Chicken project a gem for Tigerton school, library

Fowl help reduce food waste, listen as children read
By: 
Leah Lehman
Correspondent

The inception for the chicken coop project for Tigerton schools came from Kerri Ann Giese, of Tigerton.

Giese worked as a lunchroom aide last school year and was concerned about the waste she saw.

“It was an idea I had when I was driving back from serving lunch one day,” she said. “I saw the food waste, and wanted to have chickens, both for fresh eggs at the school, and somewhere to feed the food waste.”

She brought the plan forward in April to the school, and eventually it was approved by the school board as well as the Tigerton Village Board. All of this was made possible by grants and donations, and she admits to working a lot of concession stands to raise money.

“With grant money, we bought eight incubators, one for every classroom in the Tigerton Elementary School,” Giese said. “Each one held 22 eggs. In total, 108 hatched. You knew when one was hatching because the kids were screaming.”

Giese said a lot of the students had never seen that happen.

“We had a teacher tell us she thought all chicks were yellow, but we had many colors,” she said. “It was a hands-on learning experience for everyone.”

One of the major grants the school received was from the Shawano Area Community Foundation, Giese noted. Without that and other grants, this would not have been possible, she said. Even the fence by the coop was purchased at a reduced cost from a company in California, which sent it directly to the school at no shipping cost.

The chickens hatched at the school, and then were adopted by rural Tigerton area residents who were interested. A dozen hens were given to the chicken coop project.

Giese, a librarian and a substitute teacher, said that she grew up with chickens and has some of her own, along with ducks and turkeys. She is the one who makes sure the chickens in the coop project are cared for.

The chicken coop was built by Tim Schmidt’s technical education class. The excitement grew as the students saw it coming together. Tiger Tribe 4-H club painted it.

The coop hosts 12 hens and sits near the Tigerton High School’s greenhouse, across the street from the high school.

“Another idea I had was writing a grant for reading,” Giese said. “Mine was one of 70 grants, nationwide, that was approved on reading to a chicken.”

Tigerton librarian Kaitlyn Selle said that studies show that if children get to read to an animal, in this case a chicken, they feel less intimidated than they do reading aloud in a classroom, or to another person. An animal will not make fun of them if they have trouble with a word, she said.

So, this summer, on the fourth Friday of the month, two chickens have visited the Tigerton Public Library in the afternoon, and were read to by community children of all ages. Blueberry and Muffin came in July.

“I have never held a chicken before,” Dalisia Heczko said. “Only a dog, a cat and a baby monkey once.”

Cayson Lehman wasn’t too sure about holding a chicken, but enjoyed touching them. His sister, Roselyn, read “Duck’s Away,” as she held Muffin on her lap. Later, both of them sat in the bean bag chairs and held the chickens.

Derryck Graham said he came because his mother told him about the event. He said he likes chickens and read the book “How Many Cats” to Blueberry.

Future plans for the coop are to add a bench for people to sit and relax. There is also a plan to add an area where non-perishable food would be available to those in need and a book area.