by Maia
For a little less than two months of their lives, Professor Meredith Hill and nearly one hundred sixth graders undertook the challenge of raising six baby chickens in their ELA classroom. These adorable little creatures came to be known as Sunny, Orie, Boston, Penguin, Angel, and Leopard Baby. For 34 days, they raised the five breeds until they were a month and a half old. But they then realized they didn’t really know much about the breeds...
First off is Sunny. Sunny is a New Hampshire. As most of the students could tell, Sunny’s breed was not a small one. Weighing up to eight pounds when fully grown, New Hampshires are very heavy compared to other breeds. They mature really fast too, which is why “OMG, Sunny got huge!” was a phrase that you heard daily. Because New Hampshires are so big, they’re often used for meat. But they lay plenty of big, brown eggs as well. Like Sunny, most New Hampshires do well in cold wintery conditions, as well as close confinement, something many other breeds have problems with.
Then come Orie and Boston, who are our rare Silver Lakenvelders. Lakenvelders are thought to be named after the Dutch town Lakenvelt, despite the fact they were bred in Germany. Silver Lakenvelders are kept for their pretty, rich cream-colored eggs. They can’t be used for meat, like New Hampshires, because they’re so small, weighing only up to five pounds. They’re not very commonly kept in the US, but they are in other countries. Like New Hampshires, Silver Lakenvelders don’t really mind confinement, but they aren’t bred for their tolerance for cold weather.
Next is our flighty little Penguin. She’s a Light Brahma, one of
the most friendly, huggable breeds there is. They were originally from India,
bred for meat, but they also lay plenty of gorgeous brown eggs. Penguin was
known for her feathery feet, as all Light Brahmas are, along with her super
fluffy feathers. Because of this feathery down, she can survive really well in
the winter and coldish conditions. Penguin always loved to perch as high as she
could, always quietly sitting on the edge of her boxy house, watching us
intently as we scrawled our pens and pencils across paper. Like most Light
Brahmas, Penguin looks a lot like Orie and Boston, our Silver Lakenvelders. But
you can tell them apart because Penguin looks like, well, a penguin.
Now comes Angel, the bratty little dinosaur chick. With her long legs and black and golden feathers, we couldn’t place her breed. She looked absolutely nothing like the others. Theoretically, she could be the “rare exotic chick” of the flock. But we’ll never know for sure. Angel loved to explore too. A lot. She’ll hop around and bounce around and run around until she has you pulling your hair out. Put her back in the box alone and she’ll start screeching. Give her food to keep her still and she’ll coat herself and everything within a five yard radius with it. But our little Angel is adorable, and she knows it.
Lastly we have Leopard Baby. Or Baby Leopard. Whichever you
prefer. Leopard is a Sicilian Buttercup, and a very small one at that. She was
supposed to be as big as both Orie and Boston, but she was tiny. Really tiny.
She was small, weightless, as light as a feather, so to speak. Leopard could
land on your shoulder and you would never notice her unless you happened to
look over. Her intricately patterned feathers were her leopard spots, flowing
over the expanses of her small wings. She was always everyone’s favorite.
