Lane School Chickens are Scheduled to Receive Superb Summer Care

Compiled by The Bedford Citizen

You’ve been wondering about the Lane School chickens, and who would be care for them through the summer? Not to worry: It’s all taken care of.

Project leaders Jean Mickel and Keith Kinney held a “Coop Care” training session for student volunteers before the end of school, and developed a comprehensive list of tasks for mornings and evenings.

Each shift should take about 10 minutes, not counting the time students and parent spend enjoying their interaction with the birds. The project’s Sign-up Genius schedule filled quickly before school ended, with only a few slots in mid- to late-August remaining.

Security cameras keep watch on the area around the coop, and on at least one Saturday morning a Bedford Police car cruised the area, “To be sure that everything is alright.”

Rising fifth grade student Cole Bennett has taken responsibility for several shifts, and shared his thoughts, along with these photographs.

In the Coop, images (c) Cole Bennett, 2016 all rights reserved
Click each image to view it at full size

Poultry Portraits (c) Cole Bennett, 2016 all rights reserved
Click each image to view at full size.

Cole notes that the chickens have inventive names including “Lemonade, Marshmallow, Uggs (my personal favorite), Spot, Aphrodite, and Hawk.”

“The students of Lane have a job as well,” Cole said. “The kids that have signed up for the morning open up the doors and check their supplies. The kids that go up at night feed them and herd them all back into shelter.

“Before the chickens lived in the outdoors they all lived in the school library,” Cole continued.  “Classes from all over the school were allowed to schedule a time to roll the chicken’s “habitat” down to their class and have fun with the chickens.”