NRM and Marie

Yesterday Marie from NRM came to school to see our chickens. Last year NRM donated 3 bags of chicken feed to us. This year Marie and NRM are donating a bag every month!! Wow! We are lucky! That will save us a lot of money.
Marie also gave us a special spray that will get rid of any bugs that may be lurking around. She also left some booklets with lots of information for us, so if we need to know anything we can just look it up. If we get extra stuck we are allowed to email Marie too.
Thanks so much NRM and Marie. The Toko kids and Toko chickens really appreciate your donation.

Maree’s Visit

Today Maree from NRM came to room4 to come and see our chickens and how we’re going, she told us that each fully grown chicken should only eat 130gms of grain.                          

                                                                        

We learnt that the chickens normally stop laying in the winter and that in the winter they need a warm space to keep them laying eggs, so we have some to sell. Isabel, Liam and Jordan went to show Maree and Mrs Waite the chicken coop, then Liam lifted the bottom brooder boxes lid up and we saw one of the chickens laying but she was shaking, Maree said it wants to have babies. We learnt a lot of new things from her and (we won’t forget them.) Maree gave us a document with two chook books and a spray to keep the bugs away and to stop the chickens from getting fleas.

On the way back to class Isabel ran to tell Mrs Hancock that one of the chickens is wanting to have babies then Liam and the others walked through the door and told Mrs Hancock what Isabel told her. By the time it was morning tea time Emma, Pippa and Mackenzie C  went see who the chicken was and it was ‘Snowy’ and the separated her into a small place.

By Isabel, Jordan and Liam

Our New Babies

These are our new babies. Sadly Tiger died overnight, so now we only have 6 babies left. We have named them and started writing biographies for each of them. We'll post them on our chicken blog when they are finished.

All Things Eggy

Today was a very egg-y / chicken-y day in Room 4. We have so many eggs from our hens that we decided rather than letting them go to waste we would eat them. So with the help of Treena we made scrambled eggs with bacon and fried eggs too. At the same time we emptied out the incubator and put our 7 new babies into the brooder box. We opened all the eggs that didn't hatch and found a lot of fully formed but dead chickens. Next week we'll investigate what might have gone wrong. Also if you check out our chicken blog later in the week you'll get to meet our 7 newest babies. 

Hatch Day

Today, Wednesday, was Hatch Day for the chickens we are incubating in Room 4. When we arrived at school this morning there were 3 eggs with little chip holes in them. By the end of school today those little holes were very big holes! We waited until 4.30 but they still hadn't made it out of their shells.  Here are some photos of the eggs and us watching them. Our room was very busy after school with kids and even a few mums popping in to check out our babies progress. I wonder what we'll find in the morning. .....

Fun with the Chooks

It was such a lovely day today in the sun. Everyone,  including the chickens, had fun at lunch time.

2015 - What's been happening?

Well our babies have really grown up over the summer.... Some of them have even started laying! !!! Talk about exciting! 
We've been so busy since school started back last week. We've planted more silver beet and chicken greens, we've changed the wood chip in the shed and we've cleaned and altered the nesting boxes. Check out these pics.....

New Roosts

On Monday we got the manuka and we had turns at cuting the manuka. First we made handles out of it. Next we made a roost for the chickens to rest on top of. We think that the roost was a good idea for the chickens. We had turns at hammering nails in the timber so when we put the manuka on, it won't roll away. Lastly we put nails in the Manuka. Then Lance (koen's dad) drilled it onto the timber so you can lift it. It is pretty heavy and we are going to get a hook so that when we lift it to clean under it, we won't drop it!

Goodbye Roosters

It was time for the roosters to go. They do not lay eggs and we want to sell the eggs plus they were eating too much food. We were given the option to take them home.  Bob, Liam's chicken got taken home to his house and Mr Beautiful got taken to Koen's house. On Thursday Wai took the roosters home in a cage on the back of her ute. In a few weeks when they are big enough she will eat them. The owners of the roosters were Holli, Abbie, Courtney, Erikka, Emma, Isabel, Roseabel, Arnika and Pascoe, Libby and Renee. Most of the roosters owners were crying. It will not be the same without them but we have still got the hens to play with.

By Courtney and Izzy!

Wood chips

At first we had an ordinary concrete ground, so we asked people for wood chips. No one had any wood chips until we asked Vaughan for wood chips. The next day we got the wood chips and then we put them on the ground for the chickens.The chickens love scratching in the wood chips from Vaughan. I love the chickens so much, but I think that they love you more than anyone else, plus they love the wood chips too. I think the chickens wouldn't have liked surviving with out the wood chips. The wood chips aren't in the run but they are in the coop.
By Jordan

New Water System

On Friday we got a new water system because the chickens kept on drinking our other one dry.  We needed a  bigger feeder  for  the holidays. Mr Gallop told us about these water feeders that his dogs have.  It has a ballcock in it so it will just refill when the water goes down.  It will be a great help so we don’t have to go in on the holidays every day to fill it up.  The water comes from the water pipe.  The ballcock really helps.  The water system works just right.  Its a great water feeder.

By Pascoe  and  Matthew

The Plants

 For the chickens we have silverbeet and chicken greens.  The chickens love eating chicken greens.  People have to go and water the plants so they grow.  The chickens eat the chicken greens because they are healthy. The chicken greens are good for them. The first lot died because we didn't water them.  The chickens always eat the chicken greens. The chicken greens are sometimes not being watered so they might die.The chicken greens go in next to the chicken coop in tyres.  Once the chickens got out in the weekend and ate all the chicken greens up. The chickens are funny when they eat them.  There is still some chicken greens in the bottle house that we have to water everyday as well. The first chickens to peck them were Titanic and Brave.  The chickens love chicken greens and silverbeet.

By Koen and Arnika.

The Finished Shed

Lance Chadwick (one of our Dad's) finished the chicken shed and he did a good 

job. We thank him so so much. The chickens love the  shed. As you can see it’s

big. The chickens love playing in it because it’s home to them.

We didn't know that the chicken coop would be that big when they put it up and

it was way different to the picture that Koen showed us. 

 In the chicken coop there is a tree trunk that they climb on and we put food on 

it and there is also some tyres in there so they can have a dust bath.

The new thing that's in there is the water system. George Gallop made the water

so we didn't have to keep filling it up twice a day. 

We also have have two nesting boxes at the front of the coop where they sleep

and rest.We love the way the chicken coop is made and so do the chickens.

BY

LIBBY and ROSEABEL

Roosts

At the moment in our chicken shed we have roosts for our chickens, made out of wood but soon we are getting a better roost. Our chicks love perching on the bits of wood. Here is a photo of Ritchie and Starkey on the perch..... 

 The chicks sleep on the perch and in the morning they are sometimes still asleep and we sometimes get to wake them up. Then we put them back in the cage and they run back to the perch and hop on and go to sleep like a little baby. Here is a fact about chickens on roosts, chickens like sleeping up high because rats, stoats, hawks and stuff like to eat chickens and another tip is to keep your roost the same level and keep it is straight as possible. Some people make roosts out of wood and some people use ladders even. 

By Abbie, "Erikka and Mackenzie     

Tweety Bird

Tweety Bird

                                                            

Last week we had a chicken die. It was Tweety bird. It died at 3:00 (at the end of school.)

First me, Courtney and Emma went to check on the chickens. Then when Emma looked into the coop she saw that one was sick. Next me and Courtney went to tell Izzy, Hollie and Xanthe that Tweety Bird is sick. Hollie and Izzy started to cry.

Then Hollie, Izzy, Emma and Xanthe went to tell Mrs Hancock but she to us to leave it alone, Hollie had a idea to get her drinking and eating, she quickly got a spoon from the staff room and poured a little bit of water on it and got a handful of chicken grain and put it in one of the nesting boxes. Then Izzy placed Tweety Bird in the nesting box that Hollie had put the food and water in. But she sadly died. 

The day after that when the bell rang Mrs Hancock told the class that Tweety Bird is a living thing and its not a doll and we need to be careful with the chickens. It was choking and it was sick, and because she didn’t know what was causing it, Mrs Hancock didn’t want us to get sick so we had to stay away. 

By Isabel And Courtney.

Starky's Bio

                                

Starkey's Bio 

Starkey is the oldest chick out of room 4's chicks at toko school, but he's not the biggest.  When the chicks were about 4 and a half weeks old we put leg bands on them.  My chick which is Starkey has a green band around his right leg and a yellow band around his left leg.  Starkey’s as white as snow accepted for a few little black spotted feathers around his neck.  Starkey also has a few completely  black feathers on each side of him.  Starkey’s friends are Tweety bird, Speckles, Thunder, Fluffy, Ritchie, Titanic, Boxer, Sparky, Brave, Sunny, Snowy, Mrs beautiful and Mr beautiful.  The first time that  we weighed Starkey he was 550 gms, Then the next time that we weighed Starkey he was 600 gms, then the time after that he weighed 800 gms, After we weighed Starkey we  measured him.  The first time that we measured Starkey he was 17cm, then the next time that we measured Starkey he was 21cm, then the time after that he was 23cm.  Starkey fights a lot with the other roosters.  That's how We know if the chicks are a rooster or a hen.  By Hollie and Abbie.....

"WE LOVE STARKEY"!!                         

Thunder!

Thunder the Chicken.
 He weighs 500gms and he’s 23cms tall, when he’s hungry he will start running to you and he will start pecking you  until you bleed. He loves being with other chicks especially Boxer, Fluffy and Flappy Bird, but sadly Flappy Bird died.

Thunder burst out of his egg with a big BANG and then all of a sudden he was a big chick then a big lightning bolt came and he was turned into a pullet after the holidays that's how long the lightning took ( but that is not true.)

Thunder has a very, very light spot like grey on his neck. Thunder is one of the odd ones out because he’s got a grey neck. Thunder has big brown-grey feet. On his left leg he’s got a red ring and on the right leg he’s got a yellow ring.

By Emma and Isabel

Chicks at My House

 In the holidays my family got to take the Room-4 chicks home for the holidays.  They were so small.  We took the chicks home on Saturday and they really stunk.  We took the chicks home in  a big container in our car. The big brooder box was too large that it wouldn't fit in Dad's van so we had to put the brooder box in the RJEagar truck.  In the car the chicks were chirping as loud as the sound of thunder.

When we got home we unloaded the humongous brooder box out of the RJEagar truck.  After that we put the brooder box in the shed and we got the chicks out.  We had to plug the heat lamp in.  We had to try to figure out a way to get the heat lamp to go inside the brooder box.  First thing we tried was to cut a little hole in the netting, so the cord could fit through and plug into the wall.  That worked but we had another idea... The Idea was to jam the cord in between the two lids.

When we went to set the heat lamp up, Dad unscrewed the connection and….. the wires came out of the bulb. Mum panicked and rang lots of people to try and get another heat lamp. Finally we got a heat lamp from the Mitchells. While Dad was getting the heat lamp, Mum put my old hot water bottle in with the chickens. Later that night Matthew’s Dad, Alan fixed the lamp. ‘’THANK GOODNESS"!!!

"BAM!" The holidays have gone quick I've only got one more day to hang out with the chicks.  One thing that I've learnt these holiday's is that looking after baby chicks is a really hard job, especially when you have to change their news paper two times a day.  The chicks used to be so small, but now they're gigantic.  I've enjoyed having the chicks at my place because I got to spend time with them and watch them grow.  By Hollie and Abbie.....

              "WE LOVE THE CHICKS"!!!

Spikey the Chicken

Spikey is the chicken that Jordan named and he is very kind. He is mean to everyone but not his owner which is Jordan. Spikey  is cheeky like his friend Bob and he is a Light Sussex that has purple on its tail and it has no leg bands on it. He does not fight at all and he is super fast. He is also very silly and fun to play with. I think that Spikey  likes his home. The best part of Spikey is that he is so funny.

By Jordan

The Pit Metal Truck

THE TRUCK

On Friday after school a truck came with a load of pit metal. The truck drove over to where we are putting our chicken house. It tipped the pit metal in between the stand that Koen's dad and mrs hancocks husband put up. When The pit metal fell down the truck went and mrs hancocks husband spreaded it out and he did that for about a hour. The next day the truck came back and flatered it down and then put a heap of concrete on top and then it all went hard after about  11 hours. Then when it came to Monday it looked like a pavement.

By Roseabel and Jordan.

Fluffy

Fluffy

Fluffy has black feathers and a white body.   She has light blue nail polish and a red leg band around her right leg.  When she is in a comfortable spot she puffs out her creamy white feathers and looks happy.   Izzy and I think that Fluffy is a girl because she does not have a comb and she looks pretty.    When we go to get Fluffy she runs away from us, we have to run fast to catch her, she is tricky!  In one week she can  grow a couple of centimeters and she puts on about 100gms a week.  Her friends are Thunder,  Tweety Bird, Sowny, Ritchie, Brave and Speckles because she plays with  them when we take her out at morning tea and lunch.

By Xanthia and Izzy

Snowys Bio

Snowy is one of Room 4's chickens at Toko School. Hollie is my partner for looking after Room 4’s chickens. We have Starkey and Snowy. Me and Hollie think Snowy is a girl and Starkey is a boy(they could get married.) Snowy loves Perching on my head and shoulders. The 1st time we weighed her she was 325gms  ,the 2nd time we weighed her she was 450gms and 18.5cms tall at 5 weeks old. Most of Snowy's feathers are white and they are softer than silk. When I take Snowy out for a walk round the school she turns upside down and wants me to rub her tummy.When it's time to put the chickens away, I put Snowy down about 5 meters away from the cage and she would run as fast as she could to the cage with me running beside her. She loves to peck anything that looks yummy to eat. Snowy loves to eat Weet-bix, fruit & veggies.We think Snowy's best friends are Starkey, Brave, Mrs and Mr beautiful and Tweety Bird. Soon their cage will be ready to build. Snowy has never pooped on me and I don’t think she will. The only time Snowy has flew off me is when she flys down to the ground and when she coming off my head.

By Abbie and Hollie……..

     We love Snowy

Tweety Bird

        Tweety Bird has a bright yellow face with black and white feathers on the neck join. When she is in a comfortable spot she puffs out her nice,white, creamy feathers. Xanthe and I think that it's a hen. Tweety Bird is the one that has light blue nail polish and a red band around her left leg. In a weeks time Tweety bird grows tow cm usually. We have weighed her two times and both times she has weighed 400 kg. Her best friend chicks are Fluffy,Starkey,Spec,Snowy,Sparkey,Mr Beautiful, Mrs Beautiful and Brave. She loves to eat veggies and fruit scraps. Tweety bird loves to play in dirt and scratch in it for bugs on a hot day. She used to not peck me but now that she is a lot older she pecks. Not long ago Tweety bird lost her chick friend Flappy bird, she was Emma and Isabel's.  
By Izzy and Xanthia

Tweety Bird's Height

When our chicks hatched we wanted to keep track of how heavy they were and how tall the were. Mrs Hancock taught us how to make a graph. I picked to do Tweety Bird's height. This shows that I measured her on the 13/10/14 she was 15cm, 17cm on the 21/10/2014 and 19cm on the 29/10/2014.

By Izzy

A New Daytime Home

A few weeks ago the chicks had been living in the broader box  in the shed here at school, but that was the problem. The box was really starting to smell and we wanted them to be in the sun more. So one sunny morning Mrs Hancock had brought in lots orange fence and some standards . We went outside and found a tree with dirt around it where the chicks could scratch and play. Mrs Hancock put the orange fence around the tree while some of us held it up. Next Gus and a few others put the standards in around it. Room Four made a gateway as well, the only thing with that is we have to shut it tight because once a chick got out. Now during the day we put the chicks inside the orange fence and put them in the broader box in the shed at night. 
By Izzy

   

Bob the Chicken

Bob is a chicken that I named and he is special to me. I found out that he is very funny and that he is too fast for everyone except for the other chicks. He is a sensible chicken but he is also a rule breaker. Sometimes he will climb all over people. I think he is a cute big chicken and I hope he does not die like 6 of the chickens that died.
By Liam 

Titanic

FAMOUS TITANIC!!! 



This is Titanic. Titanic is a girl, her breed is Light Sussex, she is a very sensitive chicken. Titanic is 17 cm high. She's 23 cm across to the tail.She doesn't like people touching her tail. She loves

to eat a lot of bugs but she doesn't find much. We let her run across the grass and scratch around. Titanic is one of the biggest chickens in the class. Her wings are 14 cm long , she is also very cuddly. Titanic's personality is eating bugs and she likes dangling things.She is also starting to fly! Titanic is really good at standing straight. She loves eating worms and every other bug. Now Titanic weight is 600 gm her height is 23 cm. Titanic friends are Brave, Starkey and Ritchie. They play happily in the run with the sun glimmering down on it. She is really fast at running and she is really slow at eating. I love my sweet Titanic.

BY ARNIKA

Speckles the Chicken

Speckles

Speckles likes to peck things because once we were putting nail polish on her head so we could tell them apart she pecked it and then she tried wiping it off on the news paper.  She is very, very loud but really fluffy.  She is very scared of high places.  Speckles has a white body and little black speckles on her neck and that is why we called her Speckles. We think that Speckles is a girl because she has a little comb and she doesn’t have a wattle under her neck. Speckles is 16cm high and weighs 400gms.  Speckles is a cute chicken and she likes to run away from us when we try to catch her.  We like her because she is nice to us, because she doesn’t hurt us at all. She has a little blue band on her right leg.  Speckles especially likes to peck shiny things because once I had shiny nail polish on and she pecked at it. She is a handful but we can take care of her.  We love Speckles and she loves us back. By Heidi and Mackenzie

Weight Graph as of 29 October

As you can see Starky and Brave are the biggest and Ritche is the smallest.  The reason Flappy Bird doesn't have a third weight is because she died. We cut her up so we could learn what is inside the chicken. We saw her intestines, heart, crop and the air sack. Starky was the biggest the first time we weighed them,  Flappy bird was the smallest when we first weighed them.  Then the second time we weighed them Starky and Brave were the biggest, and Ritchie was now the smallest. When we last weighed them Starky and Brave were still the biggest, and Ritchie was the smallest.We think Ritchie is the smallest because he is a different breed. He is a Manuka Cross, Bard Rock and we think he is a type of Bantam. Bantam's are smaller than normal chickens.
By Matthew and Thomas

Cutting Up Flappy Bird

On Friday we came to school and Flappy Bird was dead in the box. We got all the stuff we needed then we got the scissors and opened its beak and cut down towards the tummy, can you guess why? We were cutting Flappy Bird up to see if we could find out what made her die.

First we found her crop which is a big bubble in the neck where they store their food after eating it then it goes down to its tummy.  We did not cut open the crop because we didn't know what it was and what was in it.  

Next we found the heart, the intestines, the tummy and the liver.  Hollie put on the gloves and started poking the intestines she said it looked liked spaghetti.  

Mrs Hancock pulled all the bits we had found and put them in the tray. We then took Flappy bird over to the orchard to bury her by a tree.   

By Xanthe, Pascoe and Heidi

  

  

The Big Shed

Bang, Bang, Bang goes the hammer while dad was building the chicken coop.  Then I came down to the shed and helped him.   When I was helping I got to bang some nails in and dad told me to watch where I was hammering because I was missing the nail.  A few days later I had my friend over called Gus and we went to have a look at it. 

 Gus said  “That is awesome,   how did you do it?” and I said “Easy”.  Late that afternoon when Gus went home I went down on my motorbike.  We did a lot of work that night we did… a wall, started the nesting boxes and a lot more stuff.  Then the next day we finished the nesting boxes and put them in. 

This is what the what the shed is looking like at the moment.  We are going to put it up on Saturday.  Now all we are waiting on is the iron for the roof.

 

By Koen and Gus