Chick hatching project

[StarDolphins]

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?

Just saw your update. If you eat eggs then surely you know that all boy chicks that are born in the egg industry are instantly killed? I don’t think you can sit on a high horse for this and be happy with your own egg consumption.

Please don’t. Do you want to be ‘that parent’?

My update says I don’t eat eggs.

You could maybe send the head teacher some info on hatching projects from the RSPCA and ask if theirs is an ethical project?
They might never have considered that there is anything unethical about it.

Yes, I didn't explain myself well (or at all 😆) but I was just thinking... The chicks are part of the chicken farming industry already, and we all know that some awful things go on, which I believe includes separating eggs from the mothers anyway. I'm not saying this is great, I just don't know why you'd be okay with a school using meat/eggs in their food for example but not okay with them doing this. Obviously if you're against both then fine, but I would have assumed OP would home school in that case?

I’m vegan too, but I’m against these types of practices. Babies should be born with their mums if possible. Won’t the ducks be killed at the farm (or sent to slaughter) once their egg production drops as they age, and some of the males presumably are killed as they are not needed?

Wait - you get sent the eggs, hatch them, then send them back?!

That is a bit weird - it may teach them about hatching chicks, but not about responsibility for animals, which would seem to me to me to be a rather important thing - that animals aren't disposable, they don't normally just disappear when you're done with them!

No, it says you don’t buy eggs and your daughter eats them at school.

https://www.livingeggs.co.uk/what-we-do/

Many of these projects take the chicks back and rehome them properly.

Exactly - and doesn't actually teach about chicken/duck lifecycles as these aren't animals that leave their eggs to raise themselves, unlike something like butterflies.

Do you avoid mayonnaise, which has eggs in? So no pre bought sandwiches? So so many things have eggs in. I just don’t think you can be awkward with the school over this and also totally fine with other aspects of the meat and dairy industry.

She has done further updates saying she doesn’t eat eggs.

I think you’re right we can’t expect the school to change curriculum. I guess my view is that my daughter, until she’s old enough to choose for herself, isn’t going to participate in animal exploitation as far as possible and practicable. So I think I would ask that she isn’t involved in the egg hatching project but I don’t know how that would work. If that was too hard to do then I’d have to just talk to her about it in an age appropriate way, ask her what she thinks, not in a way to scare her but just thinking about where these babies mum is and where might they go after the project is over.

I wish schools wouldn't use animals. I think it's awful.

I answered no to a pp asking if I eat meat/dairy’ so I would think that’s pretty clear I don’t eat eggs.

Eggs are not dairy, so no, its not clear at all.

That does say “We do need to be realistic that whilst the boys live a happy life roaming free, they may eventually be destined for the table. “

I think you’re right we can’t expect the school to change curriculum. I guess my view is that my daughter, until she’s old enough to choose for herself, isn’t going to participate in animal exploitation as far as possible and practicable.

She eats them! Just please don’t say this to the school when you ask for her to be excluded from this project because you’ll sound daft saying she isn’t going to participate in animal exploitation then merrily sign her up for chicken nuggets for school dinners.

@TeaKitten sorry, I quoted you by mistake.

That’s such a good point that I didn’t even think of.

I haven’t said I want her to be excluded?

I just think if no one speaks up & says they’re not comfortable with it, the school will think everyone thinks it’s great.

I can’t & wont force my DD to be vegetarian just to validate my views on animals welfare. I am allowed to let her make her own choices as well as be uncomfortable about this.

My children's school does this every few years with either chickens or ducks. The chicks then move into the school chicken or duck area. There is a detailed policy about the school animals and how they should be looked after. They only get eggs when they have space for new adult birds.
The children are fascinated and when they are hatching there is live stream to all classroom whiteboards...
The eggs produced by the adult birds are sent home from time to time.

Thank you, yes I think I will just explain it to her. I won’t say I don’t want her to be involved.

Do they keep the males somewhere separately? As I know you can’t have multiple cockerels with hens or they’ll fight.

I think chick hatching projects are dreadful. They are rarely cared for properly (chicks need careful supervision at the weekends, too) and then the males are pretty much always culled when they go 'back to the farm'. The females, if they're lucky, will maybe go into a commercial farm, have a miserable life and will be culled at 18 months or thereabout when they start to lay less frequently.

If anyone out there thinks that commercial hens have a great life, please have a look at this: https://www.facebook.com/littlecagefighters