My “peeps” and I were invited to give a chicken talk at Wilson Elementary School last week. Of course I corralled Tama and Meggie to come help me impart the joys of all things chicken to Mrs. Nelson’s second graders. They are planning to get some fertilized eggs and have them hatch in an incubator. And although I have no experience with hatching eggs, we did bring a fun and educational experience to Mrs. Nelson’s, as well as the other second grade classes. Our first order of business was to “borrow” five little chicks from our local farm supply store. I’d like to give a shout out to Robert at the Feed Lot in Pike Road. He allowed me to choose an assortment from his stock to take to the school for a live chick meet and greet.
We had a Rosie, a Violet, a Daisy and two Scarletts in the batch.
We kept Meggie and the chicks hidden in a secret area while Tama and I set up the chicken yard in the common room.
Pay no attention to the chicken behind the curtain!
I wore an appropriate uniform for the event as well.
DeNiro would be proud.
Mrs. Nelson and the Chickenlady set up the temporary chicken yard complete with hamster fence, newspaper and heat lamp.
While Meggie waited in the “wings” with her little brood of five, I read a chicken story to the class using the overhead thingy and talked about chicken-handling safety.
Nicest bunch of second graders you’ll ever meet. 🙂
I brought a carton of eggs from my fridge to show the kids the lovely colors you can get from real farmyard chickens.
After the chicken talk and picture tour of chickens, the classes were assembled in the common room for the live show.
Miss Tama operated as the official photographer and chicken wrangler, while I answered questions and pretended to be an expert.
The kids took turns holding a little chick in their hands. I think the most fun they had was when the babies pooped on the newspaper. Wow that was super funny and exciting!
Hey chicken lady, how can you tell which ones are boys and which ones are girls?
Umm…You can’t. 🙂
But by far the biggest hit of the day was Miss Meggie in her chicken suit.
This chick has some serious attitude.
Who knew kids love to hug chickens!
The pinnacle of the event was when Meggie launched into a chicken dance and the crowd went wild!
The kids joined in and a good time was had by all. Check out the young Fred Astaire on the right. 🙂
Our day at Wilson Elementary was great for these three chicks as much as it was for the kids. I think we may have planted some Urban Chicken seeds among these young farmers. At least I know some of them will encourage their parents to try out their local farmer’s market to get some of those cool colored eggs.
FCFA – Future Chicken Farmers of America
We were happy to return the babies to Robert, exhausted but unharmed.
Operation Chicken Education complete!
I want to sincerely thank Tama and Meggie for their help. I’d like to report that they lended their aid out of the simple goodness of their hearts and the desire to spread the good news about humane chicken practices, but, alas, I cannot. The price for their efforts was a good lunch at a fine dining establishment.
I can assure you the bill was not “chicken feed”!
And these chicks can EAT! Worth every penny ladies. Much obliged!
KittyBunnyChicken 
You have such a knack for writing excellent entertaining posts! This is fabulous and also funny! Bravo to you! I hope that you will give your blog address to all those 2nd graders so they can go and look at this.
You are too kind Debbie. Funny you should mention sending it to the second graders. In this litigious society my first thought was that the parents would sue me for publishing photos of their kids without permission! Thoughts? 🙂
Well it’s a sad society when we have to worry about that. Didn’t think about that, but guess I wouldn’t do it. When I posted some of my pictures of people in my class I got their permission first. We miss out on so many blessings because of stupid stuff like this.
Agree Donna Jean. Well, the site is up and I guess if any of the parents object, I’ll just delete the offending photo. Or get ready for my court battle. 🙂
Too much fun! They’ll be talking about this forever.
Sent from my iPhone
I sure hope so Linda. We had a blast!
this is so good of you! i have you in costume with farmer jim on our frig!!
That picture is an American classic. Keep it for posterity.
Great story, Deb! You can take this one on the road! I’m going to show this one to my grandkids.
You’re the BEST!
Awesome! Glad you liked it. You need to get you some CHICKENS for your grandkids to play with with! Too much fun!
Great story! Looks like everyone had fun! And I’ve been having fun keeping up with your blog posts.
Thanks so much Cindy! How is it possible that we’ve never met? 🙂
Someday……:)
Hi,
The students really enjoyed your visit. You were so kind to share your love of chickens with us. I was planning on talking to you when our batch of chicks hatched but, sadly, the incubator was defective and they did not hatch. So, I ordered another incubator and I got some more fertilized eggs. The new incubator worked! However, the chicks didn’t hatch until the end of the last week of school, when everyone was packing up for the summer. I had to take the chicks back when they were only a few days old. But it was a fun year for all. I love your blog!
Denise, so sorry about the chicks. Sounds like it would have been fun for the kids. Oh well, there’s always next year! I loved visiting your school. What a great place for kids to learn.
Cluck, cluck!
Deb
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