To feel sad they have no dm to cuddle.

[Aprilmightbemynewname]

School chicks started to hatch this morning. First one just sat there alone with no lovely fluffy dm to snuggle into.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the idea of them in glass tank and then rehomed as the teacher said will happen. Who teaches them how to be, well, a chicken?

I keep silkies to incubate my chicks - they are just so broody and lovely mothers. Even the cockerels are gentle

This is interesting, my ex battery hens never go broody. Is it because they weren't raised by their mother perhaps?

Thank goodness my school don't do this.

Hybrid layers have the broodiness bred out of them many many years ago. If you brood their eggs under a Silky, they do start broodiness again after 3/4 generations.
I'll go away now, sorry don't want to detail thread which I think is important with so many disreputable schemes like this around. There are good, farmer led schemes too.....
(Don't even get me started on the African land snails)

@StopBeingNosey

saucepot you don’t send chicks to an abbatoir! You just break their necks or decapitate them. You can buy a little tool, a bit like pliers but for heads.

Some people love sticking it to silly old sentimental people who have an unreasonable dislike of cruelty to animals.

I assume that there’s a good possibility male chicks are seen as a waste product like male calves and are killed at birth.

Anyone know how these newly hatched chicks eat? It’s something I’ve always wondered! Surely the teacher isn’t hand feeding them all day and night?
I hand feed pet birds, yet I don’t start until they’re 2 weeks old and even then, I have to continue hand feeding them until they’re 8 weeks old.

They will get so many cuddles from the children they won't be lonely :-)

It must be nice to live in your head.

They'll be stressed out, and as a pp mentioned, quite possibly won't be alive in a couple of months.

It would be nice if the OP, and other MN users who see these schemes in their schools could keep tabs on what will happen with the chicks.

Animals shouldn't be in classrooms. Or zoos. Grim.

My DD's nursery has got duck eggs that have started to hatch. I was so sad to see the little duckling on its own in the incubator. I'm assuming the duckling doesn't know any better at this point, but even my DD commented on the fact that it doesn't have a mummy. I'm definitely going to ask them what the plan is for them after they've all hatched.

I can see what's going to happen... I'm going to end up with 6 ducks in my back garden..

Anyone know how these newly hatched chicks eat? It’s something I’ve always wondered! Surely the teacher isn’t hand feeding them all day and night?
They peck, same as hens. They usually eat special chick crumbs. They don't need feeding through the night. Sometimes they need to have their beaks dipped in water to show them how to drink, but mostly they work it out for themselves.
I've hatched all sorts of poultry with my children, but we have very strict rules (like only ever stroking with one finger) and everything ended up as a pet. Our hens raised their own chicks with no problems.

I agree with chicks will get stressed by kids handing them, doesn't seem nice way to live.

But
"Are the males killed at birth like male cows?"
Where on earth did you get that? Male calves stay with their mums for the first few days, then get separated to calf pens and later sold at market, let out to grass to grow, then off to the butchers. No one kills calves at birth, there would be no beef. I understand some don't like to kill to eat, but at least get the basic facts straight.

I really, really wish schools wouldn't do this and I also really, really wish people wouldn't anthropomorphise animals.

I should say I've no idea what happens to male chicks.

Male chicks go into a meat grinder. They're useless to the meat industry. Though I don't know why theirs is considered the worst fate really. Easy to say it but I'd sooner have a quick death than have any of the fates of a female chick in the meat industry...

I really should have another crack at being vegan

Yeah, don't fancy the life of any type of chicken to be honest. Cows generally have pretty good lives to be fair.

I really, really wish schools wouldn't do this and I also really, really wish people wouldn't anthropomorphise animals.

Schools and petting zoos feed into this. It's part of the same mindset that has girly girls dressing up dogs and carrying them around in handbags. Teach children about animal behaviour and animal needs, not about their cuteness (while young!).

We rehomed two of the school chicks in my DDs Reception year (we've kept chickens as pets for many years) they grew into very happy, healthy hens who were very happy to be handled, fortunately. They had definitely 'imprinted' as they naturally flocked to children in school uniform though. Perhaps we were just fortunate they hadn't been too hurt or stressed - they were lovely chickens and lived a long time.

Chickens are born knowing how to be chickens. They don't want cuddles, they just want to eat and sleep in relative comfort.

Are they going to a pet/hobby keeper once the school is done with them?

Thousands of male calves are killed every year shortly after birth. It is not financially viable for many farmers to keep male dairy cows. They are a waste product so not worthless as not profitable

Sorry are worthless

juells I wasn’t trying to ‘stick it’ to anyone . A pp asked if chicks are sent to abbatoirs and I answered the question. How would you have liked me to answer that question? Breaking their necks or decapitating is as pretty much humane as you can get - it’s instant and there’s no stressful transporting the animals away from the environment they know.

I keep chickens, am sentimental and hate cruelty to animals too. But I also don’t want to keep a load of cockerels (and I don’t think my neighbours would want me to either!).

They do it at my kids school too. And it's ducklings.

I've already made my feelings known by emailing the head teacher.

Its wrong to leave animals motherless on purpose. Just wrong, wrong, wrong. Who makes these bonkers decisions at schools?

I am actually quite shocked this is still so prevalent - my DM's school was doing this in the 80's, but stopped many years ago :(

It’s hideous. But then, is it worse than the male chicks being thrown in the mincer immediately after birth or the female chicks spending their short life wedged against hot lamps? I remember reading an article explaining that when you see those red spots on supermarket chickens that is where they’ve been burned by the heat lamp.

Mind you, I’d say that cows, as mammals, are probably far more aware of mother/baby bonding yes we take male dairy calves out and shoot them in the head shortly after birth as it’s just not economically viable to keep them. I wonder if the mother feels loss? Mind you, the mothers and sisters will spend their life being pumped for milk. Having BF 3 babies for 6mths, I think I’d rather be shot than pumped forever.