Taking a hen to work, will she be ok?

[missychicky]

Tommorow I am planning to take a chicken to my moms work on her request. What I'm worried about is if my girl will get lonely. She will be in a medium size cat carrier most of the day, is a cat carrier too small? Will she get too lonely? And could I give her a companion in such a small space? I'm sure my moms kids (she's a teacher) will very much enjoy the experience and so will I, but is this a good idea?-thanks

 

[GAchick]

I'm assuming Mom means to show the kids a 'real live' chicken? I would think the attention they show her would keep her from being lonely. It's only for one school day? No problem...

 

[Uzuri]

Heck, three of my girls went on an office adventure (they're gonna be stars

Wish I could show you the pic, but I can't until the magazine's out). It wasn't nearly as long (maybe 3 hours all told), but all three were sharing one crate through much of this. No sign of stress from them. They went home, told their buddies about their hard day at the office, and that was that.

Now, whether your mum's coworkers will be showing signs of stress at the end of the day is another story altogether. She's probably going to get a little rank in there.

 

[missychicky]

Ok good, doesnt mean I'm not gonna worry about her though

. But now I need some help. My mom wants me to give a short, very basic speach (as these are k-5 specail needs kids) about chickens. I just want some help deciding what to say, what would younger kids like this be interested in hearing?

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

they will probably ask you about eggs (tell them about all the different colors they could be!), and roosters crowing if they know what those are and not the one that lays the eggs! if you had a gentile roo to take that would be fun too! you may want to make a point that they can eat just about everything they can get their beaks on, but being careful to not let them eat too much or they get fat and won't lay eggs till they are thin again! oooh, and don't forget to mention that chickens go through molt at 18 months of age and may stop laying eggs but they will go back to it when they get their new feathers in! (too many people think their laying is done at 18mo and get rid of them)

depending on the special needs of these kids i would keep it simple. but remember that some of these kids are very smart and may be in that class due to behavioral issues or communication. if you can, have a few pics of other breeds of chickens with you so you can show them how varied they can be with attitudes, tameness, laying abilities (production breeds vs heritage!), and funky feathers like silkies, frizzles and polish!

 

[woodmort]

Depends on what kind of job you ask her to do--probably typing would be ok but filing might be a problem.