The Story of the Chicken Hatching Box

As a busy children’s entertainer, telling stories to children in schools and kindergartens is my occupation. I would now like to tell a very special story to the educators I meet everyday about the popular chick hatching boxes in the classrooms, and the life cycle reality of these chicks.

While it may be compulsory to include the chicken’s life cycle in educational programs, the classroom is never the end of their life. I agree it is a very nice experience to cuddle cute chicks, however they do grow up to need full time homes and care. With up to 15 eggs per box in these popular programs, all these little chickies actually add up to monstrous numbers Australia wide. Approximately fifty percent will grow up to be the noisier kind - the rooster - illegal in suburbia!

In 2011 I took time out to have many conversations about the chick hatching program in schools and childcares. Most directors and teachers are of the opinion that while the cuddles are nice, it is a nightmare to find the chicks homes, especially roosters, and people with properties will only take in one rooster as according to rooster law, two is a crowd!

Most often they report having a stressful busy period of phoning around trying to find the chicks homes. This was a quote from a Brisbane kindergarten educator:

We had such a hard time trying to find this one rooster ‘Olly’ a home. We had many parents and all our staff ringing around asking all their friends for weeks. The suburban family housing the rooster was starting to get nervous of being fined by the council. It was 7 weeks before we found Olly a home where he was rejected by the coup and killed by a fox within a week. We all felt exhausted!

Then there are those children who are obsessed with the chicks with little awareness of how to handle them gently. Here is a story from a mother at a childcare centre:

I have personally witnessed unsupervised children around these boxes not using their "gentle hands." Born in a box with no mother, I did feel very sorry for the chicks. The children also ask lots of questions like "Where is their mummy?" "Why are they in a box?" "Where will they go?"  Our centre’s chicks went "back to the farm" but we couldn’t tell the children what that really meant! I felt puzzled as to what we were really teaching them.

Here is a story from an educator at a Northside kindergarten director:

The company came to take back our chicks and I was shocked at how roughly they shoved the chicks into their vehicle. It was the most unceremonious thing I had ever seen!

In my story I continued to learn I am not the only person concerned for these chicks. Many other articles have been written, for example an by Pam Ahern who runs Edgar's Mission in Victoria where you can read about Tigga, Togga and Fluffy’s story.

I then felt I should call and talk to people in animal refuges who receive calls when an animal does not have a home. Here is what they had to say:

They are right! There are so many less expensive longer lasting resources!  The live chick hatching box costs a centre approximately $250 for each program. Instead educators could choose to spend this money on educational tools such as posters, DVDs  and books. A great egg hatching lifestyle kit, books and posters can be found at the websites below along with links (click on the images to go to the websites)

Elizabeth Richard's Chick Life Cycle Exploration set:

Educational Experiences's Life Cycles Bulletin Board set:

Books such as An Egg is Quiet:

Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones:

From Egg to Chicken:

Where Do Chicks Come From?

Posters of The Life Cycle:

This issue is not just in Australia. Even in America concerned people are creating websites discussing this issue and offering free alternative program ideas. See HERE. Another alternative is that many children do have pet chickens and their parents could be asked to bring one in to show the class and talk about their experiences.

Being an educator myself, I do realize that life cycles are an important part of our children’s curriculum. As educators we have choices as to how we are going to communicate these topics. I would encourage everyone to think of the animals feelings and make a decision from a compassionate level. I personally feel there are enough homeless animals in our world and that they would like to see their mother at birth.  By using alternate resources and showing pictures of the hatching box to explain why we would not have one at our school would be a much more kind and beneficial lesson for our next generation.

Renata Halpin is a children’s musician and storyteller, with over 10 educational shows to choose from. Her show topics reflect her passions: multiculturism, family issues, the environment, animal welfare and co-operating with peers. She is accredited for school programs with education Queensland for Prep to Grade 2.