lot of contact over the last couple of years with my boys' teachers, especially with my oldest being a challenge fitting into a classroom setting, so they know me fairly well. It came up while Thomas was reading a penguin book to the class with the teacher that we raise chickens. During the discussion with the teacher, I mentioned I raise chicks and it would be easy enough to bring in some eggs and chicks to talk to the class. That stemmed into bringing in some around hatching, and with the sensitivity of them during the hatching process and risk for stuck in egg, etc., I thought it would be better still to have a small incubator that had high visibility for the kids to see them, but leave them undisturbed. The teacher got that okayed through the principle (who also knows me fairly well through meetings bout Thomas) and so we're approved to bring in eggs/chicks this spring. Talking with the teacher, she is very interested in keeping the incubator in the room through all of incubation, and I can come in on Fridays (my day off) and talk about the changes within the eggs during that week. I'll set some at home to bring in to demonstrate candling (and to replace eggs in the incubator behind the scenes if they don't develop for some reason ). I figure set them up to hatch on Wednesday, take them home on Friday, give them a day or two with chicks in the classroom, before they get stinky and messy.

I'm liking the idea as well of talking about diversity through eggs - saw a post on Facebook (below) and thought it was a nice message for the little kids, as well.



Wilsonville Elementary School

January 13 at 2:16pm ·
Our kindergarten students learned about diversity today. "No matter what you look like on the outside, we are all the same on the inside."

 

[trailrider330]

I've had a lot of contact over the last couple of years with my boys' teachers, especially with my oldest being a challenge fitting into a classroom setting, so they know me fairly well. It came up while Thomas was reading a penguin book to the class with the teacher that we raise chickens. During the discussion with the teacher, I mentioned I raise chicks and it would be easy enough to bring in some eggs and chicks to talk to the class. That stemmed into bringing in some around hatching, and with the sensitivity of them during the hatching process and risk for stuck in egg, etc., I thought it would be better still to have a small incubator that had high visibility for the kids to see them, but leave them undisturbed. The teacher got that okayed through the principle (who also knows me fairly well through meetings bout Thomas) and so we're approved to bring in eggs/chicks this spring. Talking with the teacher, she is very interested in keeping the incubator in the room through all of incubation, and I can come in on Fridays (my day off) and talk about the changes within the eggs during that week. I'll set some at home to bring in to demonstrate candling (and to replace eggs in the incubator behind the scenes if they don't develop for some reason ). I figure set them up to hatch on Wednesday, take them home on Friday, give them a day or two with chicks in the classroom, before they get stinky and messy.

I'm liking the idea as well of talking about diversity through eggs - saw a post on Facebook (below) and thought it was a nice message for the little kids, as well.



Wilsonville Elementary School

January 13 at 2:16pm ·

Our kindergarten students learned about diversity today. "No matter what you look like on the outside, we are all the same on the inside."

Thanks for the reply Hurley. Good idea to switch out eggs if they aren't developing, and I absolutely LOVE the lesson on diversity.

 

[Hurley]

I've got the IB tan eggs and a few blue-green "Iowacana" eggs to use and can pick up some mixed eggs from the organic grocery store near work, almost always has local eggs that typically are all varieties of colors. I am brainstorming with myself on my commute about ideas, keeps me entertained. Thought from tonight's drive was to have the set of different colors to crack (or even have enough they can try cracking an egg onto a plate each), and as a sum up show one at a time eggs made up with faces - do up 6 or 10 eggs with different expressions, some with glasses, missing tooth, wild hair, big, small, loud (shouty face), quiet (bashful face), and talk about how just like eggs, kids can come in all shapes, sizes and appearances, but though they look different on the outside, they are all "good eggs" on the inside. Cheesy, love it! They're first graders, they don't quite get cheesey yet, so I should be safe.

 

[bigmrg74]

My husband pouts about the chicks in the basement, but these will be the ones laying next winter, so he really shouldn't complain

Her folks wouldn't let her keep them in their basement, and my basement here really needs a serious cleaning out before setting up chicks there. Then it would involve keeping the dog from going down there all the time to watch them.

I've got the IB tan eggs and a few blue-green "Iowacana" eggs to use and can pick up some mixed eggs from the organic grocery store near work, almost always has local eggs that typically are all varieties of colors. I am brainstorming with myself on my commute about ideas, keeps me entertained. Thought from tonight's drive was to have the set of different colors to crack (or even have enough they can try cracking an egg onto a plate each), and as a sum up show one at a time eggs made up with faces - do up 6 or 10 eggs with different expressions, some with glasses, missing tooth, wild hair, big, small, loud (shouty face), quiet (bashful face), and talk about how just like eggs, kids can come in all shapes, sizes and appearances, but though they look different on the outside, they are all "good eggs" on the inside. Cheesy, love it! They're first graders, they don't quite get cheesey yet, so I should be safe.

Check with some of your fellow cheeseheads there. I bet there's others there that wouldn't mind parting with say a half dozen or so of eggs that are going to a good cause like kids education.