Which came first

--the chicken or the egg?
   (the dinosaur)

In our case, the chicken coop.  It arrived a little over a week ago. 













Now, it has chicken residents!  Children arrived at the classroom this morning very excited to tell me, "The chickens are here!"

More specifically, a rooster

and a hen. 

Life should get very interesting around here . . .

Already there's been some hypothesizing in our class about what having both a rooster and a hen could mean for the eggs and a discussion of fertilized eggs with chick potential versus the unfertilized eggs available in the grocery store.






One of the children commented, "I hope a raccoon doesn't open the gate and let them out.  They have fingers like ours, and they can do things like our hands do."  Another child hypothesized, "I think that if there was chicken poop in the coop then it would attract flies." 

Personally, I'm wondering if someone tipped off the hawk (or maybe The Big Snake) about the impending arrival of chickens. 

The hawk did seem to be casing the joint.  I've now spied it four or five times.  I assumed it was after our plentiful supply of squirrels, but perhaps the hawk has prior chicken coop experience?  I recently watched a fascinating PBS documentary on the amazing intelligence (memory, communication, tool use, and problem-solving skills) of crows.  We could have some very real predator/prey drama unfolding right before our eyes . . .