Season's Greetings from the WGHS GOLD Main Garden!

November Update

It's been a while since I last posted, so here's what has been happening:

• We have recently moved what's in the coop around. More pictures coming up soon.
• The roof has been waterproofed.
• The eggs are now mostly regularly shaped.
• The chickens have intestinal worms, but pumpkin seeds helped get some of the worms out of their system.

Sorry this is a short one. A more detailed post is coming soon.

Also, if anyone would like to help take care of the chickens, please go to the Chicken Care page.

Thanks!

The Chickens are Back!

Hello, everyone!

Here is a bit of an update from when we last posted:

Over summer vacation, we had a couple of Mr. Bursch's friends take care of the chickens. We took care of their chickens for a few days as well.

The coop has been finished! With the grant from CNGF, we had some people build the coop for us. Here are some pictures:

The chickens returned to the school on August 30. Here are some pictures of them:

On September 10, one of the chickens laid an egg!

Castiel, my rabbit, inspecting the egg

The chickens pecked at the egg

Since the chickens kept pecking the eggs. we put in fake eggs to stop them from doing that and it worked.

From Brooder to Brooder to Brooder to Brooder to Almost Outdoors

 Over time, we have had about 4 different brooders for the chickens. From the traditional box, to the storage bin, to Ryan's homemade Brooder, to Helen's changes to Ryan's brooder. Here are some images of Ryan and Helen's versions of the brooder:

Ryan's Version of the Brooder

Ryan's Version of the Brooder

Helen's Version of the Brooder

Helen's Version of the Brooder

About month ago, we found out that Mr. Bursch had obtained a grant from CNGF to help with the development of our school's garden, as well as build a chicken coop and run for us. We were supposed to build on the 16th, but there were some transportation problems, so we are rescheduling. Currently, the chickens are just about ready to move into the outdoors, so we have been giving them some outdoor time. Here are some pictures of Helen and I with the chickens outside:

Helen in her Backyard with the Chicks

Helen in her Backyard with the Chicks as Jack and McNugget sit on her

The Chicks sitting on and around Helen in her Backyard

Oswin, Houdini, Frappuccino, and Elle on Helen in Helen's backyard

Oswin on Helen in her Backyard

In the Garden with the Chicks

Frappuccino standing on my Leg in the Garden Area

The Chicks chilling in the Garden Area with my friend, Katherine, and I

Frappuccino standing on Katherine

Frappuccino in the Garden

Frappuccino in the Garden

Elle, Jack, McNugget, and Oswin in the Garden

The chicks really enjoy their outside time. We hope to get the chicks living outside soon. That's all for now!
 

Chicken Accommodations

It's been a while since the last post. This chicks are now about 3 times bigger than they were when we bought them! As you can tell, bigger chicks means bigger accommodations. After a while, the chicks began to learn how to fly. They were escaping the box quite often, so our dear friend Emily decided to get them a larger space. We also had a mediocre bulb (which eventually burnt out) and we were borrowing one of the science teachers lamps. Emily was gracious enough to buy us a heating lamp for the chicks, as the white light messed with the chicks sleeping schedule. This is what the set up looked like after Emily upgraded their tiny accommodations:

The New Accommodations - Outside

The New Accommodations - Inside

As you can see, the chicks did not have a legitimate food or water dispenser (broken), but we got new ones. (There was a screen on top of the box, but it was taken off for the photo.) There will be more photos to come!

Picking Up Chicks! Literally!

Yesterday I went to Farmers Feed & Supply in Gilroy with my family. They had a variety of animals, as they had turtles, chickens, an assortment of birds, and rabbits. We got three different breeds of chickens. We bought 2 Barred Rock hens, 2 Rhode Island Red hens, and 2 Buff Orpington hens. Each chick is now about 3 days old. Here are some pictures of our visit:

Tortoises in the chicken coop 

Peacocks they were selling

Roosters for sale

The Chick Aisle

Price for the Barred Rock Chicks

The Barred Rock Chicks

Price for the Buff Orpington Chicks

Buff Orpington Chicks

Rhode Island Red Chick Prices

Rhode Island Red Chicks

After we purchased the chicks, we kept the car warm and drove to the school to pick up our supplies. The chicks were in a paper bag, so we had to be quick. When we got home, we quickly realized that we didn't have food for the chicks. By the time we got home it was late, so we were not able to get proper food, so we looked up if we could use parakeet food instead, as we still had some parakeet food from our past pets. We compared the ingredients in the parakeet food and the chick feed and they were similar. We also looked up the opinions of experienced chicken owners and they thought the chicks would really like the food. We then used a 100 watt bulb as a heat lamp after we had the box brooder set up. Before the box was set up we used a heating pad. Here are some pictures of the set up process:

The chicks in the paper bag

The chicks on the heating pad

Chicks in the Brooder

Chicks in the Brooder

Chicks in the Brooder

We should get a proper feeder and water dispenser, so we will talk about it on Monday due to expenses and income. Names will also be discussed soon. That's all for now!

Setting Up the Coop

We are beginning to set up the coop and the run for our chickens. We are already in possession of a coop which was kindly donated to us at the beginning of this project. We are considering replacing the top of this coop as the wood is beginning to sink inward. In addition to this, we still need to build a chicken run. In order to build the run we will need chicken wire and wooden posts. We have the measurements for the required materials to build our run and will purchase them soon.

Update 3/6/15

Mr. Bursch has informed us that a chain link fence surrounding the coop and run is now a requirement. This change is to serve the purpose of keep the chickens safe. 

Learning About Raising Chickens

We have visited the home of the women raising the chickens and now have a better understanding of how to raise the chickens. During the trip, we learned about how to handle chickens, as well as what chickens eat, when they need water, what they need to survive properly.


Food

• Certain foods that must be in their diet in order for the chickens to form the firm shell on their eggs
• Vegetables must be in their diet to keep the yolk in their eggs orange
• Table scraps such as old bread, wilted vegetables, and fruit can be used in the feed 
• Their old egg shells can be used in the feed 
• Foods the chickens cannot be fed include citrus and avocado
• The chickens must be fed every day 

General Care

• Chicken coops must have nesting boxes
• The coop must be cleaned regularly 
• There must always be fresh water in the coop that is replaced daily 
• The coop must have a chicken run for the chickens to move around in 
• The coop and run must be enclosed completely to keep the chickens in and predators out 

Other 

• When carrying a chicken you must gently hold down the wings to keep the animal from panicking and flapping 

Getting Approval

We have received the green light for our project from the principal and we are now moving forward with this plan. We have received approval from Mr. Bursch and have made arrangements to have the chickens' coop set up in the school's garden area. In addition, Mr. Bursch has pointed us toward some women who are currently raising their own chickens so that they may assist us with the preparations of this project.

 

 

School Garden

 

Where we plan to put the coop