Goat Lees Primary School Chick Update

The chicks have hatched!The children are so excited; they have been watching closely for signs of the little fluffy bundles of life breaking free from their shells to join us at Goat Lees. As you can see from the photos below, we have been very successful and have managed to hatch 9 of the 10 eggs.  Although the children were extremely sad that one egg didn't hatch, they understood that sometimes the chicks are just not stronger enough to break out, and sometimes some chicks fail to develop inside.Now that the chicks are out, we have a well-spaced-out schedule for the children to go down and handle them. We have to make sure everyone washes their hands before holding them, sit quietly and calmly, hold them close to the ground with cupped hands so they are safe and only hold them for a little time. A lot of rules, we appreciate, but the chicks' well-being is the most important thing. We only keep them out for a short time and if they start to cheep a lot or struggle, we put them back sooner so they can settle down, warm up and recover. The children can still look at them through the glass fronted box though, this means they can still see them hopping around and hear them cheeping (they are so vocal).Year 6 had their time with the chicks on Monday afternoon. They sat with them in the library as it was a nice quiet space. They all sat in a circle and had a little h0ld of the baby chicks. As you can see, we have three girls (the darker golden colour) and six boys (the yellow colour).

 

This is a wonderful experience for the children and they will be sad when the chicks have to leave us on Friday and head off to the farm whence they came.