(An exciting adventure
for all ages, those who want to bring some
country home.)
Our recent
adventures began with a home school evaluation. Families come to us to
discuss and review work samples from their year's accomplishments. In
addition to paperwork, we often see models, dioramas, crafts and artwork. This particular family brought live items to document their school year.
In a cardboard box were two, eight-hour-old chicks. These puffs of
black fuzz quickly attached to one of our daughters. The mother who
brought the chicks taught my daughter what imprinting meant and fast friends
were made. The result was "Can we keep them?"
Daddy gave the
affirmative, highly-hoped-for answer and the chickens came to live with us,
under the condition they had to go back when they became adults because
the neighbors may not be so appreciative of our latest home school
"project".
The next day,
initiated by an innate curiosity, we hunted books from our personal library,
researched the Internet and called local feed stores. We watched an Internet video of a hen laying an egg.
On day two, we took a "field
trip" with grandpa to the feed store (that was a sensory experience!) for chicken
mash. We saw baby animals including pigeon chicks, compared the many
kinds of feed, watched the man weigh the mash on the big scale, enjoyed
the smell of the live tackle and took a stroll through
the garden plants.
Day three we read and compared
several versions of The
Little Red Hen. Later in the day we discussed diagrams of the 21-day
embryo growth inside the egg, amazed by the transformation. We
discussed why the eggs in our refrigerator would not become chicks,
greeting us the next time we opened the door. This sparked a conversation
about how many eggs are in a dozen and a half-dozen. We figured
out egg carton multiplication and enjoyed egg salad for lunch. One
daughter suggested we make a chicken book, a novel idea! We made the book
over several days and then headed to the library used book store to find
an old magazine with chicken pictures to cut out.
Internet Resources:
What a wonder we have
experienced! We watched the baby chick's wings grow and then add
feathers. The chicks chased us across the tile floor. We watched,
amazed, as they took to flight for the very first time. We have
learned that chicks need to have their bedding changed everyday or the house
begins to smell like grandpa's farm. And alas, our chicks are
now looking like miniature chickens. They will be heading back to
their original family soon.
We wanted to pass on
what we have learned as well as the books we read, in case, by some
circumstance, chickens appear on your doorstep.
Chicken/Farm Books:
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming
The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pickney
Little Red Hen
Makes a Pizza by
Philemon Sturges
Five Little Chicks by Nancy Tafuri
Field Guide to
Chickens by
Pam Percy
Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons
The Chicken Book by Page Smith and Charles Daniel
Where Do Chickens Come From by Amy E. Sklansky
Chickens by David M. Schwartz
