Gaelscoil children ‘egg-cited’ over chicken project

The children of Gaelscoil an Choillín in Mullingar are ticking the days off on the calendar and watching eagerly for any signs that the 20 eggs sitting in an incubator in their school may be about to hatch.

On Wednesday of last week, entrepreneurial Coralstown Kinnegad teen John Glennon – a TY student at St Finian’s College – came to the Gaelscoil, bringing with him the incubator, the eggs, and the promise that within 21 days, the pupils would have around 20 fluffy little chicks to rear.

Leas Phríomhoide na Scoile, Trína Ní Nualláin, revealed that the school was delighted when John contacted them with his proposal that he rent them an incubator, so the children could watch for the hatching of the chickens, and then rear to adulthood, at which stage they will be able to enjoy fresh eggs from the clutch.

There are 130 pupils at Gaelscoil an Choillín, and Trína reveals that it was thanks to funds from a €10,000 STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Maths) grant that they were able to take John up on his offer. The school already has a horticultural consultant, Isolde Dingerkus, who comes in twice monthly, and she will help them manage their poultry. Plans are now in hand to develop a sensory garden, a wormery and an ant farm.

“Puffy and fluffy” is the cute description John used as he stood before the children to explain to them how the baby chickens will look when they emerge from their shells.

In darkness, John shone a light through individual eggs to show the children the somewhat eerie world inside, as he talked them through what they could expect.

“In more or less five days’ time, you’ll be able to see all the veins [as they shine a light through] and see the chick and everything developing – then in 20 days, you’ll be able to see the chick moving around,” he said.

Then, he revealed, on day 20 or day 21, the chickens would begin to break through the shells.

“Come next year, they will all be laying their own eggs!” he added.

Enthusiasm levels were high among the children, who had lots of questions for John, such as what breeds he had brought them. Pointing to different eggs, he explained that some were Cream Legbars, which come out of the shells with striped markings; others were the best-known breed, the Rhode Island Red, which emerge as yellow, fluffy chicks; and there were also Cuckoon Marrons, which tend to be completely black when born.

“Then they all start developing their feathers after about three weeks,” he said.

To the question as to how he would know whether they were female or male, John said that can be determined a few days after they hatch by examining their wings.

“Do they bite?” was the important question one child asked. “No, they won’t bite, but they’ll peck,” John promised, adding that they would not peck until they are a few months old.

When the chickens have become hardy, they will be kept in the school garden, and on a rota system, the children will feed them. The school parents are on board as well.

“I have about 20 or 30 chickens at home – but there’s not too much work in them,” John assured the school.

The children are excited at what’s to come. One pupil, Béibhínn Scally, is especially so, as she has never had any contact with chickens before. Her friend Ciara Sheerin does already know something about keeping hens: “During quarantine, my dad got eggs, and we hatched them during Covid – and we still have them to this day,” she says.

Ciara is confident she and her schoolmates will be successful with the enterprise: “They’re not really hard to mind: maybe at the start, but as you get used to it, it becomes easier,” she says.