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.