What initially started as a want by students to have chickens running around the schoolB次元官网网址檚 courtyard transformed into a prize-winning initiative to help promote local food production.
Reynolds secondary is about to give live hens B次元官网网址� incubated, hatched and raised within the schoolB次元官网网址檚 walls over the last three months B次元官网网址� to about 10 Greater Victoria families.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 know if thereB次元官网网址檚 anything else like it out there,B次元官网网址� teacher and leadership advisor Heather Coey said about her schoolB次元官网网址檚 chicken fostering program.
Spearheaded by a small group of students, including 17-year-old Meaghan Dinney, the fowl fostering program forced them to learn anything and everything they could about raising hens.
On Feb. 13, 17 eggs hatched and all 17 birds lived.
The students have had to care for the animals as pets B次元官网网址� feeding them, cleaning the chicken coop and making sure they get out every day to run around. And though there remains a bit of a novelty in having chickens at school, the project is more about the greater good.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 one thing to do something that changes things in the school, but itB次元官网网址檚 another thing entirely to do something that changes things in the community,B次元官网网址� Dinney said.
Last year, Saanich eased up on its backyard chicken bylaws, allowing for up to five hens B次元官网网址� roosters arenB次元官网网址檛 allowed B次元官网网址� on single-family properties that are 557-square-metres or larger. Eggs canB次元官网网址檛 be sold and the chickens canB次元官网网址檛 be slaughtered.
In addition to the hens that Reynolds will be giving away, the recipients will also get a free chicken coop, along with a continual stream of eggs and manure.
B次元官网网址淭he kids raised amazing chickens. TheyB次元官网网址檙e some of the friendliest IB次元官网网址檝e ever seen,B次元官网网址� said Darren Copley, president of the Victoria Natural History Society. Copley donated the eggs to Reynolds. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檝e been coddled and handheld B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檒l be really nice for the people adopting them.B次元官网网址�
The chicken fostering project was one of two initiatives at Reynolds that won a B.C. Green Games award earlier this month at Science World.
The second initiative was the salad bar program, where students use locally grown produce (from no more than three kilometres away) to create healthy salads, soups and other edibles to sell at lunch.
Reynolds earned $2,000 for the pair of wins.
The money will buy a freezer to help store more fresh produce.
For its wide-ranging green initiatives, the school was also among 10 in Canada that earned a $25,000 prize from Staples. That money, announced last week, will go to a new computer lab.
Coey hopes to repeat the chicken fostering program next year.
B次元官网网址淭his helps us meet one of our goals, and that is food security. It allows the kids and the staff to see that you can raise your own food source, and it gets it out into the community.B次元官网网址�
kslavin@saanichnews.com
