How do you like your eggs in the morning?

Mrs Keeling recommends our lovely, fresh, organic eggs for poaching.  They only need a few minutes in boiling water and bind together beautifully.

It would be interesting to know how you have used our school hens' eggs.  Do let us know.

Bees meet children meet bees

On Wednesday 30th September, Year 3 were the first intrepid explorers of our apiary along with Mr Warren, our beekeeper, and Mr Barnard.  This was all part of our autumn grounds day which had a focus on food and harvest.  During the day everyone had a chance to learn about our bees, talk to Mr Cavill from BeeGood, make bee homes and visit the apiary.   Bee suits for the children had kindly been provided by NATS at Swanwick and Year 3 took full opportunity of their arrival.

Everybody was fascinated by the bees, and how they behave.  Even the nervous among us decided to have a go and went into the apiary with Mr Warren.

Simon Cavill then talked to the the children about how wax, honey and propolis from the bees can be used in beauty products.  He also taught them about a bee's waggle dance.  Mr Warren provided some honey from the bees on site for everyone to taste.

What a great day!

There's a buzz at Wicor

Preparing the base for the apiary

The observation shed

When a parent approached us with a tentative question - How do you feel about keeping some bees at Wicor? - we pounced.  Yes please!  We had been researching this possibility for several years and decided that the time had come to put theory into practice.  We identified an area and set to work to create a first class apiary. 
 

Preparing the fence

 

The apiary is ready for bees

The Circle of Life

It was a very sad day today.  We lost our lovely hens - all eight of them - to a hungry fox. The hens had proven to be such worthy companions and the children have learned so much from caring for them and I have to say that the hens appeared to be equally fond of the children.
Or sadness was heightened when we discovered that the hens had left us a lovely clutch of eggs.  They started laying only a day after they came to live at Wicor and settled in beautifully and have provided eggs and company ever since.  They were a hale and hearty bunch, so it came as a shock to discover our tragic loss this morning.
It was difficult to see just how the fox got in.  There were no holes under the fence, although the fox clearly tried to dig in - our defences were good.  There was no sign of it climbing over.  This was a mystery, only finally solved with the use of our CCTV recordings.  The fox climbed up the close mesh and managed to squeeze through the larger mesh.   We would not have believed it had we not seen it happen on film.
The hens have been such a fantastic learning resource and the children have cared for them well.  We will certainly get more hens but first to improve the mesh.  At least we know what we need to do.

We talk to the children about predators and prey and the circle of life but it is only when something like this happens that the message is really brought home.

Easter Eggs

EASTER WITH THE HENS

 

We have had a wonderful term with our Wicor Chickens and all the classes

have now had a turn to look after them. 

They have coped with wind, rain and very icy weather, and the other day I watched them all lined up, basking in the hot sunshine!

They are so happy that for the last three weeks they have ALL laid an egg every day, so do the maths....

 

(7x8=?)x3=?

 

That's a lot of eggs!

 

 

 

Some of the Year 3 children have been finding out how to 'blow' an egg, to get the insides out and decorate them.

 

 

 First, Mrs Coles made a hole in

                               both ends with a sharp needle.                                

  

 

We then had lots of fun blowing the albumen ('white part') out through the hole..........

                                 .................. followed by the yolk ('yellow part').
                                                                    It was yucky!

Mrs Kimber had a go, too.

              

When we had washed and dried them, we had a good time designing and doing our decorations, threading a line through to hang them from, and adding jewels at each end to stop up the holes.....and make them look lovely.

Izzy, Ruby, Ellie and Blossom were very proud of the results!

 

Happy Easter everyone, enjoy your Easter Eggs, and have a go at 'blowing' one.

 

In case you're wondering, the hens will have a great time while everyone's on holiday

being looked after by:

Mrs Pattison, Mrs Knight, Mrs Williams, Mrs Hurst and Mrs Coles.

 

Thank you, ladies!

                            

The Solar Eclipse

The date; 20th March
The time: 9.30 am
The place: Wicor Primary
The event:  Solar eclipse

We waited for the cloudy sky to clear, for just a tiny glimpse of the Sun.  Nothing but clouds.
The time came and the sky darkened.  The birds stopped singing...even our hens went quiet - they seemed strangely subdued.  It was Class 5M's turn to look after the hens and check on their eggs.

Meanwhile back in Year 3, Mr Wildman was explaining the strange things that sometimes happen during a solar eclipse...you know, like birds laying strange coloured eggs.

Lunchtime:  Class 5M look in on hens and see if there are any eggs...

Look what they found...

There were 9 eggs (but they usually lay 8) and one of them was...GOLD!  The eclipse had worked its magic.  The hens had laid a golden egg.  

No, it's definitely a golden egg 

Let's seek the wisdom of Mr Wildman. 

But he's usually asleep in Darwin's chair at this time.

No we must wake him.

Yes, it's a golden egg - the eclipse has affected one of the hens 

"I was only talking to Year 3 about this strange phenomenon.  Go and show them, they'll be amazed."

Look, Year 3...a golden egg

2W's Chicken Week

2W looked after the chickens this week. Mrs Coles and Mrs Pattison helped us. We fed some corn to the chickens; they were happy to peck it out of our hands. We ensured they had fresh water everyday.
We also checked in the chicken coop to see if there were any eggs. Most days we collected 6 eggs when we went in the morning. We sold these at the office everyday.
Some of us were brave enough to pick up the chickens carefully. We were delighted to finally meet our Year 2 chicken, Billie-Daisy. We knew how to identify her because she has a green band around her leg.
Wicor chose to have hens and not roosters so we would get eggs everyday. Roosters would also have been too loud for our neighbours!

Eggs for the Office

Daily half dozen

Billie-Daisy turned out to be a bit of a handful!

4M look after the hens

We were very excited to have our turn in looking after the hens for the week before the spring half term holiday.  We were desperate to see how our own hen for Year 4, Egg Sheeran, had settled in with her companions and to see how many eggs we would find each day in their nesting boxes!  A group of us went out each day, making sure that we listened carefully to our instructions on the correct way to hold the chickens, how much feed and water they need and how to clean the path in their home.

collecting the eggs

Will the real Egg Sheeran stand up?

We also learned that in order to make sure that we did not carry germs into our chicken’s habitat; we needed to use a special foot bath to wash the bottom of our shoes.  The foot bath was really easy to use and we were very careful to make sure that each one of us used it before entering the chicken run.  As the foot bath contains a special disinfectant, we made sure that after we had used it, the lid was carefully replaced so that other wildlife and the local cats could not drink it.  If that happened, these animals could become very ill indeed, so we learned how important it is to care for ALL of our animals and our feline visitors.

Class 4M

Why were staff wearing funny shoes?

Last week Miss Fuller and Mrs Coles put on special footwear and went walking in the chicken poo, closely watched by Mr Wildman and the chickens. Why? We were collecting the poo to send off for testing for salmonella.  This is not something that we have to do by law, because of the number of chickens that we have and the environment that they are kept in, but is something that as a school we think is worthwhile.  The samples are sent to a testing centre in Newcastle every three months.