Chick hatching project

StarDolphins · 2023-05-22T09:12:18+00:00

My DD will be moving to a Junior School in Sept with all her friends. It’s a great school & I really liked it when I visited. I was told yesterday that they do incubation & chick hatching & one egg went missing so they put a post up about the missing egg & it was found by a parent in a child’s bag at home. Obviously this chick will now die. Regardless of the above which is awful, I’m really against this as I know a lot of the chicks are killed anyway. I want her to go to this school, she wants to go to this school. Aibu to email/speak to the HT before she’s even started? & what on earth would I say, if anything at all?

GladysHeeler · 22/05/2023 10:14

Either send her or don't send her.

I wouldn't start complaining about their curriculum before your child has even crossed the threshold.

This is a very com

GladysHeeler · 22/05/2023 10:15

Whoops

Common thing to do in schools.

You are never going to agree with everything that a school does. It's impossible and it's why some people choose to hone educate.

takealettermsjones · 22/05/2023 10:16

Which part are you against? The chicks would have been hatched somewhere anyway. What exactly would you be asking the HT for? To change their curriculum for your daughter who hasn't even started yet? 😳

GladysHeeler · 22/05/2023 10:19

You could send her to a new school and a parent there might bring in some chicks or a teacher might.

Honestly, things like this happen on the spin of a dime sometimes. If Rodger's dad has a farm he could just offer them on a Tuesday and they would be in the classroom on Wednesday and your child would be at school, that you didn't choose with chicks!

CaptainMyCaptain · 22/05/2023 10:23

I'm sure the incident has already been dealt with. Don't start being difficult now before your daughter even starts.

Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:24

Yes I get you. I don’t want to complain before she’s even started. I guess I just want them to know it’s taken the shine off the school as these chicks will most likely be used then killed & if everyone just doesn’t say anything then they’ll just think we all think it’s great (which I get some might).

Lots of schools don’t do it. There are other ways to teach about life cycles.

I think I will say it in passing once she’s started.

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ZeroFuchsGiven · 22/05/2023 10:26

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:24

Yes I get you. I don’t want to complain before she’s even started. I guess I just want them to know it’s taken the shine off the school as these chicks will most likely be used then killed & if everyone just doesn’t say anything then they’ll just think we all think it’s great (which I get some might).

Lots of schools don’t do it. There are other ways to teach about life cycles.

I think I will say it in passing once she’s started.

why on earth do you think the chicks will be killed?

DisneyMillie · 22/05/2023 10:31

My dd’s class hatched chicks - it was a bit depressing - half of the them didn’t hatch and the ones that did (at least) some died. Not the cute project I think the teacher intended.

Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:35

Because if the school can’t/don’t want to find them homes, they get sent back the company & I’m betting they all don’t find nice new great homes!

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CMOTDibbler · 22/05/2023 10:38

If it is that the eggs are incubated and hatched by someone who knows nothing about the process, and the teacher can't take chickens home with the whatever, then that is one thing. However my sons class hatched chicks when he was 7, and it started a great love of chickens - three came home with us, the rest with his teacher (whose own hens had laid the eggs in the first place) and one of those hens is still trundling round in my garden 10 years later, happy and healthy and my hulking great teenager still cuddles her.

Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:45

CMOTDibbler · 22/05/2023 10:38

If it is that the eggs are incubated and hatched by someone who knows nothing about the process, and the teacher can't take chickens home with the whatever, then that is one thing. However my sons class hatched chicks when he was 7, and it started a great love of chickens - three came home with us, the rest with his teacher (whose own hens had laid the eggs in the first place) and one of those hens is still trundling round in my garden 10 years later, happy and healthy and my hulking great teenager still cuddles her.

That’s lovely!😃

I know the kids & parents at this school & many of them wouldn’t be like you & your son! Anything in the playground currently gets either stamped on or the poor bee last week, got whacked with a stick so I just can’t see them nurturing a chick!

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Soubriquet · 22/05/2023 10:47

My childrens school did butterflies.

They then released them into the wild. I quite like that

shammalammadingdong · 22/05/2023 10:48

I don't see the connection between the chicks and the comments about wanting to go to the school.

Either you're signed up to the school or you are not. You can't possibly be talking about changing schools before even starting over this, can you?
Surely not, as that would be insane.

Kanaloa · 22/05/2023 10:49

Presumably you and your child don’t eat or use any animal products? I’m not keen on animals for use in school projects, but then we’re only vegetarian - I would feel a right idiot going in and moaning that my child would see chicks that might later die when my kid probably had eggs on toast for breakfast.

Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:50

Soubriquet · 22/05/2023 10:47

My childrens school did butterflies.

They then released them into the wild. I quite like that

Yes the nursery did this & I was fine with that!

Parcelling chicks back up to be couriered back to a date unknown, not so much.

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Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 10:51

Kanaloa · 22/05/2023 10:49

Presumably you and your child don’t eat or use any animal products? I’m not keen on animals for use in school projects, but then we’re only vegetarian - I would feel a right idiot going in and moaning that my child would see chicks that might later die when my kid probably had eggs on toast for breakfast.

I’m vegetarian, my dd not. I don’t buy eggs but she eats them at school.

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Kanaloa · 22/05/2023 10:52

So your child eats meat, but you’re thinking of pulling them out of a possible school over some hypothetically dead chicks? That seems odd. Why is it ok for the child to eat meat, but not ok to observe chickens hatching?

Kanaloa · 22/05/2023 10:54

I’m not a militant vegetarian by the way! It just seems really odd to draw the line at watching chicks hatch then sending them back wherever they came from.

kikisparks · 22/05/2023 10:56

ZeroFuchsGiven · 22/05/2023 10:26

why on earth do you think the chicks will be killed?

Show quote history

What do you think happens to them? Especially the males?

kikisparks · 22/05/2023 10:57

takealettermsjones · 22/05/2023 10:16

Which part are you against? The chicks would have been hatched somewhere anyway. What exactly would you be asking the HT for? To change their curriculum for your daughter who hasn't even started yet? 😳

Shouldn’t they be hatched with their mother?

Twinpeaches · 22/05/2023 10:58

Our school recently hatched ducks. The eggs came from a farm with the necessary equipment. They hatched them and kept the ducklings for a week after they hatched, had loads of fun, and then the farm takes them back, keeps them for eggs etc. No unnecessary killing and they do it for a lot of local schools and nurseries.

Im vegan myself so not hugely into the ‘egg industry’ but can’t get too worked up about it personally. Think it was done well and the kids loved it.

Kfjsjdbd · 22/05/2023 10:59

Out of interest, do you eat meat or eggs OP?

Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 11:00

Kanaloa · 22/05/2023 10:52

So your child eats meat, but you’re thinking of pulling them out of a possible school over some hypothetically dead chicks? That seems odd. Why is it ok for the child to eat meat, but not ok to observe chickens hatching?

I can only go on what I don’t agree with. i am choosing not to eat dairy & meat. If my child wants to eat meat & eggs, I am not going to force her not to! I do my best to educate her on animal welfare but currently it’s not working!

Just because my child isn’t vegetarian shouldn’t mean I can have an opinion on this.

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Original poster

StarDolphins · 22/05/2023 11:00

Kfjsjdbd · 22/05/2023 10:59

Out of interest, do you eat meat or eggs OP?

No

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cyncope · 22/05/2023 11:01

I agree with you that these chick projects are usually pretty inhumane.

Chicks are supposed to be raised by their mothers - you aren't allowed to take newborn kittens from their mothers and let children bottlefeed them for fun, so not sure why it is ok for chicks.

The vast majority if these chicks are then killed after the children have finished with them, so also not a great message for kids about animal life being disposable.

But, on the other hand I can see the argument that these chicks are no worse treated than the eggs and chicken that is used in school dinners.