Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Chicks to the Farm

Our chicks are a week old so time to move them to the farm.
This year we were able to take them ourselves.
We are fortunate to have a very supportive Parent Advisory Council that paid for a bus
for us to travel on.
The chicks rode in the front seat all the way to Clea's place
where Clea explained that the chicks would still live inside 
for a while longer.
We started with a tour of two chicken coops,
first was the summer coop that had fresh plants growing.
The big chickens will move into that coop soon.
Meantime they are still in the winter coop.
These chickens are the ones that we hatched last year.
Seeing them gave us an idea of what this year's chicks will grow up to look like.
Next we went and visited the cows.
They were across the field so Clea told us to call them.
We yelled 'Cow, cow, here cow' and they came running.
They are very friendly and like to eat grass.
Next we met Clea's mom who is a Master Beekeeper.
She was outfitted to open a hive.
First she explained that the bottom two boxes are the bees home so they don't 
take the honey from them.
 
She lifted out one of the frames and we could see the bees on it.
She picked one that the honey was capped and brushed the bees off.
We got to taste it.  Yum!
Clea also taught us the difference between honey bees and wasps,
as well as mason bees.
Finally we settled on the grass for a snack and story
before climbing back on the bus for the ride back to school.















Monday, June 5, 2017

Chicks Hatching

A week ago Sunday was the due date for our eggs to begin hatching.
We had 42 eggs in our incubator.
And they started hatching right on schedule.
On Sunday nine chicks hatched.
I was able to watch a couple come out.
Monday morning we arrived to fine fifteen more had hatched during the night.
What an exciting sight.
We moved them into a brooding bin under a heat lamp.
After they dried we took turns holding them.
How wonderful to watch the children be very gentle and caring
and oh so curious.
Fourteen eggs remained in the incubator.
Would they hatch?
Later in the morning, Clea the farmer/teacher that gave us the eggs, visited
and improved the brooding bin making it more comfortable.
A couple more eggs began to hatch but they were having difficulties
so Clea 'zippered' them, which means she helped them hatch.
Throughout the week more families visited and had a chance to visit
and get to know the chicks.
Even our big buddies came in for a visit.
We will take them to the farm soon.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Scooping Rice

A very simple provocation.
Rice, spoons and a variety of little containers.
The children loved it.
It was a bit messy but easily swept up.
It worked for a variety of ages.
Above are pictures of a toddler and a preschooler,
brother and sister.
They used spoons to scoop and shared with their parents.
Or they got right in there digging with their hands.
It was a busy table all the week.